The Key Concepts Of Economics

1. Describe two examples of important things that financial planning skills can help you do, and explain why these things are important to you personally. (4-6 sentences. 2.0 points)

The health of the current U.S. economy appears to be growing gradually. The second quarter real GDP growth was 3.7% and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3%. The U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to raise interest rates in the near future when it sees clear signs of strong economic growth and improvements in the job market.

Economics is the social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and with the theory and management of economies or economic systems. All economists agree on one thing, the economy is large and it is unpredictable. However, throughout the years economists have developed some simple but widely applicable principles that are useful when trying to understand decisions that are made by everyday people to the workings of highly complex markets. There are Seven Core Principles of Economics. These principles are: Scarcity Principle, Cost-Benefit Principle, Principle of Unequal Costs, Principle of Comparative Advantage, Principle of Increasing Opportunity Cost, Equilibrium Principle, and

The United States is considered to be the world’s largest national economy. The United States have proven time and time again that its economy is one that should be modeled after by showcasing a proven track record. Although its economy is considered the largest, it has had its problems such as the Great Depression and the Recession that have taken placed recently beginning in 2007 lasting until mid 2009. Both of these economic down turns are similar in nature which has caused many to feel negative effects,

The Federal Reserve (FED), is the central bank of the United States. It was created by Congress to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system (Federalreserve.org, 2016). The monetary policy of the US is governed by the FED, which assist in regulating the supply and demand of money in the market. Interest rates are a very important tool of monetary policy that economists use to achieve the targets defined for the country’s monetary policy. Interest rates have a profound impact on the value of the country’s currency, inflation, export competiveness and imports into the country. Interest rates also impact the inflow and outflow of funds into or out of the country. Due to their wide reaching impact on the economy, if the Fed decides to raise the interest rates at the end of this year it will definitely impact several aspects such as consumer financing, annuities values, the NPV calculation, the WACC and corporate earnings.

The Great Recession lasted from December of 2007 until June of 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II. During this time, gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, unemployment, and interest rates were all greatly affected. The previously mentioned metrics are used to compare today’s economy to the economy during the Great Recession to see how the United States has rebounded since 2009. Monetary and fiscal policies were also implemented to combat the recession, and their effects determine whether or not the policies have a lasting effect in continuing to help the U.S. economy rebound.

The inflation rate is still below the 2% target for the Reserve. Increasing the rates right now poses a risk since there could be deflation. The Federal Reserve should have waited until they achieved their target before making the changes. Even with low unemployment rates, the labor force participation rate is at its lowest and wage earnings are still below the recommended comfortable rate. Also, instead of increasing the rates, the Federal Reserve should have focused on other economic aspects such as increasing the down payment for purchasing assets. Financial bubbles would have been avoided through this current rate instead of raising the interest

• As previously stated in the executive summary, the United States’ economy is currently stagnating. From week to week we may see a rise in one indicator while there is a fall in another indicator, but none of the rises or falls are drastic enough to have an overwhelming impact on the economy as a whole. Although the economy is not near as strong as it was before the 2008-2009 recession, arguably one of the biggest economic crises of the past decade, there has been much growth and strength throughout the past few years with this year being the first year in which the economy is in somewhat of a holding pattern. I believe, that even with the little growth and movement of the United States economy over the past year, it is still perhaps one of the strongest economies in the world at the moment.

The US economy has recovered considerably from the great financial crisis of 2008. We are currently in the seventh year of expansion, and the overall performance of the economy has been satisfactory. Most economic indicators have improved dramatically, and some of them are at the best level since then. A significant recovery in home prices, GDP, labor market, stock markets, auto sales, and consumer spending have fostered the economic growth and restored the confidence of market participants.

The American economy has suffered the deepest and most protracted recession since the Great Depression. The financial crisis that began in the fall of 2008 had enduring effects on economic performance. In the first quarter of 2009, real gross domestic product (real GDP) fell by 6.4 percent. Real GDP fell for four straight quarters, from third quarter 2008 through second quarter 2009. The good news is that we have enjoyed more than three years of uninterrupted economic growth (Real GDP) and falling unemployment since the recession ended in June 2009. Economic growth (real GDP) has averaged less than 2.1% since the recovery began July 2009 and is have slowed to less than 1% in the

Over the course of Americas 239 years of existence it has had so many different ups and downs in its economic center ranging from the highest of its ups in the roaring twenties to one of its lowest lows in the recent great recession. It impossible to be able to completely guess what the united states economy is going to do next but with the help of a few monitors we are able to estimate where America is at this time and make as good of a guess on where it is going than ever before. With these tools we can see that the United States is on a steady incline shown through the improvements in the Gross Domestic Profit, low inflation, the rising labor market along with the Manufacturing & Trade Inventories & Sales tool.

Many people think that economics is about money. Well, to some extent this is true. Economics has a lot to do with money: with how much money people are paid; how much they spend: what it costs to buy various items; how much money firms earn; how much money there is in total in the economy. But despite the large number of areas in which our lives are concerned with money, economics is more than just the study of money.

The U.S. economy for sure remains high and will see a relatively long period of development due to the emergence of fresh scientific and technological innovations. As previously stated, the third "decline" of the US economy occurred in 2008/9, the international financial crisis. The century-rare global financial crisis and world economic recession originated from the US.

4. Growth Rate: an estimate of the growth of the GDP based on a persons projected yearly increase in income.

Economic analysis states that alcohol abuse is a costly lifestyle. Alcohol consumption is approximated to cost individuals and the society billions of money indirectly or directly. The expenditures can be sub-divided down to include those costs that are added directly to the purchasing of alcohol and those which are incurred as a result of alcohol related health problems like liver cirrhosis (Coate, 2001).