System of international comparisons of gross product and purchasing power

The initial phase of the ICP, reported in this volume, had two main purposes: first, to work out the methods for the system of international comparisons, and, second, partly, an end in itself and partly an adjunct to the first purpose, actually to make such comparisons for a group of countries selected to provide a variety of countries with respect to income levels, systems of economic organization, and locations. In light of the latter consideration, we were fortunate to have obtained the cooperation of the following countries for the initial set of comparisons: Colombia, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, the European Economic Community (EEC), which carred out a comparison among its six constituent countries and with some outside countries for the year 1970, coordinated its work closely with the ICP. The governments of France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Italy authorized the EEC Statistical Office to provide the ICP with the necessary data for the comparisons. For expository convenience, these three countries are referred to as the "EEC countries," although the passage of time has made the United Kingdom an EEC country as well. Real product and purchasing power comparisons are presented herein for these ten countries for 1970 and for six of them for 1967 as well. The comparisons relate not only to GDP as a whole, but also to consumption, capital formation and government.