Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and GDP: What National Accounts Bring to the Table

By Thomas F Alexander, Claudia H Dziobek, Tadeusz Galeza

March 7, 2018

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Thomas F Alexander, Claudia H Dziobek, and Tadeusz Galeza. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and GDP: What National Accounts Bring to the Table, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2018) accessed September 27, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 represent a new global consensus to end poverty, promote prosperity, and protect the environment. Goal 8 seeks to improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production and to decouple economic growth (GDP) from environmental degradation while Goal 12 focuses on sustainable consumption and production. While GDP does not capture these broader goals, we suggest that the System of National Accounts which incorporates but goes well beyond GDP, can be used for the measurement of these SDGs and to support policy. We construct a conceptual “super balance sheet” with an expanded asset boundary to include durable consumer goods used to produce services, human capital, and access to resources such as clean water and air, education, health, and infrastructure, to produce an expanded household net worth.

Subject: Development, Financial institutions, Financial statements, Human capital, Labor, National accounts, Public financial management (PFM), Stocks, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Keywords: Asset, Balance sheet, Balance Sheets, Beyond GDP, Consumer durables, Financial statements, GDP, Global, Household sector balance sheet, Human capital, National Accounts, Production, SDGs, SNA asset boundary, SNA framework, SNA production boundary, SNA prototype, Stocks, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), WP

Publication Details

Pages:

21
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2018/041
Stock No:

WPIEA2018041
ISBN:

9781484345894
ISSN:

1018-5941

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