This chapter provides a comparison of the National Time Accountings (NTAs) to the U.S. national economic accounts, that is, the National Income and Products Accounts (NIPAs). Like the NIPAs, which are a comprehensive measure of market activity and its components, the NTAs are designed as a comprehensive measure of total utility and its parts. The NTAs avoid the long-standing problem of many well-being indicators that put a subjective value, or weight, on the various indicators used to develop an index of well-being. Although the NTAs are not a double-entry accounting system, they can be...

This chapter provides a comparison of the National Time Accountings (NTAs) to the U.S. national economic accounts, that is, the National Income and Products Accounts (NIPAs). Like the NIPAs, which are a comprehensive measure of market activity and its components, the NTAs are designed as a comprehensive measure of total utility and its parts. The NTAs avoid the long-standing problem of many well-being indicators that put a subjective value, or weight, on the various indicators used to develop an index of well-being. Although the NTAs are not a double-entry accounting system, they can be imagined as being combined with a set of household production accounts to produce a set of input-output accounts. If the U-index or net affect indexes change slowly, then the NTAs probably do not need to be constructed or released in as timely a manner as the NIPAs.