THE NATIONAL ACCOUNT THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Abstract

The growing concern with the environmental impacts of economic activities in modern societies has had repercurssions on the field of statistics. Its was realized that the national accounts - the synthesis - system of the aggregate economy - is totally incapable of measuring such impacts Activities that generate strong environmental degradetion are often registred as providing positive contributions to the economy, and an expansion originated in the depletion of an exhaustible resorce is accounted as growth – producing. Such problems gave rise to an effort, led by the United Nations and the World Bank, to reform the system, making it able to correctly register the economic impacts of the environmental degration stemming from production and consumption activies. The object of this article is to evaluate the main problems with the present national accounts system, and divulge a proposal, currently being tested, for the implementation of a system of satellite accounts that would allow the national accounts system to get around such problems.