Abstract
The dearth of current information on trends in distribution cost is regrettable, with social concern about marketing at new and rising heights. Because the majority of distribution costs are incurred by middlemen, the estimation of expenditures for their sector is one way of providing some insight into this issue.
The author shows how national income accounting data can be employed to determine the share of value added for goods contributed by the distributive trades. This new measure shows substantial, but little noted, cyclical shifts and a surprising change in the long-term importance of wholesaling.
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