Econ 202 Beginning Flashcards
what is macroeconomics? (basic definition)
the study of the performance of the national economy
what is Real Gross Domestic Product? (basic overview)
a measurement of the total production of goods and services nationwide – theoretically equal to the aggregate income of a nation
what does “real” mean in this context?
accounts for inflation (the rate of increase in prices over a given time period)
how many phases does a business cycle have?
two: a recession and an expansion
what is a recession?
economic phase of persistent decline in production
what is an expansion (period)?
economic phase of persistent increase in production
what is a business cycle PEAK?
turning point from expansion into a recession – has to go down after reaching the peak
what is a business cycle TROUGH?
turning point from recession into expansion – like the physical object, a large cup (cup shape on graph)
what is the business cycle ORDER?
Expansion -> Peak -> Recession -> Trough
what is the labor market?
the aggregate activity of firms searching for workers and workers searching for firms — interactive relationship, how most of us interact with the macroeconomy – pushing forth production and affecting income
how is the labor market performance measured? (one way)
the unemployment rate
what is the unemployment rate?
the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force
why is the unemployment rate never 0?
would mean that there is absolutely no movement externally or internally between jobs, the bee movie essentially
when was the great recession?
2008/2009 – caused by banks and mortgage lenders became increasingly predatory with their lending practices, housing crisis domino
when was the great depression?
1929-1938, caused by: the stock market crash of 1929; the collapse of world trade; government policies; bank failures and panics; and the collapse of the money supply
what is inflation?
increases in the overall level of prices, measured using the percentage increase in a price index over time
what is the most well known price index?
the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
what happens/what is it called when the price index falls?
deflation – prices fall essentially
what is observed in the price index during/following a recession?
inflation jumps up, inevitably leading to a peak and another recession – the business cycle
what is fiscal policy?
the use of the federal budget — by setting and changing tax rates, making transfer payments, and purchasing goods and services — to achieve macroeconomic objectives
what is monetary policy?
changes to the quantity of money and the level of interest rates in the national economy, the responsibility of the federal reserve
what does fiscal mean?
relating to government revenue, especially taxes
what does monetary mean?
relating to money or currency
how do you “aggregate” an economy?
add together economic quantities (prices, production, jobs) measured for individual economic units (firms, people) into an economy-wide total
why is aggregation (accurately) practically and conceptually difficult?
data collection and methodology
how is data collection difficult in aggregation?
mass amounts of macroeconomic data was not produced until modern times, this data is produced by governments, NGOS (nonprofits), and the private sector – moves markets, elections
what does GDP without a qualifier mean? (real or nominal)
refers to nominal
what is nominal GDP?
the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given time period (WITHOUT accounting for inflation)
what does “produced within a country” mean under the definition of GDP?
GDP only measures domestic production, including foreign companies producing on US land, excluding US companies producing in foreign countries/factories
would GDP include the production of a US citizen working in Paris?
no (because it was not produced domestically, does not consider citizenship)
what is market value?
the price for which a good or service is sold in a market – allows us to add up “apples and oranges” by finding a common unit (price)
what does “final goods and services” mean under the definition of GDP?
final goods and services (key word final), distinguishes from intermediate g/s which is not included in GDP
what is a final good?
an item that is purchased by its final user – ex. a sandwich sold to a student
what is an intermediate good or service?
items that are produced by one firm, bought by another firm, and used as a component of a final good or service – ex. bread that was baked and then used as part of the sandwich
what is double counting?
counting both intermediate and final goods would mean counting the bread twice in the previous examples, and thus doubling its value incorrectly
what does in a given time period mean?
production is measured in calendar quarters or years, production that occurs outside of this period is not counted
would a used car that was recently sold count towards the current GDP?
no, because it was originally produced and sold a while ago, cannot double count it – not new production
which two ways is the GDP measured?
the expenditure approach, and the income approach
what is the expenditure approach?
measures total expenditures on final goods and services produced within a country in a given time period
what is the income approach?
measures total income received by factors of production operating within a country in a given time period
What is Personal Consumption Expenditures? (C)
the spending by domestic households (people) on consumer goods and services
ex. books, movies, food, dental visits, economics lectures, cars, clothes
how much does “C” make up of the expenditure approach/GDP in the US?
68% the most of the 5
What is Gross Private Domestic Investment? (I)
spending by domestic firms on new capital goods and additions to inventories – also includes expenditures on new homes
what are capital goods?
goods that are used to produce other goods and services, but are not completely used up in the production of these other goods
ex. tools, instruments, machines, buildings, housing
what are additions to inventories?
goods that are produced but are not sold to their final user inside of the period we are measuring GDP
how much of GDP does I represent?
18%
what is government expenditure on goods and services (G)?
purchases of goods and services by the domestic federal, state and local governments.
ex. office supplies, tanks, freeways
which kinds of government spending are not included in the GDP?
transfer payments and interest payments
how much of the GDP does G represent?
17%
what are transfer payments?
cash transfers from governments to households and firms such as social security benefits, unemployment compensation, and subsidies
what are net exports of goods and services? (X-M)
the value of exports minus the value of imports
what are exports? (X)
sales of goods and services by the domestic economy to the rest of the world
what are imports? (M)
purchases of goods and services by the domestic economy from the rest of the world
how much of the GDP does X-M represent?
-3% of GDP
What happens when X-M is negative?
trade deficit
what happens when X-M is positive?
trade surplus