John, You can find online what were the U.S. Government's stated motivations for switching from GNP to GNP in August 1991, by going to this link: http://library.bea.gov/u?/SCB9,54 It is simply a brief 1-page "article" in the Survey of Current Business, which is the Bureau of Economic Analysis's primary publication. It is probably important to keep in mind that the US moved from GNP to GDP a little later than European countries partly because the difference between the two measures was historically not as substantial for the U.S. The first publication of GNP by the U.S. Government (in 1941) can be found by going to this link: http://library.bea.gov/u?/SCB,3130 And also to this link: http://library.bea.gov/u?/SCB,3203 Prior to this (1934-1941), the U.S. Government basically used Simon Kuznets' national income concept as its primary measure...conceptually similar to "net national product." If you are interested in understanding the US motivation for the switch in the 1940s...(from national income to GNP) then I hope it is not too egoistic to suggest my own "soon-to-approved" BEA working paper, which you can currently find at this link: http://home.comcast.net/~quevedo1818/workingpaper_rkane0122.pdf In regards to the earliest mention of GNP in the U.S. (by standards of actual estimates, not just theory) that would be Clark Warburton. Kuznets also mentioned GNP in 1934, but his measurement of government was different than Warburton, and different from what the US did starting in 1941. Keep in mind that it was not simply measuring gross capital investment, but measuring "government's contribution to final product gross of total tax revenues" that was at issue....an issue that became more important as WWII changed the role of government in the US. Warburton, Clark. 1934. "Value of Gross National Product and its Components, 1919- 29." Journal of the American Statistical Association 29 (December). I hope this helps. Cheers, Richard Kane