Pack 2 Macro (yr12) Flashcards
What is inflation?
increase in the general price level
What is disinflation?
fall in rate of inflation
What is deflation
fall in general price level
What is good and bad deflation?
good deflation: costs of production are falling. Good for the economy as there is growth in the economy and a more internationally competitive export sector
bad deflation: when price falls are caused by falling demand in the economy, associated with falling growth and rising unemployment
What are the different measures of inflation?
RPI and CPI
What are the differences between RPI and CPI?
- RPI includeshousing costs
- in times of house prices falling, the CPI will be higher than the RPI due to housing depreciation
- CPI geometric mean and RPI arithmetic, making CPI generally lower than RPI
- RPI excludes high income households and pensioners whereas CPI included all households
How do you calculate the rate of CPI inflation?
- measured by trying to calculate how much on average a representative basket of goods and services costs in the UK
Step 1. Use of Price Surveys
- to find average price
Step 2. Use of annual expenditure survey
- different items of basket of goods are weighted using the amount we all spend n them
- updated each year
3. Creating a weighted price index:
- calculated by comparing the price in the current time period compared to the base year
What are the limitations of using CPI to measure inflation?
- Only an average rate of inflation
- Weightings only changed annually
- Index cannot indicate changes in the quality of goods, only the price
- Sampling issues
- CPI does not include housing costs
What are the three causes of inflation?
- Demand Pull inflation
- Cost push inflation
- Growth of the Money Supply
What is demand pull inflation?
- businesses in the economy will be increasing prices when there is greater willingness and ability to pay for good/services
- could rise in an economy due to:
- rising consumption (influenced by disposable incomes, consumer confidence, change in interest rates)
- Rising investment
- Rising government spending
- Rising net exports
What is cost push inflation?
- increase in general price level, caused by higher costs of production
caused by: - higher commodity prices
- higher labour costs
- increase in indirect taxation
- fall in exchange rate
What is growth in money supply inflation?
- If Central Bank lowers the base rate, there is likely to be increased borrowing by firms and consumers
- result in an increase in consumption and investment
- likely to lead to a form of demand-pull inflation
- as people have more money available
What are the effects on consumers from inflation?
- Impact on living standards - rising rates of inflation = reduced purchasing power of money and reduce real incomes. reduce living standards as they are able to purchase fewer goods/services
- Impact on savers and borrowers - savers won’t be able to purchase less in future, borrowers will benefit
- Shoe leather costs - consumers may spend longer shopping around
What are the effects on firms from inflation?
- Rising costs of production: may have to increase prices or reduce profit margins to maintain consumer demand
- Reduced international competitiveness- may need to rise prices to cover higher costs
- Reduced confidence and investment
What are the effects on workers from inflation?
- impact on employment and job security - rising costs, workers made redundant
- Impact on wages - look to bargain higher prices to maintain higher living standards
What are the effects on the government from inflation?
- Impact on UK macroeconomic objectives:
- Economic growth: demand-pull inflation may indicate growth in economy
- Unemployment - demand pull inflation improves employment, cost-push inflation lead to redundancies
- Political costs: people feel they are worse off, less chance of re-election
- Reduced value of national debt in real terms
What is employment and how do you calculate rate of employment?
- total number of people with a job, including working for firms or other organisations and the self-employed
Level of employment/Population of working age x100
What is unemployment and how do you calculate rate of unemployment?
- people who are without a job who are able and willing to work at current wage rates
Level of unemployment/Active workforce x100
What is economic inactivity and what are the reasons for it?
- those people of working age who are not in employment and not looking for work for a variety of reasons such as student
Reasons:
- full-time students not looking for work
- sick and disabled unable to work long-term
- early retirement, not looking for work
- homemakers
How do you calculate rate of inactivity?
Level of inactivity/Population of working age x100
What is underemployment?
- where an individual is employed but are not fully utilised in terms of their skill or hours worked
Reasons:
- skills and job vacancy mismatch
- changes in the business cycle: in times of recession companies cannot afford to hire full time workers
- technological change
How do you work out the rate of underemployment?
Level of underemployment/active workforce x100