Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2020

 

Changes in the Core Indicators of China’s National Economic Accounting： From MPS National Income to SNA Gross Domestic Product

(Abstract)

 

Xu Xianchun

 

In the early days of the People’s Republic of China, its national economic accounting system adopted the Material Product System (MPS) developed under the Soviet Union’s highly centralized planned economy; and its core indicators of national economic accounting thus used MPS for calculating national income. With reform and opening up, in line with the change from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, China’s national economic accounting adopted the System of National Accounts (SNA) developed in market economy countries. Accordingly, the core index of China’s national economic accounting changed from the MPS (national income) to the SNA (GDP) system. Summing up the main content of China’s MPS national income accounting and charting the course of the transition from MPS to SNA’s GDP, the ways in which the transition occurred, and the constant improvement in the international comparability of the SNA will help research workers gain a better understanding of the development of the core indicators of China’s national economic accounting and will further provide them with a solid foundation for an accurate grasp of the changes in China’s economic growth data, which will lead to more objective research on changes in China’s mid-to long-term economic development.