The Government Just Added $559 Billion To GDP Through Revisions

In an effort to "modernize" its account, the Bureau of Economic Analysis today revised GDP figures dating back to 1929 — something it does about every 5 years.

Definitional and accounting changes meant that in 2012, for example, the level of current-dollar GDP was bumped up $559.8 million.

From the BEA, here is a summary of the revisions made:

• For 1929–2012, the average annual growth rate of real GDP was 3.3 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than in the previously published estimates. For the more recent period, 2002–2012, the growth rate was 1.8 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than in the previously published estimates.
• For 2002–2012, the average rate of change in the prices paid by U.S. residents was 2.3 percent, 0.1 percentage point lower than in the previously published estimates.
• For 2009–2012, the average annual growth rate of real GDP was 2.4 percent, 0.3 percentage point higher than in the previously published estimates. The percent change in real GDP was revised up 0.1 percentage point for 2010, was unrevised for 2011, and was revised up 0.6 percentage point for 2012.
• For the period of contraction from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2009, real GDP decreased at an average annual rate of 2.9 percent; in the previously published estimates, it decreased 3.2 percent.
• For the period of expansion from the second quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2013, real GDP increased at an average annual rate of 2.2 percent; in the previously published estimates, it increased 2.1 percent.