Salient to Investors:
The US economy will officially become 3 per cent bigger in July as government statistics take into account 21st century components such as film royalties and spending on R&D.
Brent Moulton at the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the update was the biggest since computer software was added in 1999.
The changes will force economists to revisit policy debates about everything from corporate profits to the causes of economic growth.
Currently R&D counts as a cost of doing business, but will now count as an investment, adding over 2 per cent to GDP.
Deficits in defined benefit pension schemes will be included because what companies have promised to pay out will be measured, rather than the cash they pay into plans.
Steve Landefeld at BEA said the revisions were unlikely to alter the picture of what has happened to the economy in recent years.
Read the full article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/52d23fa6-aa98-11e2-bc0d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ZybLWkkr
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