An estimate of the provincial gross domestic product at factor cost by industry of origin for British Columbia, 1961

• Main Author: Ohki, Takashi
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: Income accounting; Gross national product > British Columbia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37039

The purposes of this thesis are to investigate the possibility of applying concepts used in national income accounts to regional income accounts, and to estimate the provincial Gross Domestic Product at factor cost by industry of origin for British Columbia in 1961. Some fundamental concepts of national income accounts such as Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Product, factor costs, and market prices are discussed as to their applicability to regional income accounts. Considering conceptual and statistical requirements for regional economic analyses, Gross Domestic Product at factor cost by industry of origin is chosen as the best feasible concept for the estimation of the provincial income account of British Columbia. Three traditional approaches to the measurement of provincial income accounts are discussed. The expenditure approach is abandoned because it has a statistical difficulty in estimating exports and imports accounts on a provincial basis. The income approach is also abandoned because it contains a statistical problem of assigning corporate profits of Canada-wide multi-establishment firms to provinces. Finally, the value-added-by industry approach is examined, and the method based on this approach is employed in this thesis to estimate the provincial Gross Domestic Product at factor cost by industry of origin for British Columbia in 1961. The method employed involves breaking down national aggregates of Gross Domestic Product originating in industry groups to those originating in component industries, and then allocating them to British Columbia according to some related provincial indicators. In breaking down the national aggregates, the 1949 industrial weights measured in Gross Domestic Product at factor cost are used. The main reason of this process is to avoid a product mix problem arising from differences in industrial structures in different provinces. We chose as provincial indicators provincial economic statistics which are as close to the net value added by industry concept as available data permit. Two studies of estimating regional income accounts are reviewed. For each industry, data used to estimate the provincial Gross Domestic Product at factor cost are discussed, together with the resulting estimates. The estimates are presented for each industry and industry group, and the sum of these estimates, that is, the provincial Gross Domestic Product at factor cost for British Columbia in 1961, is 3,333,000,000 current dollars. === Arts, Faculty of === Vancouver School of Economics === Graduate