Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/224



Until recently there has been nothing but random studies of the amount of the national income, which generally have dealt only with a single year. Fortunately this gap in economic knowledge has lately been filled by the work of the National Bureau of Economic Research, which has compiled statistics for each year of the period 1909–1919. I have added my own estimates for 1920–1922.

The National Bureau made two independent computations, one based on production, the other on incomes received. The two sets of figures agreed closely. Either one might have been accepted as a good approximation to the truth. However, by analysis and comparison of the two sets of figures a third set was deduced as being the most probable. Thus we are now advantaged by data on this subject that are probably correct within 10 per cent plus or minus.

Combining the data of the National Bureau for gross income and estimates for capital accumulation by Doctor Friday and by myself, we may determine by difference the amount of the national living expenses. I have introduced a figure for 1914 with no other reason than that the estimated expenses in the years immediately preceding and following make it look probable. By “living expenses” is meant that exactly. The cost of the war came out of what is headed “savings,”