IX. THE USE OF INCOME ACCOUNT
C. Consumption goods and services
| 9.41. | A consumption good or service is defined as a good or service that is used (without further transformation in production as defined in the System) by households, NPISHs or government units for the direct satisfaction of individual needs or wants or the collective needs of members of the community. |
| 9.42. | An individual consumption good or service is one that is acquired by a household and used to satisfy the needs and wants of members of that household. Individual goods and services can always be bought and sold on the market, although they may also be provided free, or at prices that are not economically significiant, as transfers in kind. In practice, all goods and most services are individual. |
| 9.43. | A collective consumption service is a service provided simultaneously to all members of the community or to all members of a particular section of the community, such as all households living in a particular region. Collective services are automatically acquired and consumed by all members of the community, or group of households in question, without any action on their part. Typical examples are public administration and the provision of security, either at a national or local level. Collective services are the "public goods" of economic theory. By their nature, collective services cannot be sold to individuals on the market, and they are financed by government units out of taxation or other incomes. The differences between individual and collective consumption goods or services are elaborated further in paragraphs 9.80 to 9.89 below. |
| 9.44. | Some of the services provided by NPISHs to the members of the associations that own them have some of the characteristics of collective services; for example, some research carried out by NPISHs may benefit all members of the community. However, most of the services provided by NPISHs are individual in nature and, for simplicity, all the services provided by NPISHs are treated by convention as individual. |
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