Abstract
The systematic compilation of economic data into national accounts ranks among the most important innovations in social sciences. With roots in Quesnay's tables and William Petty's 17th century assessments of England's national income, the current system of national accounts (SNA) integrates a wealth of information pertaining to the economic state of a nation. Its importance in today's economic life cannot be overestimated. The SNA remains the basis for the construction, evaluation and comparison of economic performance throughout the world. At a more mundane level, the information presented in the SNA belongs to everyday economic drama. Witness, for example, the flurry of activities triggered by the publication of the quarterly US figures on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or, say, the Japanese current account figures.