Preview of the 2009 Comprehensive Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts New Classifications for Personal Consumption Expenditures

摘要

IN 2009, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the results of a comprehensive, or benchmark, revision of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs). The comprehensive revision will incorporate the results of the 2002 benchmark input-output (I-O) accounts as well as changes in definitions, classifications, statistical methods, source data, and presentation. A major change will be the incorporation of a new classification system for personal consumption expenditures (PCE). This new system defines new categories of expenditures by type of expenditure and by type of product. Estimates of the newly defined expenditure categories were incorporated into the 2002 benchmark I-O estimates, and the new classification system was briefly described in the March 2008 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS.1 This article provides a more detailed explanation of the new system.