National Income + Aggregate Demand (Theme 2: The UK Economy - Performance + Policies)

What is Macroeconomics?

Study of interrelationships between economics variables at an aggregate (economy-wide) level

What is the Circular Flow of Income?

Model showing the flow of goods, services, money + factors of production between households + firms

What is equal in the Circular Flow of Income?

National Income = National Expenditure = National Output

What are Withdrawls + Examples?

Withdrawls - money removed from the economy

• Savings

• Taxes

• Imports

What are Injections + Examples?

Injections - money added to the economy

• Government Spending

• Investment by firms

• Exports

What are the three states of the Economy?

• Injections = Withdrawls → Equilibrium

• Injections > Withdrawls → Growing

• Injections > Withdrawls → Shrinking

What is Income + Wealth?

• Income - amount of earnings during a period

• Wealth - a stock of assets (e.g property + shares)

What is the Wealth Effect?

Increase in wealth (e.g) or perceived increase → increased in spending

What is Aggregate Demand?

Total spending on goods + services in the economy

What is the equation for Aggregate Demand?

AD = C + I + G + (X - M)

• C - Consumption (~60%)

• I - Investment (~15%)

• G - Government Spending (~18%)

• X - Exports

• M - Imports

• (X - M) - Net exports (~5%)

What are the influences on Consumption?

• Level of disposable income

• Level of saving

• Interest rates

• Consumer confidence

• Wealth effect

What are the types of Investment?

• Gross Investment - amount a company invests in assets without accounting for depreciation

• Net Investment - accounts for depreciation (e.g if 5 machines bought but 2 old removed → net investment is 3 machines)

What are the influences on Investment?

• Rates of economic growth

• Business expectations + confidence

• Keynes + ‘Animal Spirits’ - emotional + psychological factors drive decisions

• Demand for exports

• Interest rates

• Access to credit

• The influence of government + regulations

What is Government Spending?

• Current spending (wages to public sector works)

• Capital spending on investment goods (e.g roads)

• Not Transfer payments (e.g pensions)

What are the influences on Government Spending?

• Trade cycle - booms, recessions + recovery cycle

• Fiscal policy preferences - expansionary + contractionary fiscal policies (e.g decrease or increase taxes)

What are the influences on Net Exports?

• Real income

• Exchange rates

• State of the world economy

• Degree of protectionism - how protected country is from imports (e.g tariffs/quotas)

• Non-price factors - e.g brand loyalty, advertising

Why is the AD Curve that shape?

If prices increases:

• Real Balance Effect - saved money worth less → decreased C → AD decreases

• Interest Rate Effect - inflation → decreased C → AD decreases

• International Competitiveness - increased imports + decreased exports → X-M decreases → AD decreases

What causes a Movement along the AD Curve?

Price changes → Extension or Contraction of AD

What causes a Shift in the AD Curve?

Changes in:

• Consumption

• Investment

• Government

• Net Exports

What can affect the level of Shift in the AD Curve?

• Multiplier effect - increased AD → increased household income → increased C → even higher AD

• Time lags - takes time to affect AD

• Accelerator model - increased AD → so business invests → even higher AD

What does Marginal Propensity mean?

Proportion of additional income that is used to ____ (e.g consume/save/tax/import/withdraw)

What are the five Marginal Propensities?

• Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC)

• Marginal Propensity to Save (MPS)

• Marginal Propensity to Tax (MPT)

• Marginal Propensity to Import (MPM)

• Marginal Propensity to Withdraw (MPW)

What is the Multiplier Formula?

Multiplier = 1 / (1 - MPC)

OR

Multiplier = 1 / MPW, where MPW = MPS + MPT + MPM

What are the four problems of the Multiplier?

• Difficulty measuring

• Time to come to into full effect

• Size of leakages

• Impact of trade cycle