General government production costs are decisions about the amount and type of goods and services governments produce, as well as on how best to produce them. They are often political in nature and based on a country's social and cultural context. Governments use a mix of their own employees, capital, and outside contractors (non-profit institutions or private sector entities) to produce goods and services. Government production costs include: compensation costs of general government employees; goods and services used and financed by general government (including intermediate consumption and social transfer in kind via market producers paid for by government); and other costs, including depreciation of capital and other taxes on production less other subsidies on production. The data include government employment and intermediate consumption for output produced by the government for its own use, such as roads and other capital investment projects built by government employees. This indicator is measured as a percentage of GDP.