Portable Document Format

Chapter 14: Inflation: An Overview ? -The economic costs of inflation -How inflation creates winners and losers -Why policy makers try to maintain a stable rate of inflation -The difference between real and nominal values of income, wages, and interest rates -The problems of deflation and disinflation ? Inflation: Most common complaint: an increase in the price level makes everyone poorer- does not make everyone poorer Real Wage: the wage rate divided by the price level Real income: income divided by the price level Inflation Rate: the percent change per year in a price index?typically the consumer price index the percent increase in the overall level of prices per year ? ? The level of prices doesn?t matter Reducing prices = Reducing income

Chapter 12: The Meaning and Calculation of Unemployment ? -How unemployment is measured -How the unemployment rate is calculated -The significance of the unemployment rate for the economy -The relationship between the unemployment rate and economic growth ? Employed: people who currently hold a job in the economy, either full time or part time/ only if you have a job Unemployed: people who are actively looking for work but aren?t currently employed Limitations: Retired people Disabled Hasn?t actively searched for a Job in the last 4 weeks Discouraged workers Marginally attached workers Underemployed U.S. Census Bureau monthly survey called the Current Population Survey: interviewing a random sample of 60,000 American families

Chapter 15: The Measurement and Calculation of Inflation ? -How the inflation rate is measured -What a price index is and how it is calculated -The importance of the consumer price index and other price indexes ? Aggregate Price Level: a measure of the overall level of prices in the economy/single number to represent the overall level of prices Market Basket: a hypothetical set of consumer purchases of goods and services/Hypothetical Consumption bundle Consumption bundle: the typical basket of goods and services purchased before the price changes Price index: measure of the cost of purchasing a given market basket in a given year Base year: always results in a price index of 100 Price indexes are also the basis for measuring inflation

Chapter 13: The Causes and Categories of Unemployment ? -The three different types of unemployment and their causes -The factors that determine the natural rate of unemployment ? 1. Frictional Unemployment: unemployment due to the time workers spend in job search Somewhat inevitable- frictional unemployment doesn?t mean that there is a surplus of labor Constant process of job creation and job destruction New workers are always entering the labor market Limited amount is relatively harmless and may be a good thing Short duration of unemployment Job search: Workers who spend time looking for employment/ if all workers and all jobs were alike job search wouldn?t be necessary 2. Structural Unemployment:

Chapter 11: Interpreting Real Gross Domestic Product ? -The difference between real GDP and nominal GDP -Why real GDP is the appropriate measure of real economic activity ? GDP: a measure of the size of the economy represents increase in prizes of goods and services rather than an increase in output provides a good way to compare the size of different economies but not a good measure of the economy?s growth over time can grow to economic expansion or just inflation Real GDP: measures actual changes in aggregate output/ adjusted for price changes total value of all final goods and services produced during a given year calculated using the prices of a selected base year (assumed prices stay constant)