Post 18: Twitter Man

If I could choose three sites, I would choose:

Site #1:

http://www.economy.com/freelunch/default.asp

I chose this link to use on the midterm because it talks about everthing ranging from government spending to GDP and prices.  It also mentions income and gives information on the government in general.

Site #2:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/moolah/history.html

I chose this link to use on the midterm because it explains barter and other money currencies that may be helpful to me during the midterm exam.

Site #3:

http://www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/awb_nav.pl?s=gls

I chose this link to use on the midterm because it is basically a dictionary.  You just type in the term you want to know and it gives you the definition.  (Really helpful and easy!)

Post 17: Graphs and Charts

3 Business Cycle Graphs and Charts:



This chart is very good for dipicting the business cycle by going recession and depression all the way through boom and inflation.  This is a good chart but is not a visual that is too appealing because of the vagueness.



I think that this is a great graph because of all the information its presents to the reader and shows the phases that the business cycle goes through.  However, I don't like because it can be confusing to the reader if they are looking at it for the first time.



This graph is very good along with all the others.  I like this graph because its very concise; it shows the cycles and depicts and explains each spot where something is occuring.  This is the most simple and easiest to look at and understand.  There is nothing I could find to say anything bad about this graph.

I give the "BEST GRAPH OF THE ECONOMIC SEMESTER" award to graph number three for being short, sweet, and to the point.  This graph is very concise and can still hold a lot of information that can be easily understood by any reader.  It's also very colorful and that helps appeal to the reader as well.

Post 16: Chapter 10 Visual

The business cylce is the recurring and fluctuating levels of economic activity that an economy experiences over a long period of time. There are five stages of the business cycle which inlcude growth (expansion), peak, recession (contraction), trough and recovery.  Business cycles today they are widely believed to be irregular, varying in frequency, magnitude and duration.

Source:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businesscycle.asp

The business cycle is the periodic but irregular up-and-down movements in economic activity, measured by fluctuations in real GDP and other macroeconomic variables.

Contraction: A slowdown in the pace of economic activity

The lower turning point of a business cycle, where a contraction turns into an expansion

Expansion: A speedup in the pace of economic activity

Peak: The upper turning of a business cycle

Source:
http://economics.about.com/cs/studentresources/f/business_cycle.htm

Post 14: Reaction to Videos

I thought that the "My Humps" video and Business Cycle Rap were both funny.  The "My Humps" video in my opinion was the funnier of the two, but they were both good.  I thought that the most helpful video was the Business Cycle Rap because it went into more detail and explaination about the business cycle than the "My Humps" video.  In all I would say that the video was more helpful than silly, they just presented the information in a creative and silly way.  I would say that the website link was more helpful because you can actually read the facts and retain the information faster, in my opinion.

Website Link:  http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/business_cycle.htm

Post 13: Quiz Information

10 Things That I learned from the Quizes:

1. The most widely used NIPA is gross domestic product or GDP
2. Gross investment is the total value of all capital goods produced in a given country in one year as well as changes in the dollar value of business inventories
3. A price index is a set of statistics that allows economists to compare price over time
4. Indirect taxes are taxes included in the final price of goods and services

5. Per capita measures take into account changes in population

6. Without long-term economic growth, a nation's standard of living declines

7. Technology, capital goods, and education all influence productivity growth

8. The capital-to-labor ratio is the amount of capital stock available per worker

9. Capital deepening is an increase in the amount of capital goods available per worker

10. The contraction phase is a period of business slowdown

Post 11: GDP Letter

Dear Editor,

In my opinion the GDP is not as effective and efficient as some of the other indicators used in today's society.  The difference between GNP and GDP is in income from foreign sources. GNP includes the value of goods and services made by U.S., however the GDP measures the value of goods and services produced only within the boundaries of the U.S.  GDP includes only goods and services produced within the geographic boundaries of the U.S., so this is not as effective as other tools such as GNP. GNP includes goods and services produced by U.S. bussinesses operating in outside countries.  The GDP has both pros and cons, but the GDP can be looked at as a faulty indicator in several ways.  The GDP does not take domestic household prouducts or the black market into consideration.  It also is not an accurate measure of the change in productivity.  GDP does not consider the distribution of wealth of nations.  Therefore, the GDP has faults and can be seen as a faulty indicator and I would suggest GNP.

Post 11: GDP Calculation

GDP can be determined by three major factors which includes the product input, product output, and the expenditure. 


GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)

GDP = C + Inv + GS + (eX - iM)