International comparison of gross domestic product in Europe, 1996 : results of the European Comparison Programme

Presents benchmark results of the 1996 round of the European Comparison Program (ECP), covering 52 countries. Gives a brief overview of the program, with particular attention paid to the concept of purchasing power parity, collection of price and expenditure data, and interpretation of results. Presents numerical tables on ECP 1996 results at GDP level, and trends in relative GDP per capita. Lacks a subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

• Section 1 Introduction p. 1
• 1.1 Highlights of the ECP 1996 p. 2
• Section 2 Objectives of the comparisons p. 4
• 2.1 The concept of purchasing power parities (PPPs) p. 4
• 2.2 Real values, volume indices and price level indices p. 5
• Section 3 Organisation of the comparison p. 6
• Section 4 Methodological framework p. 7
• 4.1 Classification p. 7
• 4.2 Product selection p. 9
• 4.3 Price surveys p. 9
• 4.4 Treatment of specific headings p. 10
• 4.4.1 Housing rents p. 10
• 4.4.2 Non-market services p. 11
• Section 5 Calculation of PPPs p. 12
• 5.1 Parities for basic headings p. 12
• 5.2 Aggregation p. 13
• 5.3 The choice of the numeraire country and numeraire currency p. 13
• Section 6 Combining regional comparison results p. 14
• 6.1 Linking within Group I p. 14
• 6.2 Linking Groups I, II and III p. 14
• Section 7. Note on the comparison results: quality and limitations p. 15
• 7.1 General remarks p. 15
• 7.2 Treatment of "comparison resistant" items p. 15
• 7.3 Presentation and interpretation of the results p. 16
• 7.4 Notes on the tables p. 18
• 7.5 Symbols and abbreviations in the tables p. 19
• Annex A. List of references p. 21
• Annex B. Summary tables I and II: ECP 1996 results at GDP level p. 23
• Detailed tables of the overall ECP 1996 results
• Annex C. Trends in relative GDP per capita p. 44