ECON 102 Chap 10-15 Flashcards
(133 cards)
Gross Domestic Product
measures two things at once:
- total income of everyone in the economy
- total expenditure on the economies output of goods/services
Inflation
the rate at which prices are rising
Deflation
the rate at wich the prices of things are falling
Unemployment
the % of the labor force that is out of work
Retail Sales
total spending at stores
Macroeconomics
the study of economy-wide phenomena, including inflation, unemployment and economic growth
Microeconomics
the study of how households and firms make decisions, and how they interact in markets
Circular-Flow Diagram
GDP - the total spent by households in the market for G/S
(also) the total wages , rent and profit paid by firms in the market for Factors of Production
GDP (definition)
the market value of all the final goods and services produced w/in a country in a given period of time
The components of GDP
Y (GDP) = C (Consumption) + I (investment) + G (Government Purchases) + NX (Net Exports)
Identity
an equation that must be true because of how the variables in the equation are defined
Consumption
spending by households on g/s, with the exception of purchases of new housing
Investment
spending on capital equipment, inventories, and structures, including household purchases of new housing
- does NOT include financial investment such as stocks/bonds
Government Purchases
spending on g/s by local, state and federal governments
- does NOT include Transfer Payments
Transfer Payments
- when the government pays social security, unemployment, etc. payments
- NOT included in “Government Purchases” of GDP because they are not made in exchange for g/s.
Net Exports
spending on domestically produced goods by foreigners (exports) MINUS spending on foreign goods by domestic residents (imports)
Real GDP
what the value of g/s produced this year would be if we valued these g/s at prices that prevailed in a time period in the past (base year)
- better gauge of “well being” than nominal GDP
Nominal GDP
the total production of g/s valued at current prices
GDP Deflator
a measure of the price level calculated as the ratio of nominal GDP over real GDP X100
=(Nominal GDP / Real GDP) x 100
- takes inflation out of the equation
Inflation Rate
the % change in some measure of price level from one period to the next
Inflation Rate (yr2)= [GDP Def(yr1) - GDP Def(yr2) / GDP Def (yr2)] x 100
Consumer Price Index
the measure of the overall cost of the g/s bought by a typical consumer
How the CPI is Calculated
1 - Fix the Basket - determine what prices are most important to the typical consumer
2 - Find the Prices - find the prices of each g/s, in the basket, at each point in time
3 - Compute the Basket - use the data on prices to calc the cost of the basket of g/s at different times, keeping the quantity of good the same over time
4 - Choose the Base Year and Calc the Index - chose one year as the base year, a bench mark to compare the other years to
CPI = (price of G/S in Basket in current Year / prices of basket in base year) x 100
Compute the Inflation Rate
= [(CPI in yr2 - CPI in yr1) / CPI in yr1] x 100
Substitution Bias
when prices change from one year to another they do not change proportionally, consumers then substitute goods that are relatively less expensive, CPI misses this because of fixed basket.