2.1 measures of economic performance Flashcards
what are the macroeconomic objectives?
-high sustainable economic growth
-low unemployment
-low inflation
-balanced current account
-reducing budget deficit
-reducing inequality
-environmental
what is the benefits from high sustainable economic growth?
UK trend growth is 2.5%, higher living standards, higher income so people are better off, improved government finances, greater tax revenues from increased economic activity
what is the benefits from low unemployment?
full employment, 4% is full capacity, increased spending power for individuals, less crime and mental health issues, improved government finances, less to spend on benefits
what are benefits to low inflation?
price stability, target is 2%, protects real terms spending power, encourages investment as firms are more likely to invest when prices are stable, makes firms more competitive if inflation is lower
what are benefits to a balanced current account?
reducing current account deficit, country can pay for imports that it consumes, a deficit means each year there is an outflow of money
what are benefits to reducing budget deficit?
the key objective of conservatives 2010-2016, makes any borrowing more sustainable, failing to reduce a large deficit leads to a rapid increase in national debt
what are benefits to reducing inequality?
reducing child poverty, fairness argument, incentive
what are benefits to environmental?
sustainable growth in the future, not causing environmental ‘armageddon’
what is economic growth?
long run expansion of an economy’s productive potential, measure of an increase in real gross domestic product
how is economic growth measured?
measured total amounts of goods and services produced in a country in 1 year/ total amount spent/ total amount earned
what is real GDP?
GDP which is adjusted for inflation
what is nominal GDP?
money value of all goods and services produced by a country within a year
what does total mean?
whole country
what does per capita mean?
divided by the population
what does value mean?
number of goods x value of what their worth
what does volume mean?
number / amount of goods produced
what is GNI?
measures income received by a country both domestically and overseas
what is GDP?
put into GNI
what are the benefits of using GDP to measure living standards?
it isn’t just about money, includes, quality of life, environment, safety/housing, health
what are the disadvantages of using GDP to measure living standards?
difference in population, has to be GDP per capita, difference in exchange rates, method of calculation/reliability of data may differ
adjusting GDP for inflation?
if GDP increases, but inflation rises more, then individuals are actually worse off
adjusting GDP for population?
if GDP increases, but the population rises by more, then individuals are actually worse off
what does PPP mean?
purchasing power parity
what is the purpose of PPPs?
used to compare GDP in different countries, and take into account the cost of a ‘basket of goods’ creates an adjusted exchange rate reflecting this cost of living difference
how does PPPs measure?
measures how many units of one countries currency are needed to buy exactly the same basket of goods and services as can be bought with a given amount of another countries currency
what is HDIs?
human development index
what does HDI do?
composite statistic using life expectancy, educations and incomes, aggregates the three areas into one index, broader picture than GDP, can’t tell from a index whether there is strengths or weakness lie for a country.
what are other quality of life statistics?
life expectancy, doctors per 1000 people, access to clean water, each indicator tends to be very narrow so limited on its own
what is the Eastern Paradox?
within a society rich people tend to be happier, but rich societies are not happier, paradox argues that life statistic does rise with average incomes up to a specific point
what is inflation?
sustained rise in the average price level over time
what is inflation rate?
the rate of change in average prices in an economy over a given amount of time
what is deflation?
sustained fall in the average price level over time
what is disinflation?
a fall in the rate of inflation
what is RPI?
retail price index
what does RPI do?
measures average consumer prices
what is CPI?
consumer price index
what does CPI do?
measure developed to compare inflation across the EU, used by BoE as inflation target since 2003, excludes various housing related costs
what do both CPI and RPI do?
designed to reflect the average household, with a basket of goods weighted according to consumption
what does inflation demand pull mean?
rise in AD, reduction in direct taxation, more disposable income, rising consumer confidence, rising economic growth in other countries, more government spending
what does inflation cost-push mean?
left-shift in SRAS, exogenous shocks, depreciation in exchange rate, rising wages from ‘tight’ labour market, spiralling inflation