Transactions with and without counterparts

1.37 Transactions involving more than one unit are either 'something for something' or 'something for nothing' transactions. The former are exchanges between institutional units, i.e. provision of goods, services or assets in return for a counterpart, e.g. money. The latter typically are payments in cash or in kind from one institutional unit to another without counterpart. 'Something for something' transactions occur in all four transaction groups, while 'something for nothing' transactions occur mainly among distributive transactions, in the form of, for example, taxes, social assistance benefits or gifts.