Protectionism
Policy that burdens foreign producers but not domestic producers
Tariff
Tax on imports
Cost of Protectionism
Wastes resources by moving production from low cost producers to high cost producers
GDP
Market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country in a year
GDP per Capita
GDP/Population
GNP
Labor and property supplied by the citizens of a country wherever they might be in the world
Growth Rate
(GDPn-GDPo)/GDPo * 100
Nominal GDP
GDP not adjusted for inflation
Real GDP
GDP adjusted for inflation
GDP Deflator
Nominal / Real * 100
Best Reflection of Changing Living Standards
Real GDP per Capita
Recessions
Significant declines in real GDP and employment
Business Cycles
Fluctuations of real GDP around its long term trend
National Spending Approach to GDP
Y = C + I + G + (Exports - Imports)
Factor Income Approach to GDP
Y = Employee Compensation + Rent + Interest + Profit
What GDP Doesn’t Count
Underground Economy
Nonpriced Production
Environmental Costs
Health of Nations
Distribution of Income
Consumption
Private spending on finished goods and services
Investment
Private spending on tools and equipment used to produce future output
Government Purchases
Spending by all levels of the government on finished goods and services
Economic Growth
Growth rate of real per capita GDP
Rule of 70
GDP per capita will double every 70/(growth rate) years
Factors of Production
Physical Capital
Human Capital
Technological Knowledge
Causes of Increase in GDP per Capita
Institutions
Incentives
Organization
Physical Capital
Tools in the broadest sense
Human Capital
Things that make people productive
Technological Knowledge
Knowledge about how the world works
Institutions
Laws, regulations, customs, practices that shape human interaction and structure economic incentives within a society
Important Institution Types
Property Rights
Honest Government
Political Stability
Dependable Legal System
Competitive and Open Marketes
Free Ride
When people are not properly incentivized to work, they just take advantage of the work of other people
Economies of Scale
The advantages of large scale production that reduce average cost as quantity increases
Solow Model
Y = F(A, K, eL)
Y = GDP
A = Ideas
K = Physical Capital
eL = Human Capital
Solow Model Investent
Countries with higher rates of investment will be wealthierr
Conditional Convergence
The tendency for poorer countries to grow faster than richer countries and for the poorer and the richer countries will converge in income
Cutting Edge Growth
Countries that grow through idea generation. This is much harder
Catching Up Growth
Countries that grow by adopting ideas that were developed in other countries. This is much easier
Patent
Government grant of temporary monopoly rights
Nonrival
When one person’s consumption of the good does not limit another person’s consumption
Measure of Technological Progress
Ideas = Populations x Incentives x Ideas per hour
Lessons from Solow Model
Countries that invest more will be wealthier
Growth will be faster the father away a country’s capital stock is from its steady state value
Capital accumulation cannot explain long run economic growth
Saving
Income that is not spent on consumption goods
Investment
Purchase of new capital
Consumption Smoothing Theory of Saving
Creating a balance between spending and saving during the different phases of our lives to achieve a higher overall standard of living
Time Preference
The desire to have goods and services sooner rather than later
Interest Rate
How much savers are paid to save
Market for Loanable Funds
The market where savers trade with borrows, and determine the equilibrium interest rate
Financial Intermediaries
Banks, bond markets, stock markets
Bond
When a member of the public lends money to a corporation
Collateral
Something of value that helps secure a loan
Crowding out
The decrease in private consumption and borrowing when the government borrows more
Arbitrage
The practice of taking advantage of price differences of the same good in different markets by buying low in one market and selling high in another
Relationship between Interest Rates and Bond Prices
Inverse (they move in opposite directions)
Stocks
Shares of ownership in a corporation
IPO
When new stocks are issued
Leverage Ratio
Ratio of debt to equity
Insolvency
When debts and liabilities exceed assets
Federal Reserve
Bank for the government and other banks
Money
Widely accepted means of payment
Liquid Asset
Asset that can be used for payment, or can be converted into a form that can be used for payment quickly without loss of value
Monetary Base
Currency and total reserves held at the Fed
M1
Currency and checkable deposits
M2
M1 plus savings deposits, money market mutual finds and small time deposits
Fractional Reserve Banking
A system in which banks only hold a portion of the deposits in reserve, lending the rest
Reserve Ratio
Ration of reserves to deposits
Money Multiplier
Inverse of the Reserve Ratio
Change in Money Supply
Money Supply = Change in Reserves * Money Multiplier
Open Market Operation
When the fed tries to change the money supply by buying and selling government bonds
Federal Funds Rate
Overnight rate for a loan from one major bank to another
Quantitative Easing
Situation that occurs when the Fed buys long term bonds and other securities
Quantitative Tightening
Situation that occurs when the Fed sells long term bonds and other securities
Liquidity Trap
Situation in which interest rates are close to 0, so pushing them lower is not possible at increasing aggregate demand
Illiquid Asset
An asset that cannot be quickly converted into cash without a large loss in value
Systemic Risk
The risk that the failure of one financial institution can bring down other institutions
Moral Hazard
The idea that people who are insulated from risk will tend to take on more risk
Things that the Fed must Predict and Monitor
Will banks lend out all the new reserves?
How quickly will increases in the monetary base translate into new bank loans?
Do businesses want to borrow?
Will business hold their borrowed money or use it for labor and capital?