Macro Year One Flashcards
Characteristics of a capitalist society
Producers don’t own their output or means of production
Production is for profit
Monetary in nature
U/e is possible unlike slave societies
Intensive- child mining, gardening
Extensive expansions
Characteristics of Feudalism
Barter economy
Economic self-sufficiency
Catholic philosophy predominant- trading/ profit sin
Econ order on of tradition
Very slow technical change – no growth
Transition to Capitalism
Enclosures: system which the lords enclosed common land for their own use rather than public use
Observational equivalence
it’s not always possible to differentiate between alternative models which give rise to policy debates.
Positive Analysis
analyses the economic consequences of a particular event or policy not whether it was desirable
Normative Analysis
whether the policy should be used (involves the value of the person doing the analysis)
Classical Approach+ result
Economy works well on its own
‘invisible hand’ idea means that if markets are free individuals conduct their economic affairs in their own self-interest- the overall economy works well
Wages adjust rapidly to reach an equilibrium
Changes in wages signal for people to coordinate behaviour
RESULT: government should have a limited role in economy
Keynesian approach
Classical failed as unemployment and inflation were high (the great depression)
Persistent u/e as wages and prices adjust slowly
CONCLUSION- govts should intervene to reach full employment
Why a barter economy is inefficient
Only efficient when there are very few goods
The need for a double coincidence of wants which is unlikely in practice due to billions of goods/ services and buyers/ sellers
Money needed as a medium of exchange and store of value fundamental to facilitate trillions of transactions and therefore the macro economy
The circular flow model of Quesnay
Francois Quesnay divided the French society into 3 classes
Landlords- draw rent from the land
Artisans- spend what they earn
Farmers- save for investment
Why the Quesnay model was not used by successive economists
The classics had a much broader definition of productive workers- including artisans and industrial workers not just farmers
It took a static view of the economy when economic growth was the main concern for the likes of Smith and Ricardo
What does consumption depend on according to Keynes
Disposable income
What does consumption depend on according to Friedman and Modigliani
Lifetime income i.e. parents may save for later consumption
Outside wealth
held by agents in the private sector of the domestic economy but are issued by an agent in another sector usually govt or overseas sector
Inside wealth
an asset issued by an agent in the private sector and held by another agent
Income expenditure diagram
Check L9
Income expenditure and net exports diagram
See macro L9
The output measure of national income
Add up all the output produced by firms in the economy
How do we get from Gross value added (GVA) to GDP
Add indirect taxes and deduct subsides
The income method of output measure
total of all income in an economy (wages, operating surpluses and mixed income)
Expenditure method of output
expenditure on the output of firms
Economic welfare
welfare gained from the consumption and production of goods and services.
Business cycles
Peak
Recession
Trough
Recovery
Great depression stats
u/e reached 2 million in 1922 and peaked in 3 million (22%) in 1932