December 8, 1985

The I.B.M. in G.N.P. Can a single company alter the entire nation's economic picture? The International Business Machines Corporation comes close. In August, the company began shipping units of its model 200 I.B.M. 3090, a mainframe line popularly known as Sierra, and by year-end it may ship as many of 500 of them. With each costing up to $5 million apiece, the Sierras will not only pump up fourth-quarter figures for the depressed computer industry, they will also make a significant difference in the gross national product -especially now that the Commerce Department has given the computer industry more weight in the agency's new method of calculating G.N.P. The Sierra shipments will contribute at least one percentage point to G.N.P. growth for this quarter, says John D. Paulus, chief economist at Morgan Stanley & Company. Mr. Paulus predicts real annualized G.N.P. growth for the quarter of 2.3 percent - with a big chunk coming from the shipments. Sierra shipments in 1986, he says, will raise growth figures by a quarter of a percentage point for the year over all. That is a serious contribution ''in an economy that might grow by only 3 percent next year,'' he said.

DALLAS AMERICAN AIRLINES has for years talked about establishing a hub in Denver, a market dominated by its arch rival, United. The city, located at the edge of the central plains, is a natural gateway for routing business travelers to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and beyond, to Asia. Yet Robert L. Crandall, the shrewd and cocky chairman of American's parent, the AMR Corporation, balked recently at the prospect of buying a ready-made base in Denver. Despite a war chest of $1.3 billion in cash, he sat by as People Express bought Frontier Airlines, the largest Denver-based carrier, for nearly $300 million. Mr. Crandall has by no means lost interest in Denver. But, with American's two-tier wage contracts in place, with its cost per seat mile of capacity among the lowest of the major carriers, and with its cash flow high, the airline is increasingly finding it cheaper to move into new markets with its own planes and crews. American has already earmarked $6 billion over the next five years to add 160 planes to its current fleet of 290 - an expenditure that Mr. Crandall expects will turn out to be a prime cost-cutting move. ''It is that principle of low costs that drives us toward internal growth,'' he said.

The Government is now requiring officials assigned in this country from East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria to book their travel arrangements within the United States through the State Department. The new policy, which runs counter to previous efforts to keep travel as uninhibited as possible, will make it possible for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to keep track of the four nations' officials. The Government did not indicate that travel by the nationals of these four countries would be curtailed. But it has warned all the Eastern European allies of the Soviet Union that their diplomats' right to travel freely will be curbed if any of their nationals are found spying in areas that are closed to Soviet citizens, State Department officials said today.

Robert Graves, the English poet, novelist and classical scholar, died yesterday at his home in Deya, a fishing village on the island of Majorca. He was 90 years old and had been living in seclusion since failing health stayed his pen 10 years ago. Reports from Majorca said Mr. Graves died with his wife and other family members at his bedside. He had been bedridden for several months. Church bells on the island rang out with a traditional song of mourning at the news of his death. He became an honorary citizen of the village in 1968.

Most recent development in Secaucus, N.J., where 85 percent of the town lies within the Hackensack Meadowlands Development District, has been upscale office, retail and residential projects. Now nearing completion on County Avenue near Dorigo Lane, however, is a $5.2 million housing project for the elderly and handicapped.