A working knowledge of a country’s national accounts allows economists to better craft economic policy. We will now explore the data provided by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Go to OECD Data to access the full dataset.
To access the data:
1. Go to OECD Data and select “Database Access” in the column on the right.
2. On the left side of the page, select “National accounts,” then “Annual national accounts,” “Main aggregates,” and finally “Gross domestic product.” Select the first listing under “Gross domestic product.”
3. At the top of the table, choose the drop-down menu to the right of “Measure” and select “CXC: Current prices, current exchange rates” from the drop-down menu. From the country drop-down menu, choose Germany.
4. Scroll down and find “B1_GE: Gross domestic product (expenditure approach)” and “B11: External balance of goods and services.”
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the United States.
6. Next, select “Disposable income and net lending - net borrowing” on the left side of the screen. At the top of the page, select “CXC: Current prices, current exchange rates” from the drop-down menu and then choose Germany.
7. Find “B6GS1: Gross national disposable income.”
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the United States.
a. You have been tasked with comparing the economic position of the United States and Germany for a class project. Using annual data, find GDP and GNDI, and compute GNE for 2015, the most recent year for both countries:
| GDP | GNDI | GNE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | tcsaHOohF2bZ7lR5puDUYe7UISmGKoL7MEI2WEDE9MzZvhulcVISdVuRcq3FDPTpjINbHBpwQeiny3vUWXnBlSwCUIaZ6m2yZExG5KLykJXP1fLgNYec/04zbuU= | FZphnsXu+XJNuta6CQcC7BABb9WyJQEF/u7zjGKwYQpVIn0/aP16xDladR+Dql4XLEV5YJxZUY3wpQmcPjqj8UQ6An+xfyWiR68gx3bmK7NMDjwhcHIlHoXZ4Zk= | eXQ6JNrNrzhK1Ptd53q5g1TsFfBvrm7ky4YLHEAGrgf/o3TGHTzo6ScTCUT13tVQWEQ9aDLRLMAokVNG43ZRPMKsk7zHJkCxo4YZld3xIaKW5IQstxyqAt7vwbs= |
| U.S. | RKp/F2vgxQmnnag3ZFtoBf7Q8d7XrFvMBEnBEUU8pqQvF4mdul6NVFcwf5WUsEDnuaFXpXBmUaefDBskrTyulK/AZqAf+quJ5YpCYDHa9RsOognhqZwnmQTb5ak= | WMM4z3JZfGscntkL1aqB+/KWUNJVQuhyn0NsKEMdeNnMFdIvE59FutLTOdM/Id/XH3tZqsE6kzYX9z8YzgV0Dk1zIPOT4i/aoIAzadwPwhksPcgXmD1kEGdjz9M= | kYbo/HcLjBng4bYqOA/xBS3vchvq0WNXZZDSnO1/x424TIYbiYCoNC5JBo0E7okpbzVSz6s1Ud4peUrWumvfOPFPZUtHZlTf25BBPITAVIbt1v3Q5IlqRbn3ZCo= |