Econ 201: Intro to Macroeconomics
Lecture Notes
Malthus, Ricardo, and Macroeconomic Equilibrium - Does the macroeconomy tend toward "General Gluts", or does Say's Law hold?
Macroeconomic Components - Beginning Macro (Aggregation, RGDP, Price Level, AD, AS)
Does higher real GDP per capita make us happier? Sort of. (The Atlantic, May 31, 2012)
More on this from Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers (Brookings, April 29, 2013)
Macroeconomic data
Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP)
Consumer Price Index
Levels: The average price of stuff just keeps going up...but who really cares?
Rate of Inflation: % change in the Consumer Price Index, more stable in recent years
Labor markets
Unemployment rate: These aren't happy times
Labor Force Participation Rate: Thank you ladies for that amazing economic growth from 1960 to 1990
LFPR = (Working or looking for work)/(Working age population)
For interest:
Who was the richest economist ever? The second richest?
How much is a billion dollars, really? How much is a trillion?
GDP of US states in terms of GDP of other nations (The Economist)
Krugman says Malthus was right! And the tragically under-rated movie Idiocracy.
Some discussion of "General Gluts" and a fun way to think about the circle flow of income
General Gluts in China (Matthew Yglesias, Slate, August 24, 2012)
A fascinating way to look at macroeconomic fluctuations (New York Times, July 2, 2010)
How big is war as a share of US GDP? Some history. (New York Times, July 25, 2010)
Why don't more people starve today? Norman Borlaug! (1914-2009) (New York Times, Sept. 13, 2009)