AS.180.101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Business Cycle, Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Ben Bernanke
Document Summary
Business cycle: short run movements in key macro variables. Job report on the first friday of every month at 8:30. Levels of income: personal income, income per capita. How much income is there per person. Gives you can average not the median or where most people"s incomes are that is why this per capita income value is misleading, in a way: corporate profits, earnings per share. The three things we look at: (1) output & income (2) jobs (3) prices: 1. Levels of growth rates of output: real gdp: 2. We also have to consider financial markets (interest rates and stock markets) Output/jobs/inflation why bother with macro statistics: key macro variables dominate political discourse, in a democracy, an informed public is necessary for success! In late 2013, republicans warnings on obamacare: growth would be weak and stifled, investment would stall because consumers would lose confidence, hiring would peter out.
