1. Economic Indicators for Informed Citizens
Focus: Understanding Economics in Civics & Government

2. What information do we use to measure our health?
What are Kramer’s symptoms?
Based on the symptoms, what is the doctor’s diagnosis?
Seinfeld:

3. US also has Vital Statistics
These vital statistics can be thought of as:
Macroeconomic Indicators - These indicators help in diagnosing the health of the economy.

4. How do we measure the Health of the United States?
Economic Indicators:
Inflation
Unemployment
Gross Domestic Product
3 Vital Signs
of the U.S. Economy

5. Inflation Rate
This indicator measures how rapidly the overall price level is changing in the U.S. economy.

6. Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Reflects changes in the prices paid by consumers for a representative group of goods and services.

7. Purchasing Power
the value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy.

8. Unemployment Rate
This indicator measures the percentage of the U.S. labor force that wishes to work, but are currently without jobs.

9. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
This indicator measures the dollar value of all final goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a given year.

10. Real Gross Domestic Product (Real GDP)
This indicator measures the dollar value of all final goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a given year and adjusts for price changes (i.e., inflation or deflation).

11. Business Cycle
The business cycle is the fluctuation in economic activity that an economy experiences over a period of time.
Basically defined in terms of periods of expansion or recession.