Guide to Economic Indicators: Making Sense of Economics

by STUTELY RICHARD

• ISBN13: 9781576601457
• ISBN10: 1576601455
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Summary

It is essential in business and many professions today to have a thorough understanding of economic information. Written for the nonspecialist, this highly accessible guide provides the keys to understanding all the major and many lesser economic indicators: what they are, the areas they cover, their reliability, and how and why to interpret them. It contains chapters covering: - GDP (Gross Domestic Product), GNP (Gross National Product), and GNI (Gross National Income) - Growth, trends, and cycles - Population, employment, and unemployment - Government - Consumers - Investments and savings - Industry and commerce - Balance of payments - Exchange rates - Money and financial markets Now in its fifth edition, this fully updated, revised guide is invaluable for anyone who needs or simply wants to have the underlying economic realities of the world we live in clearly explained

Table of Contents

List of tables	viii
List of charts	x
Interpreting economic indicators	1	(11)
Essential mechanics	12	(16)
Measuring economic activity	28	(13)
Omissions	30	(2)
Output, expenditure and income	32	(5)
Prices	37	(2)
Putting it in context	39	(1)
Reliability	40	(1)
Growth: trends and cycles	41	(17)
Nominal GDP	43	(2)
GDP per head	45	(1)
Real GDP	46	(3)
GDP: output	49	(1)
GDP: expenditure	50	(1)
Productivity	51	(3)
Cyclical or leading indicators	54	(4)
Population, employment and unemployment	58	(12)
Population	59	(2)
Labour or workforce	61	(2)
Employment	63	(3)
Unemployment and vacancies	66	(4)
Fiscal indicators	70	(14)
Public expenditure	71	(4)
Government revenues	75	(3)
Budget balance, deficit, surplus	78	(4)
National debt; government or public debt	82	(2)
Consumers	84	(11)
Personal income, disposable income	85	(2)
Consumer and personal expenditure, private consumption	87	(4)
Personal and household savings; savings ratio	91	(2)
Consumer confidence	93	(2)
Investment and savings	95	(12)
Fixed investment and GDFCF	97	(4)
Investment intentions	101	(1)
Stocks (inventories)	102	(2)
National savings, savings ratio	104	(3)
Industry and commerce	107	(19)
Business conditions; indices and surveys	109	(2)
Industrial and manufacturing production	111	(2)
Capacity use and utilisation	113	(2)
Manufacturing orders	115	(2)
Motor vehicles	117	(1)
Construction orders and output	118	(2)
Housing starts, completions and sales	120	(2)
Wholesale sales or turnover, orders and stocks	122	(1)
Retail sales or turnover, orders and stocks	123	(3)
The balance of payments	126	(21)
Accounting conventions	126	(4)
Imports of goods and services	130	(5)
Exports of goods and services	135	(2)
Trade balance, merchandise trade balance	137	(3)
Current-account balance	140	(3)
Capital- and financial-account flows	143	(1)
International investment position (IIP)	143	(1)
Official reserves	144	(1)
External debt, net foreign assets	145	(2)
Exchange rates	147	(19)
Nominal exchange rates	149	(4)
Special drawing rights (SDR)	153	(3)
EMU, ecu, ERM and euro	156	(3)
Effective exchange rates	159	(2)
Real exchange rates; competitiveness	161	(3)
Terms of trade	164	(2)
Money and financial markets	166	(20)
Money supply, money stock, Mo ... M5, liquidity	167	(6)
Bank lending, advances, credit, consumer credit	173	(1)
Central bank policy rates	174	(1)
Interest rates; short-term and money-market rates	175	(3)
Bond yields	178	(2)
Yield curves, gaps and ratios	180	(3)
Real interest rates and yields	183	(1)
Share prices and yields	184	(2)
Prices and wages	186	(34)
Price indicators	190	(2)
Gold price	192	(2)
Oil prices	194	(6)
Commodity price indices	200	(4)
Export and import prices; unit values	204	(1)
Producer and wholesale prices	205	(3)
Surveys of price expectations	208	(1)
Wages, earnings and labour costs	209	(3)
Unit labour costs	212	(1)
Consumer or retail prices	213	(4)
Consumer or private expenditure deflators	217	(1)
GDP deflators	218	(2)
Appendix A: Useful websites	220	(5)
Index	225