ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the book. It begins by discussing various problems encountered in the System of National Accounts, the international guidelines for how to calculate GDP. For example, while war-making and financial services are included in GDP, unpaid domestic services and human capital formation are excluded. Principles of national accounts and different classifications have changed over time and are contingent on the theoretical perspective. The chapter introduces the aim of the book, which is to formulise trans-historical definitions of production, work and consumption. This study proposes a framework that shows that various definitions of the production boundary can be perceived as variations of a common understanding across different theoretical traditions of how humans consciously change external nature in order to satisfy human needs.
