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Governments all over the world make public reports about the condition of their economies. Most countries, including the United States, have used a measure the gross national product or GNP. It includes all and services produced by citizens of the country anywhere in the world. Recently the American Commerce Department has started using a new to measure production. It is known as the gross domestic product or GDP. It counts only goods and services that have been produced the nations borders. Money earned by foreign companies operating in the United States is included in the GDP, but money earned by American companies operating in other countries . Economic experts generally approve the change. They say that the gross domestic product provides a truer measure of the. They also note that most other industrial countries use this method. Therefore it will be easier to study the economies of different countries. Some also hope the new system will help them better economic policy decisions. It will provide them a clearer under standing of economic activity in the US. The new measure is likely to be affected by sudden changes in foreign oil prices or in the of the American dollar in other countries. Economic experts believe that the change from GNP to GDP will immediately reduce the value of American production at least 40,000 million dollars a year. But that is really a very change in the American economyless than 1%. The Commerce Department reports the unofficial gross domestic product once three months. The government also continues to report GNP as it has four times a year since 1941. | 
