Because output lies at the heart of macroeconomics, considerable attention has been devoted to the question of how best to measure it. In fact, macroeconomists have developed a whole accounting system precisely for this purpose. The goal of national economic accounting—also known as GDP accounting—is to measure the value of all output a nation produces over a particular period of time, typically a year. This chapter provides a quick primer on GDP accounting and the essential challenges and trade-offs involved in measuring national output.1
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