ABSTRACT
The national dividend will change in one way from the point of view of a period in which tastes and distribution are of one sort, and in a different way from that of a period in which they are of another sort. A good sample collection should contain representatives of all the groups with different characteristics that enter into the national dividend, or of that part of it which we are trying to measure. It involves the money figure that would be obtained by adding together the consumers' surpluses, as measured in money, derived from each several sort of commodity contained in the dividend. If all the commodities concerned were being produced under conditions of constant supply price, the assumption would conform exactly to the facts. First, except for certain articles of large popular consumption, the retail prices charged to consumers are difficult to ascertain.
