Microeconomics - Answers the study of how households and firms make choices, how they interact
in markets, and how the government attempts to influence their choices.
Macroeconomics - Answers the study of the economy as a whole, including topics such as inflation,
unemployment, and economic growth.
Business Cycle - Answers Alternating periods of economic expansion and economic recession.
Expansion - Answers The period of a business cycle during which the total production and total
employment are increasing.
Recession - Answers The period of a business cycle during which total production and total
employment are decreasing.
Economic growth - Answers The ability of an economy to produce increasing quantities of goods and
services.
Inflation rate - Answers The percentage increase in the price level from one year to the next.
gross domestic product, or G D P. - Answers The market value of all final goods and services produced
in a country during a period of time, typically one year.
production and income - Answers When we measure one, we are also measuring the other. Why?
•Everything that is produced and sold constitutes income for someone; so, we have the choice of
measuring the value of products produced and sold or the value of incomes.
•Each is a valid way of measuring economic activity.
Components of GDP - Answers consumption, investment, government purchases, and net exports
Consumption - Answers Personal consumption expenditures
Investment - Answers Gross private domestic investment
Government Purchases - Answers Government consumption and gross investment
Net Exports - Answers net exports of goods and services (exports-imports)
Shortcomings of GDP - Answers Measure of total production and a Measure of well-being.
GDP per capita - Answers GDP / population
doesnt take into account:
•The value of leisure
•Pollution and other negative effects of production
•Crime and other social problems
•The distribution of income
Nomial GDP - Answers the value of final goods and services evaluated at current-year prices
Price Level - Answers A measure of the average prices of goods and services in the economy.
GDP Deflator - Answers a measure of the price level, calculated by dividing nominal G D P by real G D
P and multiplying by 100:
Gross National Product - Answers •Production performed by citizens of a nation, including overseas
production.
Labor Force - Answers The sum of employed and unemployed workers in the economy.
Unemployment Rate - Answers The percentage of the labor force that is unemployed
Household Survey - Answers conducted by U.S. census bureau, callcs 60,000 households to be
"representative"
Employed - Answers •In government statistics, someone who currently has a job or who is
temporarily away from his or her job.
Unemployed - Answers •In government statistics, someone who is not currently at work but who is
available for work and who has actively looked for work during the previous month.
Not in the labor force - Answers if neither of the above apply
Discouraged Workers - Answers People who are available for work but have not looked for a job
during the previous four weeks because they believe no jobs are available for them.
labor force participation rate - Answers The percentage of the working-age population in the labor
force
LFPR = (labor force / working age population) x 100
employment population rate - Answers The percentage of the working-age population that is
employed:
(employed / working age population) x 100
frictional unemployment - Answers •Short-term unemployment that arises from the process of
matching workers with jobs.