2.5 Economic Growth Flashcards
What causes economic growth
An increase in quality or quantity of one of the four factors of production
land, labour, capital or enterprise
How will an increase in LRAS contribute to economic growth
- An increase in LRAS will increase the productive capacity of the economy along with economic growth
How does Land contribute to economic growth
The discovery of new resources e.g. oil will increase economic growth.
most potent effect in developing countries
eval: Dutch Disease
What is Dutch Disease
the problems associated with a rapid increase in the production of raw materials (like oil and gas) causing a decline in other sectors of the economy. When the raw materials run out, the economy can be in a worse position than before.
What are the effects of Dutch Disease
- **Appreciation in currency. **
- Decline in competitiveness. The problem of this appreciation in the exchange rate is that other trade-able sectors of the economy will become uncompetitive.
- **Growth in luxury imports. **
- Growth in real wages. causing another problem for manufacturing firms as they have to increase real wages to retain workers. This will further decrease the competitiveness of manufacturing exports.
- Indirect-deindustrialisation.
- Income inequality.
- Tax revenue. the government will often cut other taxes and come to rely on oil tax revenues.
How does an increase in the size of the workforce contribute to economic growth
A change in the age profile of the population i.e. the amount of people of working age will affect economic growth: the more people of working age there are, the more growth there will be.
How could the gov. increase the number of working people
- Raise the retirement age
- Provide free childcare
- Encourage immigration
How does the quality of the workforce contribute to economic growth
- Education makes workers more efficient
- Less likely to suffer structural unemployment so reduce NRU and increase LRAS
How does capital contribute to economic growth
- Sustained investment allows access to new techhnology to improve productivity
- More machines –> more goods
How does enterprise contribute to economic growth
If the government offers tax benefits and grants, they will encourage the development of business, creating jobs and meaning more goods and services are produced, which will increase economic growth
How does excessive wealth distribution affect incentives for enterpirse
If there is too much wealth distribution (i.e. too high taxes and benefits), there will be little incentive to work hard as the rich know a lot of their money will be taken away and the poor know that there is no need to work as benefits will give them just as much money as a job on minimum wage.
This lack of incentive will mean that businesses won’t invest and so there will be little to no economic growth.
What is actual growth
actual growth is the percentage change in GDP
What is percentage growth
Potential growth is the change in productive potential of the economy over time, so the LRAS or PPF curve shifts.
How does export-led growth affect LRAS
Intially increased exports affect AD but sustained high ecports force investment and increased demand for labour
What are the advantages of export-led growth
- Injection into Circular Flow causes rise in AD
- Growing GDP causes accelerator effect
- Compplementary industries benefit; Rotterdam in Netherlands
What are disadvantages of export-led growth
- Overdepndence on trading partner
- Production capacity allocated to supply goods and services for export cannot be put to use meeting domestic needs and wants.
- Export-led growth might be unsustainable if it contributes extraction of natural resources beyond what is required for long-term balanced growth to be maintained.
What is the long run trend rate of growth
average sustainable rate of economic growth over a period of time. It is what tends to happen over a long period of time
What is an output gap
An output gap is the difference between the actual level of GDP and the estimated long-term value for GDP
What is a positive output gap
Actual GDP> long run trend rate
What is a negative output gap
Long run trend rate> Actual GDP
Why are output gaps difficult to measure
- Position of LRAS is unkown and intial estimates of GDP are often inaccurate