E01 - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental AccountsReturn

The article deals with the ability of the GDP indicator to interpret and capture economic performance, social progress and sustainable economic growth. Given the fact that the construction of indicators such as GDP does not monitor the quality of population, environmental changes or changes in stocks of non-renewable natural resources, it is necessary to take this into account (GDP is primarily an aggregate of production) and look for indicators that would allow a more complex analysis of not only economic performance, but also its social and environmental aspects. Some proposals for how to assess the sustainability of economic growth are summed up in the second part of the paper. This part of the paper is also devoted to the description of the Index of Economic Well-Being (Sharpe, Osberg). This section deals with the possibilities of measurement of households' living standards and it also describes the Index of Economic Welfare (Sharpe, Osberg). This index takes account of other aspects of households' quality of life (social inequality, social risks, etc.). The substance of a controversial problem called "phantom GDP" (imaginary GDP) is introduced in the last section of the paper. This effect has been described by some authors in connection with possible impacts of globalization on economic performance. The effect of "phantom GDP" is associated with a potential impact of outsourcing and offshoring on economic performance of home countries of multinational companies.

The article deals with compilation of symmetric input-output tables per hour worked. The purpose of the paper is to show the process of transformation of classic monetary based input-output tables into physical tables based on hours worked. The paper describes both the possibilities and difficulties of available data sources and used methods. The presented model is based on published product x product symmetric input-output tables and data on hours worked from national accounts. Beside symmetric input-output tables, supply and use tables are used for obtaining product x industry structures. The model is based on the combination of square matrices of intermediate consumption broken down by products, an output matrix broken down by products x industries, and a vector of hours worked broken down by industries. The two approaches to the output matrix structure are a key issue for obtaining a tool for the transformation of data on hours worked in a specific industry into a specific product. These physical symmetric input-output tables are used as a powerful tool for the analysis of labour productivity and labour intensity.

The paper deals with the possible impact of the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis on the potential output in the Czech Republic. Given the general difficulty in sketching out all the consequences of the crisis itself, the article is primarily focused on the labour market, which is regarded as an important driving force in terms of potential output fall or its growth slowdown. First, principal reasons why the potential output could have been hit by the 2008-2009 crisis are discussed in detail. The paper then analyzes a number of transmission mechanisms through which potential output could be generally impacted by severe recessions. Further, the output gap of the Czech Republic is estimated and a potential output development is drawn up. Finally, an approximate impact of the crisis on the potential product through the labour market is demonstrated. The results show that the potential output in the Czech Republic has been partially and temporarily affected in volume. This is specifically due to an adverse long-term unemployment and, to a much lesser extent, employment behaviour, in both cases seemingly in relation to the recent crisis. Likewise, Okun's law has been found to be relatively weak in the case of the Czech economy, thus further supporting the "hysteresis explanation". However, such a drop in potential output will likely not persist in the long run, provided that appropriate economic policies - in particular aiming at re-integration of long-term unemployed/discouraged workers and an increase in the employment and participation rates - are implemented.