Case Study : Real Gdp

14. Explain why a nation’s GDP is both a good and poor measure of its economic well-being and progress?

GDP, or gross domestic product, is the sum total value of all goods and services produced by a country within a given year. To achieve this sum, everything produced and exported, all of the money spent by consumers and government, investments, and many other contributing factors are calculated and combined. A nation’s GDP is used as the main indicator of the economic status of that nation. In general, the higher a country’s GDP is, the greater the health of that country’s economy. However, GDP is not as helpful or accurate a calculation as “real GDP”. Real GDP is a term that refers

In, 2% GDP Growth—Get Comfortable With It, the author, Sean Hanlon, explains that the slow growing GDP is misleading as a measure for a strong economy. The US gross domestic product or GDP advancement has been moving at a rate of 2% which is low in the midst of an economic recovery. This doesn’t mean that the economy is weak though because it isn’t. Hanlon argues that “accelerating technological advancements” are pushing the GDP downward.

This is due in part because of the unequal wealth distribution. The top one percent of the richest people own forty six percent of the global wealth. This wealth being held by the rich would not be a problem if they were not so selfish with their earnings. The distribution of wealth leads to the subsequent unequal distribution of resources. Some issues this raises are human settlement and population distribution, economic activities, trade and quality of life. Certain indicators can be expended in order to measure a nation’s wealth and they include: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI) and Human Development Index (HDI). The Gross Domestic Product is the total value of all goods and services. This is a good indicator of what the country is like in relation to their products being sold. The GNI is the GDP plus the income from foreign investors minus the money paid out to foreign investors. The GNI and GDP are not always equal between or within countries. The HDI captures the health, education and income of any given area. It is often a more accurate depiction of what the people are like.

Robert F Keneddy speech on GDP highlighted the unique aspects associated with the understanding of GDP. The speech talked about the meaning and importance of GDP and the misinterpretations that are often attached with the concept. He was of the view that accumulation of material things has remained a main focus of economic agents and doing so community values and community excellence are often compromised. In his speech he presented an important concept that GDP cannot be used as a measure of welfare of wellbeing of the economy because it does not take into account the health of individuals, their standard of living, quality of education provided to the individuals etc. In this way it is not a good option to rely on GDP while having an idea about the development of an economy.

Hanley first undermines the (GDP) standard of living, and thus gives a logical reasoning why it is inaccurate to use when comparing states. The standard of living is used by economists to evaluate the “quantities of goods and services available for consumption”(Hanley, 1997). She then explains, it is good to use the standard of living method in modern nations, but then explains, “the standard of living is only as good as the data used to calculate it”(Hanley, 1997) She is clearly stating that method of standard of living, is only good if you have the

GDP consists of Gross (before taking into consideration the depreciation in the value of the product), Domestic (within the borders of a country) and Product which simply means a good or service. So what does it all mean when all these three factors are interlinked? GDP is simply the market value of all the final goods and services produced within a country in a given time period – usually a year (Parkin et al. 2005: 438).

Transfer payments are government outlays, for programs such as Social Security and welfare, for which the government does not receive any goods or services in return. Transfer payments were designed as a way to provide a safety net to citizens in need of assistance. In the last fifty years we have seen a consistent increase in transfer payments, regardless of the economic conditions faced by the nation. Some of this continual increase in transfer payments can be explained by demographics (Baby Boomers collecting Social Security), changes in the political climate (immigration amnesty in the 1980s) as well as the economic climate of the last decade (extended unemployment compensation). In this paper, we attempt to analyze the effect, if any,

According the to World Bank a countries income level is determined by it’s Gross National Product (GNP) per capita, which is the value of all final goods and services produced in a country in one year (gross domestic product) plus income that residents have received from abroad, minus income claimed by nonresidents divided by its population.("How We Classify Countries,") This measure is an indication of how well the population in a country lives. When comparing country income levels there are several differences that can be found between each group, listed in order of examination they are GNP per capita, political stability, life expectancy, and access to education.

2: What is worse is that many countries have deluded themselves even further by limiting the growth of the country into a dollar amount. The measure of growth is flawed, how countries see their growth is based on the consumption of their people. Many countries use the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as an indicator for growth, as defined in It’s All Connected, “(GDP) is a calculation of the total monetary value of goods and services produced annually in a country” (Wheeler 11). The measure of human growth is broken down to the items and services we buy and use? Something says that we are only a dollar or perhaps ten or fifteen. Wheeler also points out that the GDP rises with any disasters, or

Throughout the years, the United States of America has endured a very strong economy. Although there have been many obstacles of hindrance such as trade deficits, wars, hostile governments and embargo’s, the economic status of the United States still continues to prevail. Just to name a few, the economy of this country survives on simple commodities such as pork, oranges, precious metals and the productive efforts of its citizens. In this paper, I will not only introduce and discuss the logistics of both the United States and the United Kingdom; I will discuss its key economic obstacles and its economic well being.

There exist some differences between real GDP and nominal GDP. Real GDP is the measure (macroeconomic measure) of economic output that has been adjusted for a change in price. The meaning for this adjustment is that inflation or deflation has been factored in the computation of real GDP. It is the aspect of adjustment for price changes that makes a transformation of the money value to become a nominal value (Tucker 230). Nominal GDP refers to the value of Gross Domestic Product that has not factored in the adjustment for inflation. Nominal GDP is also called chained dollar GDP or current dollar GDP.

The questions are raised as what and how the wealth is distributed or allocated among societies. Countries with similar average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people’s quality of life such as social justice, access to education and health care, job opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, freedom of speech, life expectancy, birth-death control, identity, culture, conservation, equal opportunities, environmental change. Development is important as it covers a wide range process involving cultural, economic, environmental, political, social and technological change of a country. Regarding goals and means of development, recent United Nations documents emphasize on human development measured by life expectancy, adult literacy, access to all three levels of education as well as people‘s average income which is a necessary condition of their freedom of choice. In other words, human development incorporates all aspects of individuals’ well -being from their health status to their economic and political freedom. The Human Development Report 1996 of UNDP focuses on development as the end and economic growth a

In earlier times Gross Domestic Product was one of the main indicators to measure a country’s wealth. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined as the total value of all the goods and services produced by a nation in any given year ("Is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a Good Measure of Prosperity?"). There are two ways of calculating a country’s GDP. The first is the income approach which is calculated by adding the wages of workers, income from rent, interest and profits. The second, more common form of calculating GDP, is the expenditure approach. Here GDP totals consumption expenditure, investment, government spending and net exports. GDP statistics are considered to reflect a county’s economic output which could possibly lead to growth. However GDP is a measure of income and it should not be confused with wealth. Which is why most modern economists do not consider GDP to be a good measure of a

The intention to step after the Western growth model can lead the Asian cities to the crisis (Heather, 2012). However, recently, China and India have managed to ensure the economic progress and significant living standards improvements for their economically unstable social groups of the population. At the same time, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) pointed out the rising inequality which can “soon undermine the very basis of these countries’ economies success” (Heather, 2012). Furthermore, according to the ADB, the gap between the poor and rich has not been reduced (Heather, 2012). This gap has increased and keeps rolling up. The closer analysis of the problem of poverty in the city of Beijing gives the solid reason to claim that the Western model of economic development should not be applied as such to the Asian context.