Monday, January 24, 2011

Post 24: 4 Unemployment Scenerios

Frictional Unemployment - I began my career becoming an engineer. After being an electrical engineer for 8 years, I decided to apply for a higher position (management).

Seasonal Unemployment - After finding out I wanted to become a farmer I soon bought land and started harvesting crops. But what I didn't think about is that I would be unemployed each winter because of the lack of crops.

Structural Unemployment - Once I discovered that I would lose my job each winter farming, I soon began to look for a job. I became a dvd maker in an older company and because blu ray discs have become very popular, I was cut from my job.

Cyclical Unemployment - So after my travel around the different jobs, I found that being an engineer was the most steady job. So I reapplied to become an engineer and within a year of having the job I was laid off because of the recession . :(           

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Post 23: WANTED! Unemployment: wanted dead or alive.



Unemployment has been stealing jobs and money leaving countless of people homeless. It has been suspected that there have been multiple Unemployments involved in this crime include: Frictional Unemployment, Structural Unemployment, and Seasonal Unemployment. Unemployment affect the economy because there will be less products being produced which can create economic issues.

Post 22: 15 facts from 3 quizzes

Quiz 1
1. The census bureau conducts a monthly study called the Current Population Survey.
2. Unemployment rate is the most closely watched labor force statistic.
3. Workers are underemployed if they have jobs beneath their skill level.
4. About 95% of the workforce is fully employed.
5. Unemployment that results from a change in technology is called structural unemployment.

Quiz 2
1. Aggregate supply is the total amount of goods and services produced throughout the economy.
2. A Supply Shock is an event that increases the cost of production for all or many firms.
3. To construct the consumer price index, the Bureau of Labor Statistics selects a sample of commonly purchased consumer items, called the Market Basket
4. The worst degree of inflation is called hyperinflation
5.  High interest rates lead to less consumer spending.

Quiz 3
1. The poverty threshold is the lowest income level that a family needs to maintain a basic standard of living.
2. The poverty rate is the percentage of individuals or families that are living in poverty.
3. The data used to plot a Lorenz Curve can also be used to compute the gini Index.
4. Rapid changes in technology have led to a drop in demand for lower-skilled workers.
5. One suggestion for improving income equality is raising the minimum wage.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Post 21: Vocab

Terms List:

National income accounting - The process of tracking production, income, and consumption in a nation's economy.
Gross domestic product - Total dollar value of all final goods and servies produced within a country during one calender year.
output-expenditure model - A way to calculate GDP C + I + G + (X - M) = GDP.
personal consumption expenditure -  consumer purchases.
gross investment - total value of all capital goods produced in a given nation during one year as well as changes in the dollar value of business inventories.
nominal GDP - Current GDP.
real GDP - GDP adjusted for price changes.
Price index - set of statistics that allow economists to compare prices over time.
underground economy - illegal activities and unreported legal activities.
gross national product - measures the total dollar value of all final output produced with factors of production owned by residents of a country during one year.
business cycle - fluctuations in a market system's economic activity.
expansion - a period of economic growth.
peak - a high point of expansion, where the economy is at its strongest and most prosperous point.
contraction - a recession.
recession - decline in real GDP for two or more consecutive quarters.
depression - prolonged and severe recessions.
trough - occurs when demand, production, and unemployment reach their lowest levels.
leading indicators - anticipate the direction in which the economy is headed.
coincident indicators -  change as the economy moves from one phase of the business cycle to another and tell economists that an upturn or downturn in the economy has occurred.
lagging indicators - change months after an upturn or downturn in the economy has begun.
real GDP per capita - increase in the real dollar value of all final goods or services that are produced per person for a specified period of time.
labor productivity - measure of how much each worker produces in a given period of time.
productivity growth - an increase in the output of each worker per hour of work.
capital to labor ratio -  the amount of capital stock available per worker.
capital deepening - an increase in the amount of capital goods available per worker - results.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Post 20: Quiz Corrections

Reviewing Facts
1. a; h; National income accounting is the process of tracking production, income, and consumption in a nation's economy (229)
2. b; a; Nominal GDP is the current GDP (232)
7. f; g; Coincident indicators change as the economy moves from one phase to another. (240)
8. g; f; Lagging indicators change months after an upturn of downturn in the economy has occurred (240)

Understanding Ideas
2: d; b; GDP does not include products such as used cars or secondhand clothing...goods were accounted in the year they were produced (230)
4. d; a; Gathering the necessary data is a slow and time consuming process. (233)

Matching
1. b; d; National income accounting is the process of tracking production, income, and consumption in a nation's economy (229)
2. i; b; Nominal GDP is the current GDP (232)
4. t; f; GNP measures the total dollar value of all final output produced with factors of production owned by residents of a country during one year (234)
12. c; s; Capital Deepening - an increase in the amount of capital goods available per worker (245)

Post 19: GDP Pyramid

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Post 18: Twitter Man!

Dear Jerry,
I want to thank you for your hard work and on-going dedication for providing resources for economic students, teachers, and for those that are curious. By creating this list of resources you've benefited many.  Students who are in economic classes will have the opportunity to find information quickly and efficiently while they still gain the full knowledge of economics. Teachers can now create lesson plans based off of the vast information in the resources you've provided. Most of the links provided are either interesting or useful. This appeals to a large majority of people, whether they are studying economics or not. In fact, the CPI Inflation Calculator and the currency converter are great tools for the average day person. Thanks again for posting these great links and I hope you continue to do so.

Sincerely,
Justin G