Comparable Price and Quantity Data for 130 Plus Countries

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This project continues previous work on the creation of a very large data set, the "Penn World Table", which enables policymakers and researchers to compare countries around the world in ways not possible working with the data released by individual countries or the various international agencies. In addition to wide dissemination of these "real" data, this project analyzes on a selective basis the data in conjunction with associated International Comparison Project (ICP) benchmark data. The System of National Accounts of the United Nations and other international agencies provides standardized data on expenditures and prices for many countries. While useful for making judgments about changes over time in individual countries, these data are of limited value in comparing different countries because they are denominated in the national currencies of the individual countries. The upcoming Mark 5 version of the Penn World Table (PWT5), the next step in the investigators' construction of a System of Real National Accounts, utilizes the price information collected in the latest (1985) benchmark study of the ICP as well as the earlier studies to convert national currency expenditures to a common currency unit. For purposes of productivity comparisons, some attempt will be made to deal with the production side of the national accounts as well as the expenditure side, the usual focus of the ICP and PWT. The analysis component of this project focuses on the price and quantity structures of countries at different income levels. The structures, estimated from PWT5 and ICP benchmark data, are examined to see the patterns of change associated with economic development. In the absence of the basic data developed by the project, it has been impossible to analyze definitively these and other critical issues of comparative economic performance.