Sunday, January 23, 2011

Post 25b

Mr. Campbell asked us to find the Gini Indexes for the nations of the world and react to what that says about America.


The US's Gini index is about 0.4, which is 44th in the whole world. Its like this because the US follows capitalism, which basically means anyone can make as much money as they want. No ones going to stop them, but they need to  take risks to be rich. Anyone can make as much money as they want no matter who they are. I believe that the index will stay between 0.35- 0.45 for a long time, as long as the country doesn't change to a different form of government.

Post 25a

Mr. Campbell asked us to find one group of Americans that would love inflation and explain why.

I believe that the group of Americans that would love inflation would be anyone who has a mortage. This is because as inflation lowers the 'value' of money, their mortage stays the same. As the inflation lowers the 'value' of money, the person buying the house is, in a way, paying less then what they had agreed on.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Post 24

Mr. Campbell asked us to create 4 scenarios for our life  to describe the 4 types of unemployment.

Structural Unemployment- I use to weld car frames together. Because of the cost to train me, they bought a machine that requires no training and will pay for itself sooner or later.

Frictional Employment- While I was in college I worked at Shop Rite. Now the I have a degree in physics, I can go to work designing roller coasters for Six Flags Great Adventure.

Cyclical Unemployment- I worked in the Labor Union, and because of the recession I am now unemployed.

Seasonal Unemployment- I worked at somebodies house selling Christmas trees, but because its not Christmas season anymore I am unemployed until next year.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Post 23

Mr. Campbell asked us to make a western style wanted poster for unemployment, inflation, or poverty.

I chose inflation:

Post 22

Mr. Campbell asked us to take three quizzes and write 15 facts that we've learned from them.

1) Unemployment rate is the most closely watched and highly publicized labor force statistic.

2) Marginally attacked workers are people who once held productive jobs but have given up looking for work.

3) Frictional unemployment is unemployment attributed to workers moving from one job to another.

4) Structural unemployment is unemployment that results from changes in technology or in the way the economy is structured.

5) Discouraged workers are people who want jobs but have stopped looking for work for job-related reasons.

6) A supply shock is an event that increases the cost of production for all or many firms.

7) To construct the consumer price index, the Bureau of Labor Statistics selects a sample of commonly purchased consumer items, called the market basket.

8) The worst degree of inflation is called hyperinflation.

9) Aggregate supply is the total amount of goods and services produced throughout the economy.

10) Economists use price indexes to calculate the inflation rate.

11) The income gap between the richest and the poorest Americans was wider in the 1990s than at any other time since World War II.

12) Poverty thresholds are adjusted annually based on changes in the consumer price index.

13) To measure the amount of inequality in the distribution of income, economists plot a Lorenz Curve.

14) The data used to plot a Lorenz Curve can also be used to compute the Gini Index.

15) One potential cause of the widening disparity in incomes in the United States is the increase in divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Post 21

Mr. Campbell asked us to make a terms lists of the following terms.

National Income Accounting- Process used for tracking production, income, and consumption in a nations economy

Gross Domestic Product- Total value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given year

Output Expenditure Model- A method of computing the GDP by adding the total value of consumer and government spending

Personal Consumption Expenditure- Total spending by consumers for durable goods, nondurable goods, and services during a specified period of time

Gross Investment- Total value of private spending in the economy for capital assets

Nominal GDP- The value of a nations GDP at the current prices of the period being measured

Real GDP- The value of a nations GDP after it has been adjusted for inflation

Price Index- A set of statistics that allows economists to compare prices over time

Underground Economy- Illegal economic activities or unreported legal activities that are not accounted for in national income measures

Gross National Product- Total value of all final goods and services produced with factors of production owned by citizens of a different country

Business Cycle- A recurring pattern in economic activity that is characterized by alternating periods of expansion and contraction

Expansion- A period of the business cycle during which economic activity is increasing toward a peak

Peak-The point of the business cycle during which employment production and wages are at their highest

Contraction- A period in the business cycle during which business activity slows down and overall economic indicators decline

Recession- Substantial and general decline in over all business activity over a signifigant period of time

Depression- A prolonged and severe recession

Trough-The lowest point of the business cycle

Leading Indicators- Set of economic factors that anticipate the expansions and contractions of the business cycle from one month up to two years before similar changes in overall economic activity occur

Coincident Indicators- Set of economic factors that move up or down with the economy

Lagging Indicators- Set of economic factors that help economicts predict the duration of economic up or downturns

Real GDP Per Capita-The dollar value adjusted for inflation of all final goods and services produced  per person  in an economy in a given year

Labor Productivity- Measure of how much each worker produces in a given period of time

Productivity Growth- Increase in output per worker per hour worked

Capitol-to-labor ratio- Amount of capital resources available per worker

Capital Deepening- The increasing of capital resources at a faster rate than the increasing of the labor force

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Post 20

1) Gross national product, national income accounting, Macroeconomists use measures called national income and product accounts (NIPAs) to track production, income, and consumption in a nation's economy. This traking process is known as national income accounting and provides information about a nation's economic activites. (229)

2) Real GDP, nominal GDP, nominal GDP is just another name for current GDP. (232)

4) National income accounting, gross national product, Until December 1991 the Commerce Department used a NIPA called gross national product (GNP) to measure the U.S. economy. (234)

7) Lagging indicators, coincident indicators, These coincident indicators change as the economy moves from one phase of the business cycle to another and tell economists that as upturn or downturn in the economy has arrived. (240)

8) Coincident indicators, lagging indicators, Lagging indicators change months after an upturn or a downturn in the economy has begun and help economists predict the duration of economic upturns or downturns. (240)

9) 9, labor productivity, I wrote the number of the question instead of the letter 'k,' which was labor productivity.