The 1995 ESA and the 1970 ESA

1.25 The 1995 ESA differs in scope as well as in concepts from the 1970 ESA. Most of these differences correspond to differences between the 1968 SNA and 1993 SNA. Some of these major differences in scope are:

1. the inclusion of balance sheets;
2. the inclusion of other changes in assets accounts, i.e. the introduction of the concepts other changes in volume, nominal holding gains and real holding gains;
3. the introduction of a subsectoring of households;
4. the introduction of a new concept of final consumption: Actual Final Consumption;
5. the introduction of a new price-adjusted income concept: real national disposable income;
6. the inclusion of the concept of purchasing power parities.

Some of the major differences in concepts are:

1. literary-artistic work (writing books, composing music) is now regarded as production; payments for literary-artistic work are therefore payments for services and not property income;
2. the valuation of the output of insurance services has changed in some respects, e.g. the revenues from the investment of technical reserves are now also taken into account in valuing the output of non-life insurance;
3. more detailed treatment of trade and transport margins;
4. the introduction of chain linking for calculating constant prices;
5. the concept of financial leasing has been introduced (the 1968 SNA and 1970 ESA contained only the concept of operational leasing);
6. expenditure on mineral exploration and on computer software is now recorded as capital formation (instead of as intermediate consumption);
7. capital consumption should also be recorded for infrastructurel works of government (roads, dikes, etc.);
8. identification of new financial instruments, such as repurchase agreements, and derivative financial instruments such as options;
9. the use of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) is now allocated to user sectors/industries instead of to a nominal sector (industry). As a consequence, the use of FISIM is not anymore by convention recorded entirely as intermediate consumption, but can also be final consumption and exports. This implies then that imports of FISIM can also occur.

1. the introduction of supply and use tables (this was already included in the 1968 SNA);
2. the introduction of some registration thresholds and the reference to specific institutional arrangements in the EU (see paragraph 1.24.);
3. a clear choice in favour of valuing output at basic prices (the 1970 ESA, the 1968 SNA and the 1993 SNA also accept valuation at producer's prices);
4. the introduction of the concepts of economically active population and unemployment (these concepts are absent in the 1968 and 1993 SNA).