The Unobserved Economy – Invisible Production in Households. The Household Production Satellite Account and the National Time Transfer Account

Abstract

Standard measures of economic activity relate to goods and services offered by the market. Stiglitz's report, however, suggests that not only monetary value or economic products create welfare, but non-monetary components should also be included in the System of National Accounts. Although household production is registered in official statistics, the main part of it, i.e. nearly 75-80% of the total home production remains outside of the GDP. The Household Production Satellite Account (HHSA) is a macroeconomic analysis covering both market and non-market home production. The National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTA) is, next to HHSA, an analysis aimed to register and observe the directions of transfers and to present the recipients and givers of home production. Regular estimations provided by the HHSA and NTTA may prove a valuable supporting tool to national accounts, pension systems, or social policy as they provide a great deal of macroeconomic information regarding households, their economic and living conditions, social changes, and welfare.