Úr þjóðarbúskapnum - 01.12.1961, Blaðsíða 66

A Study of Consumers' Expenditure
in lceland 1957 and 1958
(English Summary)
Estimates of National Income in Iceland
have been based, with certain corrections, on
tax returns of personal incomes and non-
distributed corporate profits. However, as it
was felt that these estimates were too low
in all years, it was deemed useful to make an
independent study of consumers’ expenditure
to use as check.
Budget data collected from 80 families of
wage earners in 1953/54, excluded certain
types of expenditure and did not reflect the
expenditure patterns of other social classes.
For this reason a new approach was explored.
The study presented here tried to sum up
goods available for consumption, whether im-
ported or domestically produced. To make
some corrections for changes in stocks two
consecutive years were calculated. The dif-
ference between the totals so obtained and the
residuals obtained from previous national ex-
penditure calculations - i. e. m kr. 3 533 in 1957
and m kr. 4 096 in 1958, and m kr. 3 347 in 1957
and m kr. 3 788 in 1958 respectively — might
be accounted for as follows:
(a) Differences in the valuations of food-
stuffs consumed by producers, in this
report and in tax returns.
(b) Income tax free compensation by private
insurance firms for personal accidents
(payments made by the State Insurance
Institute are taxable).
(c) Expenditure by firms for representation
and various other purposes deducted
from profits, but included here under the
appropriate headings.
(d) Tax evasion.
Data were received from various sources
and with various degrees of reliability. All
tables are therefore marked with a reliability
index — (A) based on official data, (B) good
estimates of quantity or price, (C) rough esti-
mates.
Consumers’ Expenditure on Food was esti-
mated according to the new cost of living in-
dex, the food bill for one year of the standard
family of 4.24 persons (3.02 food consumption
units) (2) cost Ikr. 23 203.39 at March 1959
prices. This ”food basket” would have cost Ikr.
22 915.67 at average prices of 1957 and Ikr.
24 625.76 in 1958. The total population of Ice-
land at July 1, (165 110 in 1957 and 168 770
in 1958) would represent 126 721 food con-
sumption units in 1957, and 129 439 food con-
sumption units in 1958. Using the standard
family’s data, the total population’s expendi-
ture for food would amount to Ikr. 962 million
in 1957 and Ikr. 1055 million in 1958, where
our calculation shows the expenditure for food
(food consumed in hospitals included) as Ikr.
1029 million in 1957 and Ikr. 1162 million in
1958, a difference of 7% and 8% respectively.
Quantities of food were obtained from Im-