# Gross Material Product

Gross Material Product (GMP) is a measure of national accounts used in Questers since 1991. It differs to the ML System of National Accounts widely, in both manner of accounting and ideological grounding. GMP can be measured either nominally, in the host countries currency, or in purchasing power parity.

## System

Although GMP works in countries with administered prices, it is designed to be measured as the gross material output of each country, rather than the amount of goods consumed in a free market; it is therefore an output-measure of national accounts, as opposed to the more commonly used expenditure-measure. GMP excludes what Questarian economists consider the 'non-productive' sector of the economy, such as services, education and healthcare, and as such is traditionally around 70-75% of gross domestic product in Questers.

GMP is the main figure by which economic statistics are publicly discussed in Questers. The system has been criticised, as detractors claim by showing only value output, that Gross Material Product does not show what the distribution of goods and what is actually available to the consumer, and does not take into account the balance of trade: Questers in particularly has a large trade imbalance that shows up negatively on GDP but not on GMP. The system has therefore been criticised for disguising the true state of the economy from the public. Critics have also shown how the system, since it is not based on market prices, does not take into account supply and demand factors, camouflaging the number of shortages in Questers.

Proponents say that GMP is intended to measure only the material output of a country, and that distribution is unimportant since Questers has egalitarian income policies and administered prices. In a Communist society, the true distribution of goods by consumption is unimportant, since everyone receives a roughly equal proportion of overall production. The Questarian National Statistics Office defends the GMP system on its website.

## Comparison to GDP

GMP includes the 'productive' aspects of the economy, but not many services. It was updated to include both capital depreciation and the value of social enterprises.

$GMP = SV+(VO-VC)-D$
Where SV is social enterprise value added, VO is value of output and VC is value of costs, and D is capital depreciation.

Figures for 2015 are:

Indicator £ Value ₠ Value  % GDP  % GMP
Gross Material Product £24,452 billion ₠1,562 billion 76.5% 100%
Gross Domestic Product £31,964 billion ₠2,042 billion 100% 130%