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Gross National Product

Gross National Product is the total market value of final goods and services produced by the residents of a nation, even if those residents live abroad. Before 1991, this was the primary measure of the economy used by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Since then, {gross domestic product} has been used. The BEA said at the time that GDP was a more appropriate measure of the nation’s production and most other countries had already begun using it as their primary benchmark. The difference is that GDP includes goods and services produced by all those living within a country’s borders, regardless of their nationality. U.S. residents’ earnings from overseas investments would be part of GNP but not GDP; whereas, earnings from foreign-owned investments on U.S. land would be part of GDP but not GNP.