Economic Growth: Main Components of GDP

This lecture covers the main components of GDP, including production, consumption, investment, savings, and trade. It delves into the trade balance, the role and determinants of the exchange rate, and the impact of monetary policy. The instructor explains the economic circuits involving labor, capital, exports, imports, and various actors like households, governments, and firms. The lecture also explores the concept of value added, the calculation of GDP, the significance of VAT, and the relationship between GDP, domestic production, and national income. Furthermore, it analyzes the decomposition of Swiss GDP and the implications of maximizing GDP. Real-world examples and data are used to illustrate key economic principles.

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Related concepts (74)

HUM-471: Economic growth and sustainability I

This course examines growth from various angles: economic growth, growth in the use of resources, need for growth, limits to growth, sustainable growth, and, if time permits, population growth and gro

Exchange rate

In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of the euro. The exchange rate is also regarded as the value of one country's currency in relation to another currency. For example, an interbank exchange rate of 131 Japanese yen to the United States dollar means that ¥131 will be exchanged for or that will be exchanged for ¥131.

Exchange rate regime

An exchange rate regime is a way a monetary authority of a country or currency union manages the currency about other currencies and the foreign exchange market. It is closely related to monetary policy and the two are generally dependent on many of the same factors, such as economic scale and openness, inflation rate, the elasticity of the labor market, financial market development, and capital mobility. There are two major regime types: Floating (or flexible) exchange rate regime exist where exchange rates are determined solely by market forces and often manipulated by open-market operations.

Fixed exchange rate system

A fixed exchange rate, often called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed or pegged by a monetary authority against the value of another currency, a basket of other currencies, or another measure of value, such as gold. There are benefits and risks to using a fixed exchange rate system. A fixed exchange rate is typically used to stabilize the exchange rate of a currency by directly fixing its value in a predetermined ratio to a different, more stable, or more internationally prevalent currency (or currencies) to which the currency is pegged.

Monetary policy

Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rate of inflation). Further purposes of a monetary policy may be to contribute to economic stability or to maintain predictable exchange rates with other currencies.

Floating exchange rate

In macroeconomics and economic policy, a floating exchange rate (also known as a fluctuating or flexible exchange rate) is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is allowed to fluctuate in response to foreign exchange market events. A currency that uses a floating exchange rate is known as a floating currency, in contrast to a fixed currency, the value of which is instead specified in terms of material goods, another currency, or a set of currencies (the idea of the last being to reduce currency fluctuations).