National income is an uncertain term which is used interchangeably with national dividend, national output and national expenditure. On this basis, national income has been defined in a number of ways. In common parlance, national income means the total value of goods and services produced annually in a country.
Marshallian Definition
According to Marshall: “The labour and capital of a country acting on its natural resources produce annually a certain net aggregate of commodities, material and immaterial including services of all kinds. This is the true net annual income or revenue of the country or national dividend.” In this definition, the word ‘net’ refers to deductions from the gross national income in respect of depreciation and wearing out of machines. And to this, must be added income from abroad.
Pigouvian Definition
A.C. Pigou has in his definition of national income included that income which can be measured in terms of money. In the words of Pigou, “National income is that part of objective income of the community, including of course income derived from abroad which can be measured in money.”
Fisher’s definition
Fisher adopted ‘consumption’ as the criterion of national income whereas Marshall and Pigou regarded it to be production. According to Fisher, “The National dividend or income consists solely of services as received by ultimate consumers, whether from their material or from the human environments. Thus, a piano, or an overcoat made for me this year is not a part of this year’s income, but an addition to the capital. Only the services rendered to me during this year by these things are income.”
Fisher’s definition is considered to be better than that of Marshall or Pigou, because Fisher’s definition provides an adequate concept of economic welfare which is dependent on consumption and consumption represents our standard of living.
Modern Definitions
From the modern point of view, Simon Kuznets has defined national income as “the net output of commodities and services flowing during the year from the country’s productive system in the hands of the ultimate consumers.”
Concepts of National Income
There are a number of concepts pertaining to national income and methods of measurement relating to them.
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
GDP is the total value of goods and services produced within the country during a year. This is calculated at market prices and is known as GDP at market prices. Dernberg defines GDP at market price as “the market value of the output of final goods and services produced in the domestic territory of a country during an accounting year.”
- GDP at Factor Cost
GDP at factor cost is the sum of net value added by all producers within the country. Since the net value added gets distributed as income to the owners of factors of production, GDP is the sum of domestic factor incomes and fixed capital consumption (or depreciation).
Thus GDP at Factor Cost = Net value added + Depreciation.
GDP at factor cost includes
(i) Compensation of employees i.e., wages, salaries, etc.
(ii) Operating surplus which is the business profit of both incorporated and unincorporated firms. [Operating Surplus = Gross Value Added at Factor Cost—Compensation of Employees—Depreciation]
(iii) Mixed Income of Self- employed.
- Net Domestic Product (NDP)
NDP is the value of net output of the economy during the year. Some of the country’s capital equipment wears out or becomes obsolete each year during the production process. The value of this capital consumption is some percentage of gross investment which is deducted from GDP. Thus Net Domestic Product = GDP at Factor Cost – Depreciation.
- Nominal and Real GDP
When GDP is measured on the basis of current price, it is called GDP at current prices or nominal GDP. On the other hand, when GDP is calculated on the basis of fixed prices in some year, it is called GDP at constant prices or real GDP.
Nominal GDP is the value of goods and services produced in a year and measured in terms of rupees (money) at current (market) prices. In comparing one year with another, we are faced with the problem that the rupee is not a stable measure of purchasing power. GDP may rise a great deal in a year, not because the economy has been growing rapidly but because of rise in prices (or inflation).
On the contrary, GDP may increase as a result of fall in prices in a year but actually it may be less as compared to the last year. In both 5 cases, GDP does not show the real state of the economy. To rectify the underestimation and overestimation of GDP, we need a measure that adjusts for rising and falling prices.
This can be done by measuring GDP at constant prices which is called real GDP. To find out the real GDP, a base year is chosen when the general price level is normal, i.e., it is neither too high nor too low.
- 5. GDP Deflator
GDP deflator is an index of price changes of goods and services included in GDP. It is a price index which is calculated by dividing the nominal GDP in a given year by the real GDP for the same year and multiplying it by 100.
- Gross National Product (GNP)
GNP is the total measure of the flow of goods and services at market value resulting from current production during a year in a country, including net income from abroad.
GNP includes four types of final goods and services
(i) Consumers’ goods and services to satisfy the immediate wants of the people.
(ii) Gross private domestic investment in capital goods consisting of fixed capital formation, residential construction and inventories of finished and unfinished goods.
(iii) Goods and services produced by the government.
(iv) Net exports of goods and services, i.e., the difference between value of exports and imports of goods and services, known as net income from abroad.
In this concept of GNP, there are certain factors that have to be taken into consideration: First, GNP is the measure of money, in which all kinds of goods and services produced in a country during one year are measured in terms of money at current prices and then added together.
