Module 5 Reading Flashcards
(123 cards)
what are national income accounts
An accounting framework most countries have that is used in measuring economic activity
what idea are the national income accounts based on
the idea that the amount of economic activity that occurs during a period of time can be measured in terms of:
1. The amount of output produced, excluding output used up in intermediate stages of production (the product approach)
2. Incomes received by the producers of output (the income approach)
3. The amount of spending by the ultimate purchasers of output (the expenditure approach)
what does each national income approach give
a different perspective of the economy
what is the fundamental principal of national income accounting
that all 3 approaches give identical measurements of the amount of current economic activity (except for if there are problems like incomplete or misreported data)
what is the product approach
- Measures economic activity by adding the market values of goods & services produced, excluding any goods & services used up in intermediate stages of production
- Uses the value added concept
what is the value added of any producer
The value of its output - the value of the inputs purchased from other producers
how does the product approach calculate economic activity
by adding the value added of all producers
what is the income approach
- Measures economic activity by adding all income received, including wages, taxes, and after-tax profits (to get total income)
- total income = total value added from product approach
what is the expenditure approach
Measures activity by adding the amount spent by all ultimate users of output
who are the ultimate users of output
- those who consume the output
- not those that use it up in production to sell
why must the 3 approaches always be the same answer?
- The market value of goods and services produced in a given period = the amount buyers must spend to purchase them
- What the seller receives must equal what the buyers spend
what does it mean: The market value of goods and services produced in a given period = the amount buyers must spend to purchase them
- the market value of a good is a certain amount because its the amount people are willing to spend on it
- Market value of a good or service and spending on that good or service are always the same, so the product approach (which measures market values) and the expenditure approach (which measures spending) must give the same measure of economic activity
what does it mean: What the seller receives must equal what the buyers spend
- Seller’s receipts = total income generated by the economic activity (aka revenue)
- Total income/revenue is what the company made before salaries paid to workers and suppliers, taxes paid to the government, and profits (whatever is left over)
- Therefore, total expenditure must = total income generated, meaning expenditure and income approaches must also produce the same answer
what is gross domestic product
- GDP
- Broadest measure of aggregate economic activity
how are the 3 approaches equal
Because product value = expenditure, and income = expenditure
what is the fundamental identity of national income accounting
Total Production = Total Income = Total Expenditure
- where production, income, and expenditure are all measured in the same units (ex. dollars)
what are market values
they are the prices goods/services are sold for
how can GDP be measured
- by any of the approaches from earlier
- All 3 approaches gives the same value for GDP, but sees GDP differently
- Using all 3 gives a complete picture of an economy’s structure
what is an issue with using market values to measure GDP
that some useful goods and services are not sold in formal markets since they are hard to measure
what is a capital good
- A good that is produced (except for natural resources like land) to be used to produce other goods, but are not used up in the same period that its produced in
- Ex. factory equipment, office equipment, factories, office buildings
- For example, you built a factory in one year
- The factory was built so you can make other goods
- But you’re not done using the factory in the same year you built it, you plan to use it for a long time, making more goods for the years to come
how does the product approach measure/define GDP
Defined as the market value of final goods and services newly produced within the nation during a fixed period of time
with the product approach, how are goods and services counted in GDP
they’re counted in their market values
why are market values used in GDP
- because it’s adding the production of different goods and services together based on their prices, not their quantity
- it takes into account differences in the relative economic importance of different goods and services (more expensive = more important)
- ex. the total output in an economy is 7 cars and 100 pairs of shoes
- can’t say total output = 107, (7 + 100) since the two have different prices
- it should be the value of each good added
which types of goods and services are included in GDP
only final goods