Gross Output of Industry

the portion of the gross social product created in the sphere of industry. It is the total result, measured in monetary terms, of the productive industrial activity of all industrial enterprises during a given period.

In the USSR, industry is developing at a steady rate. During the period 1961-69 alone, the gross output of industry more than doubled. In the USSR, it is calculated by the so-called factory method of calculation, that is, by summing up the data on the gross output of individual industrial enterprises. Calculated in this manner, the gross output of industry reflects the total volume of production of all industrial enterprises, regardless of whether the production goes for nonproductive consumption or for the productive needs of other enterprises in the form of raw material or semifinished or batch products used in making up an article. Characteristic of the factory method of calculating the gross output of industry is the fact that every enterprise is regarded as the final stage in the production process. By this method, that portion of the production of industrial enterprises which goes for further processing or for the productive purposes of other enterprises is included repeatedly in the overall value of the gross output of industry. In order to eliminate this repeated calculation from the totals for a trust (association), the trust method of calculating the gross output of industry is employed. Under this method, the sum of internal circulation of a trust—that is, the value of all semifinished products manufactured within the trust (association) and consumed in the enterprises of this trust (association)—is excluded from the gross output of industry of the trust (association). Calculated by the trust method, the gross output of industry shows the final result of the activity of the enterprises of the trust, taken as a single establishment. To eliminate the repeated calculation in determining the gross output of industry for a branch of industry as a whole, the branch method of calculating the gross output of industry is employed. Under this method, the sum of internal turnover of a branch—that is, the value of the produce processed by enterprises of the branch for other enterprises within the same branch—is excluded from the gross output of industry of the branch. In order to avoid the repeated calculation in determining the gross output of industry for an industry as a whole, the intra-industrial turnover—that is, the value of the production consumed in the other enterprises of all the branches of the industry—is excluded from the gross output of industry calculated according to the factory method.

In computing the gross output of industry according to the national economy method, the value of the stock, raw material, and semifinished products consumed not only by industry but by agricultural production as well is excluded from the gross output of industry, calculated by the factory method on a scale for the national economy as a whole.

In plans for the development of the national economy and in statistical reports and summaries, the gross output of industry is computed according to the factory method. Methods of calculating the gross output of industry are used to analyze the economic ties within a trust, association, branch, industry, or national economy, and also to set up the balance of the national economy.