- GNP at Market Prices
When we multiply the total output produced in one year by their market prices prevalent during that year in a country, we get the Gross National Product at market prices. Thus GNP at market prices means the gross value of final goods and services produced annually in a country plus net income from abroad. It includes the gross value of output of all items from (1) to (4) mentioned under GNP. GNP at Market Prices = GDP at Market Prices + Net Income from Abroad.
- GNP at Factor Cost
GNP at factor cost is the sum of the money value of the income produced by and accruing to the various factors of production in one year in a country. It includes all items mentioned above under income method to GNP less indirect taxes.
GNP at market prices always includes indirect taxes levied by the government on goods which raise their prices. But GNP at factor cost is the income which the factors of production receive in return for their services alone. It is the cost of production.
For example if the market price of rice is Rs. 3 per kg but it costs the producers in certain areas Rs. 3.50. The government gives a subsidy of 50 paisa per kg to them in order to meet their cost of production. Thus in order to arrive at GNP at factor cost, subsidies are added to GNP at market prices.
GNP at Factor Cost = GNP at Market Prices – Indirect Taxes + Subsidies.
- Net National Product (NNP)
NNP includes the value of total output of consumption goods and investment goods. But the process of production uses up a certain amount of fixed capital. Some fixed equipment wears out, its other components are damaged or destroyed, and still others are rendered obsolete through technological changes.
All this process is termed depreciation or capital consumption allowance. In order to arrive at NNP, we deduct depreciation from GNP. The word ‘net’ refers to the exclusion of that part of total output which represents depreciation. So NNP = GNP—Depreciation.
- NNP at Market Prices
Net National Product at market prices is the net value of final goods and services evaluated at market prices in the course of one year in a country. If we deduct depreciation from GNP at market prices, we get NNP at market prices. So NNP at Market Prices = GNP at Market Prices—Depreciation.
- NNP at Factor Cost
Net National Product at factor cost is the net output evaluated at factor prices. It includes income earned by factors of production through participation in the production process such as wages and salaries, rents, profits, etc. It is also called National Income. This measure differs from NNP at market prices in that indirect taxes are deducted and subsidies are added to NNP at market prices in order to arrive at NNP at factor cost. Thus
NNP at Factor Cost = NNP at Market Prices – Indirect taxes+ Subsidies
= GNP at Market Prices – Depreciation – Indirect taxes + Subsidies.
= National Income.
Normally, NNP at market prices is higher than NNP at factor cost because indirect taxes exceed government subsidies. However, NNP at market prices can be less than NNP at factor cost when government subsidies exceed indirect taxes.
- Domestic Income
Income generated (or earned) by factors of production within the country from its own resources is called domestic income or domestic product.
Domestic income includes-
(i) Wages and salaries, (ii) rents, including imputed house rents, (iii) interest, (iv) dividends, (v) undistributed corporate profits, including surpluses of public undertakings, (vi) mixed incomes consisting of profits of unincorporated firms, self- employed persons, partnerships, etc., and (vii) direct taxes.
Since domestic income does not include income earned from abroad, it can also be shown as: Domestic Income = National Income-Net income earned from abroad. Thus the difference between domestic income f and national income is the net income earned from abroad. If we add net income from abroad to domestic income, we get national income, i.e., National Income = Domestic Income + Net income earned from abroad.
But the net national income earned from abroad may be positive or negative. If exports exceed import, net income earned from abroad is positive. In this case, national income is greater than domestic income. On the other hand, when imports exceed exports, net income earned from abroad is negative and domestic income is greater than national income.
- Private Income
Private income is income obtained by private individuals from any source, productive or otherwise, and the retained income of corporations. It can be arrived at from NNP at Factor Cost by making certain additions and deductions.
The additions include transfer payments such as pensions, unemployment allowances, sickness and other social security benefits, gifts and remittances from abroad, windfall gains from lotteries or from horse racing, and interest on public debt. The deductions include income from government departments as well as surpluses from public undertakings, and employees’ contribution to social security schemes like provident funds, life insurance, etc.
Thus Private Income = National Income (or NNP at Factor Cost) + Transfer Payments + Interest on Public Debt — Social Security — Profits and Surpluses of Public Undertakings.
- Personal Income
Personal income is the total income received by the individuals of a country from all sources before payment of direct taxes in one year. Personal income is never equal to the national income, because the former includes the transfer payments whereas they are not included in national income.
Personal income is derived from national income by deducting undistributed corporate profits, profit taxes, and employees’ contributions to social security schemes. These three components are excluded from national income because they do reach individuals.
But business and government transfer payments, and transfer payments from abroad in the form of gifts and remittances, windfall gains, and interest on public debt which are a source of income for individuals are added to national income. Thus Personal Income = National Income – Undistributed Corporate Profits – Profit Taxes – Social Security Contribution + Transfer Payments + Interest on Public Debt.
Personal income differs from private income in that it is less than the latter because it excludes undistributed corporate profits.
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