The IPI is a monthly series that measures output in manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities: Federal Reserve Statistical Release G17. Individual indexes of industrial production are constructed from two types of source data: (1) output measured in physical units and (2) inputs used in the production process (e.g., production-worker hours). GDP is a quarterly series that measures the market value of the goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States. The aggregate GDP measure that corresponds most closely to the IPI is a GDP for goods measure that consists of durable and nondurable goods within personal consumption expenditures, fixed investment, change in private inventories, and net exports (Table 1.2.5). GDP values production in terms of purchasers’ prices, the final prices paid by consumers and by other final-demand sectors. The IPI values production in terms of producers’ prices paid to manufacturers by wholesalers, by retailers, and, in the case of direct sales, by consumers. These differences may explain some of the discrepancies between the growth in the IPI versus the growth in GDP goods because, for recent periods, much of the growth in GDP goods has been in the retail trade and wholesale trade industries rather than in the goods-producing industries. For example, in 2003, the real value added of retail trade industries grew 3.6 percent, whereas, the real value added of goods-producing industries (measured in producers’ prices) grew 1.2 percent (GDP by Industry).
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