Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309844 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Eurostat Review on National Accounts and Macroeconomic Indicators (EURONA) [ISSN:] 1977-978X [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 7-26
Publisher: 
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg
Abstract: 
Choice experiments show that individuals attribute significant value to digitally-enabled services such as social media. We integrate this consumer value into an accounting framework by treating it as the value of own-account production by households of a particular type of leisure services. Time spent by households, along with social media and information technology capital services constitute the relevant inputs. We derive a quality-adjusted unit cost index for such household-produced leisure services whereby the number of network users acts as the main vehicle to capture quality change. These quality adjustment effects turn out to be key when assessing the quantitative importance of own-account leisure services. To illustrate, we consider an extended measure of activity (EMA) that encompasses gross domestic product (GDP) and own-account household production of digitally-enabled leisure services. A simulation for the United States shows that the effects due to Facebook use alone would cause the EMA to grow anywhere between about +0.04 and about +0.2 percentage points per year more than United States real growth GDP between 2004 and 2017, depending on the size of network effects.
Subjects: 
national accounts
welfare measurement
GDP mismeasurement
productivity slowdown
free digital services
GDP-B
JEL: 
C43
D60
E01
E23
O3
O4
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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