Written by Steven Hansen
The second estimate of second quarter 2017 Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was increased to a positive 3.0 % from the advance estimate’s 2.6 %. Year-over-year growth was also increased from the advance estimate.
Analyst Opinion of GDP
The consumer spending improved, but the real improvement came from using a lower inflation deflator. I am not a fan of quarter-over-quarter exaggerated method of measuring GDP – but my year-over-year preferred method showed moderate acceleration from last quarter.
The market expected:
| Seasonally Adjusted Quarter-over-Quarter Change at annual rate | Consensus Range | Consensus | Advance Actual | 2nd Estimate Actual |
| Real GDP | 2.5 % to 3.0 % | +2.8 % | +2.6 % | +3.0 % |
| GDP price index | 1.0 % to 1.0 % | +1.0 % | +1.0 % | +1.0 % |
| Real Consumer Spending | 2.8 % to 3.5 % | +3.0 % | +2.8 % | +3.3 % |
- Headline GDP is calculated by annualizing one quarter’s data against the previous quarters data. A better method would be to look at growth compared to the same quarter one year ago. For 2Q2017, the year-over-year growth is now 2.2 % – up marginally from 1Q2017’s 2.0 % year-over-year growth. So one might say that the rate of GDP growth improved from the previous quarter.
The same report also provides Gross Domestic Income which in theory should equal Gross Domestic Product. Some have argued the discrepancy is due to misclassification of capital gains as ordinary income – but whatever the reason, there are differences.
Real GDP (blue line) Vs. Real GDI (red line) Expressed As Year-over-Year Change
This second estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” estimate issued last month. (See caveats below.)
Real GDP per Capita
The table below compares the previous quarter estimate of GDP (Table 1.1.2) with the advance estimate this quarter which shows:
- consumption for goods and services improved adding 2.3% to GDP.
- trade balance was unchanged
- inventory change had little affect on GDP
- fixed investment growth added 0.6% to GDP
- federal spending insignificantly decline
The following is Table 1.1.2 before the annual revision: [click to enlarge]
What the BEA says about the second estimate of GDP:
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the second quarter of 2017 (table 1), according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 1.2 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.6 percent. With this second estimate for the second quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains the same; increases in personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and in nonresidential fixed investment were larger than previously estimated. These increases were partly offset by a larger decrease in state and local government spending.
Real gross domestic income (GDI) increased 2.9 percent in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 2.7 percent (revised) in the first. The average of real GDP and real GDI, a supplemental measure of U.S. economic activity that equally weights GDP and GDI, increased 3.0 percent in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent in the first quarter.
The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from PCE, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, federal government spending, and private inventory investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The acceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected upturns in private inventory investment and federal government spending and an acceleration in PCE that were partly offset by downturns in residential fixed investment and state and local government spending and a deceleration in exports.
The following compares the GDP deflator to the Consumer Price Index:
BLS explaination of the changes to GDP:
The percent change in real GDP was revised up from the advance estimate, reflecting upward revisions to PCE and to nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by a downward revision to state and local government spending.
The chart below is a way to visualize real GDP change since 2007. The chart uses a stacked column chart to segment the four major components of GDP with a dashed line overlay to show the sum of the four, which is real GDP itself. As the analysis clear shows, personal consumption is key factor in GDP mathematics.
Caveats on the Use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
GDP is market value of all final goods and services produced within the USA where money is used in the transaction – and it is expressed as an annualized number. GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports), or GDP = C + I + G + (X – M). GDP counts monetary expenditures. It is designed to count value added so that goods are not counted over and over as they move through the manufacture – wholesale – retail chain.
The vernacular relating to the different GDP releases:
“Advance” estimates, based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency, are released near the end of the first month after the end of the quarter; as more detailed and more comprehensive data become available, “second” and “third” estimates are released near the end of the second and third months, respectively. The “latest” estimates reflect the results of both annual and comprehensive revisions.
Consider that GDP includes the costs of suing your neighbor or McDonald’s for hot coffee spilled in your crotch, plastic surgery or cancer treatment, buying a new aircraft carrier for the military, or even the replacement of your house if it burns down – yet little of these activities is real economic growth.
GDP does not include include home costs (other than the new home purchase price even though mortgaged up the kazoo), interest rates, bank charges, or the money spent buying anything used.
It does not measure wealth, disposable income, or employment.
In short, GDP does not measure the change of the economic environment for Joe Sixpack in 1970, and Joe Sixpack’s kid, yet pundits continuously compare GDP across time periods.
Although there always will be some correlation between all economic pulse points, GDP does not measure the economic elements that directly impact the quality of life of its citizens.
include(“/home/aleta/public_html/files/ad_openx.htm”); ?>
