Comprehensive revision of gross state product by industry, 1977-94 - U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis - includes related article on data availability, GSP estimate release schedule and revision acknowledgements

Survey of Current Business, June, 1997 by Howard L. Friedenberg, Richard M. Beemiller

For government, the change in the share ranged from an increase of 2.8 percentage points in West Virginia to a decline of 6.5 percentage points in Hawaii. The increase in West Virginia was mainly in State and local government, and the decline in Hawaii was in Federal Government.

State shares.--In general, the States that accounted for the largest and the smallest shares of current-dollar GSP in 1994 were the same as those in 1977 (chart 1). The largest changes in shares from 1977 to 1994 were mainly in the States with the largest shares: The shares of Florida, California, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Texas increased 0.4 percentage point or more, and the shares of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York declined 0.5 percentage point or more.

[CHART 1 OMITTED]

Revisions to the GSP Estimates

This section discusses the impact of the revisions to the GSP estimates, the major sources of the revisions, and the changes in the presentation of the GSP estimates.

Impact of the revisions

Current-dollar estimates.--Table 3 shows the revisions to the GSP estimates for the benchmark years 1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992, when the estimates are mainly based on State source data from economic censuses rather than on extrapolation or interpolation. For the Nation, the revisions to GSP range from $25.9 billion in 1977, or 1.3 percent of the previously published estimate, to $141.0 billion in 1992, or 2.4 percent of the previously published estimate. For most States, the revisions to GSP as a percentage of the previously published estimates are small; in general, the revisions are largest in the Mideast and Far West States and smallest in the Great Lakes and Southwest States.

[TABULAR DATA 3 NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

Table 4 highlights the 10 States with the largest average percentage revisions (upward or downward) for the 4 benchmark years. The revisions to GSP exceed 5.0 percent only in Hawaii in all benchmark years, in New York in 1987 and 1992, in Virginia in 1982 and 1987, in Florida in 1982, and in Louisiana and Alaska in 1992. For the 10 States, the revisions mainly reflect the statistical changes incorporated into the current-dollar estimates of GSP for a few industries: "Other real estate" and State and local government in most of these States; Federal Government in Hawaii, Virginia, Maryland, and Alaska; nonfarm housing services in Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho; "pipelines, except natural gas" in Alaska; oil and gas extraction in Alaska and Louisiana; communications in Mississippi and Idaho; and wholesale trade in New York. The revisions to other real estate, oil and gas extraction, and communications mainly reflect the incorporation of data from the 1992 economic censuses. The revisions to government mainly reflect the new treatment of government investment.(9) The revisions to nonfarm housing services and to pipelines, except natural gas mainly reflect the incorporation of the August 1996 revisions to national GPO estimates for these industries.(10) The revisions to wholesale trade mainly reflect the shift of the Federal excise tax on gasoline and gasohol from petroleum and coal products in manufacturing to wholesale trade.(11)