Economic Indicators Paper
Economic Indicators Paper
What does it mean when someone refers to the health of an economy? Furthermore, how can one classify an economy? Americans love to quantify data. Because of this inherent need to compare data, economists have developed a way to collect nearly every type of statistics that may reveal the general health of the economy. These statistics actually tell if the economy is productive and efficient or if it is slow and inefficient. Included in these statistics are Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Unemployment Rate, Retail Sales, Producer Price Index (PPI), and Personal Income. Included in this paper, Team A defines the preceding six indicators, and describes their status. Additionally, a historic trend graph will illustrate these six indicators.
Impact of Real GDP Gross domestic product or GDP is the broadest measure of the health of the US economy. Real GDP is defined as the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States. The GDP generally lags other indicators' release dates. As such, other indicators "build up" to the market's anticipation of how the GDP numbers describe the state of the economy. Real GDP is an important indicator to track because it provides the greatest and broadest sectoral detail of any other series. The data associated with GDP reflect income as well as expenditure flows. Sectoral coverage includes durable and nondurable goods, structures, and services. In addition, price data by sector are available for detailed subcomponents. Because of
the detail available in the GDP reports, this series provides comprehensive information on supply and demand conditions, including information for various types of developing imbalances over the business cycle. Real GDP is a quarterly figure, but released on a monthly basis with an initial estimate referred to as the "advance" estimate with two subsequent revisions over the following two months. The
What does it mean when someone refers to the health of an economy? Furthermore, how can one classify an economy? Americans love to quantify data. Because of this inherent need to compare data, economists have developed a way to collect nearly every type of statistics that may reveal the general health of the economy. These statistics actually tell if the economy is productive and efficient or if it is slow and inefficient. Included in these statistics are Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Unemployment Rate, Retail Sales, Producer Price Index (PPI), and Personal Income. Included in this paper, Team A defines the preceding six indicators, and describes their status. Additionally, a historic trend graph will illustrate these six indicators.
Impact of Real GDP Gross domestic product or GDP is the broadest measure of the health of the US economy. Real GDP is defined as the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States. The GDP generally lags other indicators' release dates. As such, other indicators "build up" to the market's anticipation of how the GDP numbers describe the state of the economy. Real GDP is an important indicator to track because it provides the greatest and broadest sectoral detail of any other series. The data associated with GDP reflect income as well as expenditure flows. Sectoral coverage includes durable and nondurable goods, structures, and services. In addition, price data by sector are available for detailed subcomponents. Because of
the detail available in the GDP reports, this series provides comprehensive information on supply and demand conditions, including information for various types of developing imbalances over the business cycle. Real GDP is a quarterly figure, but released on a monthly basis with an initial estimate referred to as the "advance" estimate with two subsequent revisions over the following two months. The
References: Bureau of Economic Analysis: US Department of Commerce (2005) Local Area Personal Income. Retrieved January 23, 2005 from http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/reis/ Cftech Bank Gross Domestic Product (2005). Retrieved January 23, 2005 from http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/FINANCE/GDP.html US Census Bureau (2005). Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Service. Retrieved January 21, 2005, from http://www.census.gov. US Department of Labor (2005) Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved January 16, 2005 from http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LNU04000000&years_option=all_years&periods_option=specific_periods&periods=Annual+Data US Department of Labor (2005) Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved January 23, 2005 from http://www.bls.gov/dolfaq/bls_ques6.htm