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Measuring National Income

Domestic or national? GDP and GNP compared

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit AS 2

Overview

Difference between Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product, government tracking domestic employment prefer GDP to GNP and relationship between Gross National Product and Gross National Income.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is the difference between Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product?

Key term

Which measure, GDP or GNP, is the better guide to the income available to a country's residents, and why?

Key term

Why would a government tracking domestic employment prefer GDP to GNP?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is the difference between Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product?

    Model answer

    GDP measures the value of output produced within a country's borders, whoever owns the factors that produced it. GNP measures the income earned by a country's residents and their assets, wherever in the world those assets are located. GNP therefore equals GDP plus net property income from abroad.

  2. 2

    Define net property income from abroad and state the two flows it is the difference between.

    Model answer

    Net property income from abroad is the interest, profits and dividends earned by a country's residents on assets they own overseas, minus the interest, profits and dividends earned within the country by overseas residents on assets they own there. It is the adjustment that converts a domestic measure of output into a national measure of income.

  3. 3

    An economy has GDP of 2,370 billion pounds. Its residents earn 215 billion pounds from assets held abroad, while overseas residents earn 260 billion pounds from assets held in that economy. Calculate GNP.

    Model answer

    Net property income from abroad = 215 - 260 = -45 billion pounds. GNP = GDP + net property income from abroad = 2,370 + (-45) = 2,325 billion pounds. GNP is below GDP because more income flows out of the country than flows in.

  4. 4

    Why does a country that hosts a large amount of foreign-owned production have GDP greater than GNP?

    Model answer

    The output of foreign-owned factories and offices is produced inside the country's borders, so it is counted in full in GDP. The profits from that output, however, belong to owners overseas and are eventually remitted to them, so they are not income for the country's residents and are deducted when GNP is calculated. Net property income from abroad is negative, so GNP falls short of GDP.

  5. 5

    Why can a country whose residents own substantial assets overseas have GNP greater than GDP?

    Model answer

    The interest, profits and dividends earned on those overseas assets are income for the country's residents even though the output that generated them was produced abroad. That income is added when GNP is calculated but forms no part of GDP, which counts only production within the borders. If those inflows exceed the income earned domestically by foreign owners, net property income from abroad is positive and GNP exceeds GDP.

  6. 6

    Which measure, GDP or GNP, is the better guide to the income available to a country's residents, and why?

    Model answer

    GNP is the better guide to residents' income, because it counts what they actually earn, including returns on assets abroad, and excludes profits that will be repatriated to foreign owners. GDP is the better guide to activity, employment and tax capacity within the country, because it measures what is produced there. The right choice depends on whether the question is about production or about income.

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