Assignment:
National Income Determination - Discussion
The Discussion topics focus on how a nation's income is measured using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the specific areas of discussion include the various components of the GDP, the difference between nominal and real GDP, GDP and business cycles, and the limitations of the GDP in measuring economic welfare.
Respond to two of the following Discussion topics. Read Chapter 10, and remember to include references and links to the websites that you feel are important contributors to your posts (comments).
Topic 1: Economists use Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure the economic activity and the national income.
1. What are the major components of the USA GDP? Explain the contribution of each component to the GDP with data.
2. What is the difference between real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and nominal GDP? What is the relationship between the real GDP and the business cycle?
Topic 2: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only measures the value of marketed goods and services for a country during a given period of time.
a. Is the GDP measure underestimating or overestimating national production and total income in the economy? Why?
b. What are the limitations of the GDP in measuring total output and national welfare? What products (services) are excluded from the GDP computation?