宏观经济学原理与应用（第二版）教学配套课件罗伯特.E.霍尔economic_growth.pdfVIP

Economic Growth and Rising Living Standards Slides by: John Pamela Hall ECONOMICS: Principles and Applications 3e HALL LIEBERMAN 1 © 2005 Thomson Business and Professional Publishing Economic Growth and Rising Living Standards • Economist Thomas Malthus, writing in 1798, came to a striking conclusion – “Population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every twenty-five years, or increases in a geometrical ratio…The means of subsistence…could not possibly be made to increase faster than in an arithmetic ratio” • Prognosis was so pessimistic that it led Thomas Carlyle, one of Malthus’s contemporaries, to label economics “the dismal science” • History has proven Malthus wrong…at least in part • Economists today are optimistic about industrialized nations’ long-run material prospects • Achieving a higher rate of growth in long-run generally requires some sacrifice in short-run 2 The Importance of Growth • Why should we be concerned about economic growth? – When output grows faster than population, GDP per capita will rise • When output grows more slowly than population, average standard of living will fall • Measuring standard of living by GDP per capita may seem limiting • Still, many aspects of our quality of life are counted in GDP such as – Food, housing, medical care, education, transportation services, and movies and video games • Economic growth is especially important in countries with income levels far below those of Europe, Japan, and United States – Other than emigration, economic growth is their only hope • Growth is a high priority in prosperous nations, t