Table 1 below exhibits the proposed composition of the envisioned database, which is listed in reference to three periodic time frames under consideration. In order to underline a few important implications of the table, several remarks are in order.
First, as a direct consequence of the adoption of the SNA scheme, domestic, instead of national, concept will be used throughout the project.
Second, the concepts of products and of expenditures are basically gross of depreciation, marking a significant departure from the earlier, post-WWII practices of social accounting in the Western countries.(2)
Third, the economic actors are classified according either to (a) the flow of goods and services, or to (b) the flow of finance. The first category, (a), which is concerned with the accounts of production, consumption and capital formation, consists of the following four actors: industries, government services, private non-profit services to households, and households. "Industries" here refers to the aggregate sum of production activities by private enterprises, and is subdivided into several groups, according to common elements in technology and/or outputs, by utilising the two-digit classification scheme of The International Standard Industrial Classification ( United Nations 1968a ), whose abridged version is reproduced in Table 2 below. It is strongly recommended, in anticipation of adjustments which may be needed to reconcile possible conceptual discrepancies in industry classifications of different ages and regions, that its three-digit version be utilised insofar as possible in collecting and compiling the original statistical figures.
The second category mentioned above, (b), is concerned with the sources and disposition of income, the accumulation and financing of capital, and balance sheets. In reference to this category, economic institutions are classified into five groups, namely, non-financial corporate and quasi-corporate enterprises, financial institutions, general government, private non-profit institutions serving households, and households. (Note that the last item includes non-financial private unincorporated enterprises.)(3)
These two classification schemes serve as the most essential frame of reference in compiling the final outcome of the ASHSTAT in as standardised a manner as practicable.
In addition, there are two other, equally ( if not more ) important systems of classification for the project, i.e. those of commodities and of occupations. Goods and services, the outcomes of activities of the economic actors, are to be classified with due respect being paid to The Standard International Trade Classification ( United Nations, 1961 ). It is especially important that this standard be adhered to in constructing a meaningful international, trade-statistics database. On the other hand, International Standard Classification of Occupations serves as a bench mark in identifying and analysing the structures of national labour forces and their transformations over time.
The outcomes of the above estimating procedures will be utilised, together with some additional estimating work, to arrive at the statistics of GDE ( Table 3 ).