Question

Why do economists include only final goods and services when measuring GDP for a particular year? Why don't they include the value of the stocks and bonds bought and sold? Why don't they include the value of the used furniture bought and sold?

Answer 1

Only final goods and services are included in order to avoid the problem of double counting. Different goods and services are purchased for different purposes, some are used as intermediate goods in order to produce other goods and services and some others are purchased for final consumption. If intermediate goods are also included in the GDP then the same good will be counted two times, which will inflate the GDP inaccurately. Therefore in order to avoid double counting of goods and services, only those goods and services are included which are used for final consumption by consumers

Stocks and bonds are not produced in a particular year but the merely reflect the transfer of ownership from one person to the other. There is no actual production taking place and due to this reason they are not included in GDP

If a furniture is produced and purchased in a particular year, its final value will be added in the estimation of GDP of that particular year. this implies that the value of the furniture is already included in the GDP of the year in which it was produced or sold. Due to this reason the value of the used furniture is not included in current year GDP.