Unit 2 Flashcards
What are the 3 macroeconomic goals?
- promote economic goods
- limit unemployment
- keep prices stable (limit inflation)
GDP (definition)
dollar (US) value of all final goods and services produced within a country in 1 year.
what does GDP measure?
How well a nation is doing financially
Ways to use GDP
- compare to previous years (is there growth)
- compare policy changes (did a new policy work)
- Compare to other countries (are we better off)
what is the best tool to measure a nation’s standard of living?
GDP
reasons why countries have higher/lower GDPs
- economic system
- Rule of law
- capital stock
- human capital
- natural resources
productivity (definition)
output per unit of input
Items not included in GDP
- Intermediate goods
- nonproduction transactions
- used goods
- nonmarket/illegal goods
the three ways of calculating GDP
- expedenture approach
- income approach
- value (added approach)
all methods should generate the same number
equation for calculating GDP
C+I+G+Xn=GDP
(consumer spending, business investment, government spending, net exports)
Consumer spending includes…
- durable goods
- non-durable goods
- services
business Investment
Businesses buying capital such as machines and tools
Government spending (def)
payments made by the govt. for goods/services (NOT transfer payments)
transfer payments
when the govt. redistributes income (welfare, SS). Nothing is returned, and subsidies count as transfer payments
Unemployment
Workers are actively looking for a job, but are not currently working
What is included in the unemployment rate
people in the labor force who want a job but are not working
Frictional unemployment
temporary unemployment/being between jobs
structural unemployment
changes in labor force that make some skills obsolete (eg. technology)
cyclical unemployment
caused by a recession
Nominal GDP
not adjusted for inflation
Real GDP
adjusted for inflation
Stagflation
both unemployment and inflation are increasing
why is high inflation bad?
banks don’t loan out money and people don’t save, which decreases investment and GDP
why is deflation bad?
people hoard money and assets