Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Total market value of final goods and services produced inside a country in a period; the core output measure.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Coincident

frequency

Quarterly

publisher

National statistical offices; IMF and World Bank collate

Core Principles & Analysis

• Simon Kuznets's 1934 report National Income, 1929-1932 built the U.S. national accounts for Congress.
• GDP counts final sales only, deliberately excluding intermediate goods and second-hand transactions.
• GDP spread as the main output measure after the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, though GNP stayed the U.S. headline figure until 1991.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis: Gross Domestic Product