Macro Unit 2 Flashcards
Recession
2 consecutive quarters (6 months) of declining real output (negative real GDP) accompanied by delcining real income and rising unemployment
Depresion
a very severe, long recession
When output falls, unemployment…
Rises
On a graph, price level measures…and output (real GDP) measures…
Price level: value of money (inflation)
Output: quantity of goods produced
Aggregate demand curve
Curve that shows what ALL SECTORS want to buy at each price level. Shows how GDP (C + I + G +NX) varies with price level
Why is the aggregate demand curve downward sloping?
- Real interest rate
- wealth effect
- NX effect
Real Interest rate effect
A lower price level reduces interest rate, encouraging greater spending on investment goods, increases QD of goods and services
Exchange rate effect
An increase in price level makes goods more expensive to foreigners.
Wealth effect
A decrease in price level makes consumers wealthier, therefore encouraging them to spend more. Increased spending=larger Q of goods and services demanded
What will shift the AD curve?
-Any change to C, I, G and NX that is NOT caused by a change in price level
Aggregate supply curve
A curve that shows the amount of goods and services all sectors are willing to supply at each price level
Long run
all costs are variable, fixed costs can be changed
Short run
as long as some of the costs are fixed, the firm is in the short run
Classical theory/Say’s Law
Supply creates demand
When something is produced, it generates income equal to its value
Prices and wages are FLEXIBLE, they will adjust to ensure that everything is purchased, and recessions will always correct themselves
Assumes economy is fully utilizing its resources
Why is the LRAS curve vertical in the long run?
An economy’s production (GDP) and growth is dependent on its avaliability of LLC and its ability to use those resources to create good, NOT on price level
What will shift the LRAS
Anything that alters the natural rate of output (what the economy produces at the natural rate of unemployment)
Changes in labor, capital, natural resources, technology
Keynesian theory
Say’s law is not always true, deemand is key and people will save extra in bad times
Not all resources will be used during a recession
Wages and prices are fixed or sticky in the short run
Why does the SRAS slope upwards?
- sticky wage theory
- sticky price theory
- misperceptions theory
Sticky wage theory
SRAS slopes up because nominal wages are slow to adjust in the short run to the price level. A lower price level make employment and production less profitable, so firms reduce the Q of goods and services they supply
Sticky price theory
Prices of goods and services are slow to adjust in response to changing economic conditions (menu costs)