GDP As A Measure Of Living Standards

Is the poverty line a realistic measure? Can families whose income is at the poverty line have enough money to secure the basic needs to live in America today? Can people hold a steady job, work full time and still find themselves falling below the poverty line?

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

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a calculation that provides insight into the current economy of our nation to allow individuals to understand the current and past year’s standings in the economy. The calculation of the GDP allows for the government to determine what adjustments are necessary to manage an effective status for the economy. Based upon the GDP the government can forecast any necessary changes that must be made to either the monetary policy or the fiscal policy. The wealth of a country is based upon the government’s ability to manage the economy through the monetary system and not on the amount of money that is located within that economy. The calculations for the GDP are produced to provide the most

People throughout the world have different lifestyles. Living standard is so dramatically different from country to country. It means that the way of living is not really similar in comparison. Some people are living in a very poor situation while other people are living in a good situation or in a privileged family.

A lot of us have heard of the term GDP, especially toward the end of official year, but probably don't pay much attention to it. But to economists, businessmen, firms as well as governments, GDP is one of the most important tool used to reflect how a country do not only in economic but also in social and political perspectives. But what is GDP? What are its components? Why is it so important? And if GDP is that important and necessary, why are there still controversies against it?

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.

2) Afghanistan and Japan differ greatly in terms of the Human Development Indicator (HDI) which include the GDP and GNI per capita, infant mortality rate, literacy rate and life expectancy. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GNI (Gross National Income) per capita, which are both indicators of a nation’s level of wealth, are determined by dividing the GDP or GNI by the total population of the country. Japan has a GPD per capita of $34,870 whereas Afghanistan has a GDP per capita of only $2,000. Here, Japan, having a much higher GDP per capita is considered a rich developed country and Afghanistan, with a much lower GDP per capita, is considered a poor developing country. Another HDI that determines the wealth level of the country is the infant mortality rate.

GDP: Gross Domestic Product per capita by Purchasing Power Parities (in international dollars, fixed 2011 prices). The inflation and differences in the cost of living between

g. GDP per capita is better for measuring well-being than the level of GDP is, and therefore GDP comparisons must be adjusted for population differences

There are various other important aspects associated with the economy in general and community in particular that determine wellbeing of the economic agents and these aspects are totally ignored by the concept of GDP. GDP is unable to take into account the strengths of marriages, the intelligence of the public, and the integrity of the public institutions. These moral aspects of the community play significant role in its economic development too. Wisdom, courage, learning, compassion, and devotion all such factors make our lives worthwhile and therefore it is not a wise option to ignore these factors while talking about the economic

Measuring GDP will give the county a good idea of its economic performance. This will help the government assess the current economic activity and standard of living. Therefore a rise in GDP will suggest better living standards, increased economic activity that would generate more jobs leading to individuals having more disposable income to spend on things. Increased spending in the economy would give business more confidence to increase their investments, which benefits future growth. Rising GDP would mean better public services are offered like improvements in the field of education, better healthcare and national security. On the other hand if GDP increases rapidly then it could also have a negative effect on the economy. Increasing GDP would lead to higher inflation as people are purchasing more products then there is an incentive to increase prices. This would further have pressure on interest rates to rise, leading to a decrease in competitiveness both in the domestic and international markets. As nominal prices rise, real wages have to rise in accordance for people to afford products and this leads to rise in unemployment. Also in places like China rise in GDP has been associated with a rise in pollution levels from factories which can have a

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

Gross Domestic Product (or known as GDP), is defined as, “aggregate output as the dollar value of all final goods and services produced within the borders of a country during a specific period of time, typically a year” (McConnell, Brue, & Flynn, 2012). This measures the value of the output in monetary terms, and you can check current trends of the GDP by taking a look at the Bureau of Economic Analysis website. Today, we are taking a look at the “Release Highlights” link to check the most current trends within the GDP.

Economic Growth refers to a nation’s outputs of goods and services over time. It is measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is a valuation of a country’s total production in a year. In 2007-08, Australia had a GDP growth rate of 3.7%. By 2012, this growth rate had dropped to 3.1% despite the 20 years of continual economic growth in Australia averaging 3.5% up until 2012. Recent economic growth has been largely supported during the global resources boom where there was strong demand and increasing commodity prices of Australia’s mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, aluminium, copper and zinc. However, even though Australia has a very dynamic and developed economy there are still

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