FW: Bundesbank mocks US IT book-cooking

Seth Ackerman SAckerman at FAIR.org
Tue Sep 5 15:12:36 PDT 2000


Doug Henwood wrote:


> The BEA publishes a spreadsheet on computer spending in the NIPAs,
> along with every GDP. The latest is at
> <http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dn/comp-gdp.exe>. Between the first
> quarter of 1990 and the second quarter of 2000, nominal private
> investment in computers was up 195% - and 2084% in real terms.
>

---

That's still a lot more than German IT investment growth, which Grant reports as 27.5% a year since 1991 -- about 700% cumulative?


> >Also, why does Grant say these figures can't
> >be used to estimate how fast the German's measured GDP growth would be
> using
> >hedonic pricing?
>
> You'd have to know all kinds of details about the mix of German IT
> spending. Buba shoulda done that for us. Their August monthly report
> isn't on their website in English yet; it's in German at
> <http://www.bundesbank.de/de/monatsbericht/bericht08/00/inhalt.htm>.
>

---

Yeah, but can't you do it the other way around? According to Grant, the Buba report claims that US measured computer prices dropped 80% between 1991 and 1999. German measured prices dropped 20%. Can't you apply the German prices to US GDP?

Seth



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