Chapter 4 deals with the construction of input–output tables from standardized conventions of national economic accounts, such as the widely used System of National Accounts (SNA) promoted by the United Nations, including a basic introduction to the so-called commodity-by-industry or supply-use input–output framework developed in additional detail in Chapter 5. A simplified SNA is derived from fundamental economic concepts of the circular flow of income and expenditure, that is, as additional sectoral details are defined for businesses, households, government, foreign trade, and capital formation, ultimately result in the basic commodity-by-industry formulation of input–output accounts. The process is illustrated with the US input–output model and some of the key traditional conventions widely applied for such considerations as secondary production (multiple products or commodities produced by a business), competitive imports (commodities that are also produced domestically) versus non-competitive imports (commodities not produced domestically), trade and transportation margins on interindustry transactions, or the treatment of scrap and secondhand goods.

GDP is the most influential indicator in the world. It is published all over the world and there is a powerful logistical infrastructure (the "GDP multinational") which involves national statistical offices, international institutes, policy researchers, academics, media and society. Yet GDP is not a good measure of sustainability or well-being and this is why hundreds of alternatives have been proposed in the last decades. This "Beyond-GDP cottage industry" is expanding all the time but there is no sign that it is going to threaten the dominance of GDP anytime soon. Replacing GDP by 2030 provides a strategy to overcome this situation by 2030 and Chapter 1 provides an outline of the arguments made in the book.

GDP is the most influential indicator in the world. It is published all over the world and there is a powerful logistical infrastructure (the "GDP multinational") which involves national statistical offices, international institutes, policy researchers, academics, media and society. Yet GDP is not a good measure of sustainability or well-being and this is why hundreds of alternatives have been proposed in the last decades. This "Beyond-GDP cottage industry" is expanding all the time but there is no sign that it is going to threaten the dominance of GDP anytime soon. Replacing GDP by 2030 provides a strategy to overcome this situation by 2030 and Chapter 1 provides an outline of the arguments made in the book.