Summary
The non-market output of government has typically been measured poorly in national accounts, where outputs are often assumed to grow at the same rate as inputs. Statistical standards now recommend that government output should be measured directly. Direct measurement is important both for increasing the quality of national accounts and for measuring government service performance.
Over the past decade, statistical agencies, particularly the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), have invested in improving government output measurement. The United Kingdom’s national accounts now measure directly the output of almost 70% of government production, including health, education, administration of justice, social security, fire services, and personal services. The ONS has also made advances in the measurement of output quality change and has used output statistics for public sector productivity measurement.
This paper documents the progress the ONS and other statistical agencies have made in measuring government output for national accounts and for productivity measurement, and considers what this progress implies for New Zealand.
