Beyond GDP: Get Ready For A New Way To Measure The Economy

(This story appears in the December 16, 2013 issue of Forbes.)

“A balanced Input-Output framework…provides a more accurate and consistent picture of the U. S. economy.”

Starting in spring 2014, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release a breakthrough new economic statistic on a quarterly basis. It’s called Gross Output, a measure of total sales volume at all stages of production. GO is almost twice the size of GDP, the standard yardstick for measuring final goods and services produced in a year.