第2章节宏观经济学的数据2007课件幻灯片.pptVIP

* * * Be sure to point out that the data are the percentage changes, not the levels, of the CPI and the GDP deflator. In 1980, the CPI increased much faster than the GDP deflator. Ask students if they can offer a possible explanation. In 1955, the CPI showed slightly negative inflation, while the GDP deflator showed positive inflation. Ask students for possible explanations. (For possible answers, just refer to previous slide.) * * * source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. * * Allow two minutes of class time for your students to work this exercise. This will give them immediate reinforcement of the definitions of the labor force participation rate, the unemployment rate, and the “arithmetic tricks for working with percentage changes” introduced earlier. * * * * * * * The next slide uses simple algebra to show that the CPI is a weighted average of prices; the weight on each price reflects that good’s relative importance in the CPI basket. The algebra is very similar to that of an earlier slide that showed that the GDP deflator is a weighted average of prices. * The formula for the GDP deflator is 100*NGDP/RGDP. It’s not obvious to most students that this is a measure of the average level of prices. But, using some simple algebra, this slide shows that the GDP deflator really is a weighted average of prices. Because this material might seem a bit more technical, and isn’t in the textbook, I have “hidden” this slide. If you wish to include it in your lecture, simply “unhide it” click on the “Slide Show” pull-down menu and unselect “hide slide”. Note: Because the weights don’t all sum to 1, the GDP deflator is a weighted sum, not a weighted average. * * * Since constant-price GDP is easier to understand and compute, and because the two measures of real GDP are so highly correlated, the chapter (and indeed the textbook) emphasizes the constant-price version of real GDP. However, if this topic is important to yo