Calculation of Initial Distribution of National Income in China and Comparison Based on Profit Rate—From the Theoretical Perspective of Marxist Economics

There are usually three data sources for the initial distribution of national income in China: input-output table, capital flow table, and income-based GDP, and there are some differences in the research based on different data. Through the comparison of the initial distribution ratio measured by three kinds of data, it is found that the initial distribution ratio measured by three kinds of data sources is convergent after 2008, and it is almost the same in the later years. The difference mainly exists in previous years. Based on the close relationship among profit rate, capital accumulation, and economic growth in Marxist economics, this paper calculates profit rate (and adjusted profit rate) with different data sources, and calculates the correlation coefficient between profit rate and economic growth rate, as well as the correlation coefficient between profit rate and capital growth rate. Based on the comparison of correlation coefficients, we find that the relationship between input-output table data and economic growth rate is the closest, but there is no continuous annual data. If you need to analyze the dynamic relationship between capital accumulation and profitability, you can use the annual profit rate calculated by income GDP (supplemented by the data of capital flow statement).