Monday, February 13, 2017

Unit 2: Unemployment 2/9/17

Unemployment: % of people in the labor force who want a job but are not working.

Labor Force: Consists of unemployed and the employed.

Employed:
  • Work at least 1 hour a month
  • Temporarily absent from work
  • Part time workers
Not in the Labor Force:
  • Kids
  • Full time students
  • People in mental institutions
  • People who are incarcerated
  • Retirees
  • Stay at home parents
  • Military personnel
  • Discouraged

Unemployment Rate Formula:
Number of unemployed      X 100
     Total Labor Force

Standard unemployment = 4-5%


Types of unemployment:
  • Frictional Unemployment: Temporarily unemployed. Qualified w/transferable skills but they aren't working
  • Seasonal Unemployment: This is a specific type of frictional unemployment, which is due to time of year and the nature of the job. These jobs will come back.
  • Structural Unemployment: Changes in the structure of the labor force make some skills obsolete. Workers DON'T have transferable skills & these jobs will never come back. Workers must learn new skills. The permanent loss of these jobs is called "creative destruction".
  • Cyclical Unemployment: Results from economic downturns (recession). As demand for goods & services falls demand for labor falls and workers are fired.  

  • ⅔ of unemployment are unavoidable: Frictional, Structural
  • Together they make the NRU (natural rate of unemployment)
  • We are at full employment if we only have 4–5% unemployment(NRU)
  • Full employment means NO cynical unemployment.
  • Okun’s law: When unemployment rises 1% above natural rate, GDP falls by about 2%



Monday, February 6, 2017

Unit 2: Inflation 2/6/17

Inflation: General rising level of prices
- Reduces Purchasing Power of money

Purchasing Power: The amount of goods & services that money buys
Deflation: A decline in the general price level
Disinflation: Occurs when the inflation rate itself declines

Three Causes of Inflation
:
1) Printing too much money
2) Demand-Pull Inflation:
"Too many dollars chasing two few goods"
  • Demand pulls up prices!
  • Demand increases but supply stays the same. The result is a shortage driving up prices
  • An overheated economy with excessive spending but same amount of goods.
3) Cost-Push Inflation
  • Higher production costs increases prices

Inflation Formula:
Current Year Price Index - Base Year Price Index     X 100
              Base Year Price Index

Hurt by Inflation:
  • Lenders- people who lend money (at fixed interest rates)
  • People with fixed incomes
  • Savers
Helped by Inflation:
  • Borrowers- people who borrower money
  • A business where the price of the product increases faster than the price of resources



Rule of 70:

Used to calculate the number of years it will take for the price level to double at any given rate of inflation.
Formula =              70                   
                Annual Rate of Inflation




Real Interest Rate: Deals with the amount of money that is borrowed. Adjusted for inflation.
 Real= Nominal Interest Rate - Expected Inflation

Nominal Interest Rate: The percentage increases in money that the borrower pays back to the leader not adjusting for inflation.

Ideal Interest Rate: 2 to 3%






Unit 2: Real GDP & Nominal GDP 2/3/17

Nominal GDP: The value of output produced in current year prices.
-Can increase from year to year if either output or prices increase.
Formula: Price X Quantity <= Output


Real GDP: The value of output produced in constant based year prices. Adjusted for inflation.
-Can increase from year to year if only output increases.
Formula: Price X Quantity

  • In the base year the current price will always be equal to the constant price (nominal & real GDP will be the same)
  • In years after the base year, Nominal GDP will exceed Real GDP 
  • In the years before the base year, Real GDP will exceed Nominal GDP

GDP Deflator: A price index used to adjust from Nominal to Real GDP
Formula: Nominal GDP        X 100
                Real GDP
  • In the base year GDP Deflator will always equal 100
  • Years after the base year, GDP Deflator will be greater than 100
  • Years before the base year, GDP Deflator will be less than 100

Consumer Price Index (CPI): Measures inflation by tracking changes in the price of a market basket of goods.
Formula: Price of Market Basket in current year   X 100
                Price of Market Basket in base year









Unit 2: GDP Cont. 1/31/17

Expenditure Approach to GDP:
C + Ig + G + Xn-(Net Exports-Imports)

Income Approach to GDP:

W- wages (compensation of employees/salaries)
+
R- rents (income received by the households & business that supply properly resources)
+
I- interest (money paid by private businesses to the suppliers of  loans used to purchase capital)
+
P- profits (owning your own business)
+
Statistical Adjustments (Dividends, Corp income tax, Net foreign)

Trade: exports - imports
Budget= Government purchases of goods & services + Government Transfer Payments - Government Tax & Fee Collection


National Income:

1) Compensation of Employees + Rental Income + Interest Income + Proprietors Income + Corporate Profits
2) GDP - Indirect Business Taxes - Depreciation - Net Foreign Factor Payment


Disposable Personal Income: National Income - Personal Household Taxes + Government Transfer Payments

Net Domestic Product:
GDP - Depreciation

Net National Product:
GNP - Depreciation

Depreciation (Consumption of Fixed Capital): The loss of value in capital equipment due to normal wear & tear.

Gross Investment:
Net Investment + Depreciation