Sunday, April 08, 2007

Why Do We Neglect Lesiure and Cheer for Divorce?

How would you explain to a noneconomist CIA director what GDP can and cannot tell the CIA about countries around the world?
GDP can tell the information about CIA a country’s overall output and economic activities. GDP, essentially ‘the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country within a given period’ (most often a year), is a number that is the closest representation of this; this number can vary depending on the method used to measure GDP. GDP shows increases in money spent by a country, not including goods that are being resold or double counting goods that are used in the production of a good. GDP does not include stocks or bonds, as they are not a good that is produced. GDP cannot tell the CIA about the living standards in a country, the social welfare of the economy or the stability of an economy.

Prostitution, gambling, and some types of drug use are legal in some countries and illegal in others. What implication does this have for international GDP comparisons? What other issues might cloud such comparisons?
This has the implication that in some economies, additional goods are included in GDP and therefore, other countries GDP will differ because goods that are included in one economy are unaccounted for in another. This means that comparisons between countries economies are invalid, unless certain goods are decided upon to be included in GDP. Other issues that may cloud such comparisons are the population size and country size that is being compared. One country may have a greater GDP than another, but it also may be ten times the size of the country it is being compared to.

In which year did Armstrong make the largest contribution to GDP? In which year do you think he had the lowest level of individual welfare? In which year do you think he had the highest level of individual welfare? Discuss the relationships among income, output, and your own happiness.
a. out
b. out
c. in
d. in
e. out
f. out

How could leisure time be included in social welfare? Can you think of measurable values that coincide with leisure?
Leisure time could be included in social welfare by measuring the number of individuals involved in sports or other hobbies over a specific amount of time. Measurable values that coincide with leisure are the suicide rate of a country, as it is proven that people with more leisure time are less likely to commit suicide, or the amount of time people spend watching TV.