An attempt will be made to study the impacts of government policies on the distribution of income, paying close attention to the corresponding response of the different macroeconomic aggregates and balances. The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) will be chosen as the working instrument. A numerical version of the SAM, constructed from the System of National Accounts (SNA), will serve as the basis for the construction of an algebraic version of the same matrix for Portugal.This methodological choice was linked to the fact that, underlying the SAM, there are interrelated subsystems that, in the numerical version of the matrix, provide an analytical picture of the circular flow or general equilibrium interactions of the market economy, when studied during a particular accounting period. On the other hand, in the algebraic version of the SAM, it is possible to measure and quantify the economy-wide effects of changes in the particular nominal flows represented by the numerical version (injections from and leakages into the system), which might be the result of policy measures.To this end, a computable (numerically solvable) general (economy-wide) equilibrium (macroeconomic balance) approach will be adopted. A SAM-based model will be constructed in perfect consonance with the SNA, in which each cell is defined with a linear equation or system of equations, whose components are all the known and quantified transactions of that system, using the parameters of the numerical SAM that served as the basis for this model. Scenarios will be defined and analyzed from experiments carried out in relation to the distributional impact of government policies.

The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) can be considered a tool to be used for measuring a society's activity. It provides a description of that activity, which can be either empirical or theoretical, depending on whether it is presented in a numerical or an algebraic version, respectively. Special attention will be paid here to the numerical version, and a method will be proposed for its construction from the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA). After the first and most fundamental contribution made by Richard Stone, the SNA (with its successive improved versions, from 1953 to 2008) has established a set of rules for measuring a society's activity, which the statistical offices of countries or groups of countries have adopted and adapted to their specific realities, thus defining their own systems. Through an application of the SAM to Portugal, a basic structure, based on the SNA, will be proposed for this matrix, and its consistency within the whole system will be studied. Possible disaggregations, extensions, aggregates, indicators and balances will be calculated and other aspects beyond that basic structure will also be examined. It will be concluded that using the SNA in a SAM-based approach contributes towards a better modelling of (socio-)economic policy, emphasizing the importance of that approach as a valuable support in policy decision processes.

This title was first published in 2002: Showing how the social accounting matrix provides a comprehensive framework for the analysis and tabulation of national statistics and how it can assist in developing economic policy, this work also demonstrates the key aspects of this approach in dealing with a wide range of economic and social issues. The reference, and the accompanying volume, "Social Accounting and Economic Modelling for Developing Countries" should be useful for researchers, instructors, policy makers and scholars.

The 1993 SNA represents a major advance in national accounting. While updating and clarifying the 1968 SNA, the 1993 SNA provides the basis for improving compilation of national accounts statistics, promoting integration of economic and related statistics, and enhancing analysis of economic developments. The 1993 SNA deals more clearly with relationships between economic flows (such as production, income, savings, accumulation, and financing) and links between these flows and stocks. At the same time the 1993 SNA reflects the many significant developments that have taken place in financial markets and completes the integration of balance sheets into the system. The 1993 SNA also suggests how satellite accounts (e.g. environmental accounts) and alternative classifications (e.g., through social accounting matrices) an be used to augment the central framework of the system.

Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) will be presented as tools that have specific features for studying the socio-economic activity of countries. Such features allow for the reading and interpretation of the reality under study, leading to the production of an empirical work that is not only capable of highlighting specific aspects of that activity, but also offers the chance to experiment with different interventions in regard to its functioning. In stating that the knowledge of the socio-economic activity of countries involves the use of national accounts, emphasis is placed on the desirability of working in a matrix format, which simultaneously includes activities (or industries), products, factors of production and institutions. This will be considered to be a way of capturing the relevant network of linkages and the corresponding multiplier effects in the subsequent modelling of the socio-economic activity of the countries studied.A methodological framework based on the works of R. Stone, G. Pyatt and J. Round, will be adopted outlining the main features of the SAM-based approach, according to which the SAM can describe the activity of countries either empirically or theoretically, depending on whether it is presented in a numerical or an algebraic version, respectively.Based on the latest version of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA), a proposal for a numerical version of a SAM will be presented. Firstly, a basic structure will be presented and the need to ensure its consistency with the whole system will be emphasized. Such emphasis will then be reinforced through the analysis of possible disaggregations and extensions to that basic structure. The different forms of analysis made possible by the use of aggregates, indicators and balancing items that can be calculated from such a version and which lie outside the matrix format will also be discussed. Finally, that proposal will be compared with the matrix format of the national accounts, proposed by the above referred System of National Accounts. Because any socio-economic study made of a specific space, namely, a country, should involve the consideration of its population, Socio-Demographic Matrices (SDMs) will also be briefly presented and two examples of approaches based on SAMs and SDMs will be sketched out.The exposition will be illustrated with an application to Portugal.

Several different areas of the socio-economic activity of countries, and in particular the distribution of income, can be studied with the use of Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs). The features underlying a SAM allow for the reading and interpretation of the socio-economic activity of countries, leading to the production of an empirical work that can highlight specific aspects of the reality under study and offers the chance to perform experiments with changes in those aspects. Thus, SAMs can also be used to support policy decision processes.With the aid of some methodological principles based on the works of R. Stone, G. Pyatt and J. Round, a SAM-based approach to the study of income distribution is carried out, seeking to provide both an empirical and a theoretical description of the socio-economic activity of a country, respectively through a numerical and an algebraic version of a SAM. The algebraic version can also be referred to as a 'SAM-based model'.This study uses the nomenclatures of the latest version of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA).By including production and institutions accounts in a matrix format, the structural features of a country's production and income distribution can be worked upon together, making it possible to capture specific networks of linkages and the corresponding multiplier effects, in subsequent modelling exercises.A basic SAM is presented, with rows and columns representing accounts. The production accounts are represented by activities (or industries), products (or goods and services), and factors of production. The (domestic) institutions are represented by the current, capital and financial accounts. The rest of the world account represents the “external” part of the (domestic) economy.Bearing in mind the importance of ensuring the consistency of the whole system, possible disaggregations and extensions to that basic structure are analysed.Aggregates and balancing items that can be identified and calculated outside this matrix format are also presented.An assessment of a country's distribution and use of income is presented, by means of the identification of some of the underlying structural features of SAMs.Macroeconomic effects of changes in income are then identified by way of an experiment with a change in the taxes on income and wealth, paid by the households to the government, using a SAM-based approach.The exposition is accompanied by an example which is applied to Portugal.