Monday, March 18, 2013

UNIT III

UNIT III

Aggregate Demand:

- Aggregate demand - shows the amount od real GDP that the private, public and foreign sector collectively desire to purchase at each possible price level.
      - the relationship between the price level and the level of real GDP is inverse
- 3 reasons AD is downward sloping
  • Real Balance Effect:
    • when the price level is high, households and businesses cannot afford to purchase as much output. 
    • when the price level is low, households and businesses can afford to purchase more output.
  • Interest Rate Effect:
    • a higher price level increases the interest rate which tends to discourage investment
    • a lower price level decreases the interest rate which in turn encourages investment
  • Foreign Purchase Effect:
    • a higher price level increases the demand for relatively cheaper imports
    • a lower price level increases the foreign demand for relatively cheaper U.S. exports
- Shifts in AD
  • Changes in consumer, investment, and government spending and net exports
  • a multiplier effect that produces a greater change than the original change in the 4 components
  • increase in AD is a rightward shift; decrease would be a leftward shift
    • Change in government spending & net exports
      • increase = AD shift rightward, increased GDPr and price level, decrease in unemployment, and increase in interest rate
      • decrease = AD shift leftward, GDPr and price level goes down, increase in unemployment and decrease interest rate
- Ranges/shapes/views of Aggregate supply
  • Keynesian range: horizontal AS curve; below full employment; AD shift outward; increase in GDPr and a decrease in unemployment
  • Intermediate range: AS shift outward, GDPr and Price level increases.
  • Classical range - the long run AS curve; is vertical

 Aggregate Supply:

- The level of GDPr that firms will produce at each price level
Long-run
  • period of time where input prices are completely flexible and adjust to changes in the price level
  •   level of GDPr supplied is independent of the price level
- Short-run
  • period of time where input prices are sticky and do not adjust to changes in price level
  • directly related to price level
- Long-run Aggregate Supply (LRAS) - marks the level of full employment in the economy
     - measures potential output
  • Causes for LRAS
    • Increase in capital
    • Change in technology
    • Economic growth
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Increase in available resources
- Short-run Aggregate Supply (SRAS) - sticky wages = low profit = low production
     - increase in SRAS = rightward shift
     - decrease in SRAS = leftward shift
- Unit production cost = Total input cost / total output
- Determinants
  • Input Prices
    • Increase in resource prices is a leftward shift in AS
    • Decrease in resource prices is a rightward shift in AS
  • Productivity - total output / total input
    • higher production = lower per unit production cost
    • lower production = higher per unit production cost
  • Legal Institution (environment)
- Full employment equilibrium = AD, SRAS, LRAS intersect
- Recessionary gap - equilibrium is below full employment (LRAS is to the right of intersection)
- Inflationary gap - equilibrium is beyond full employment (LRAS is to the left of intersection)


Multiplier

- Disposable income - income after taxes or net income
  • With disposable income, households can either consume or save
- Consumption
  • household spending
  • ability to consume is constrained by:
    • amount of disposable income
    • propensity to save
  • Do households consume if DI = 0?
    • autonomous consumption
    • dissaving
- Saving
  • household not spending
  • ability to save is constrained by
    • amount of disposable income
    • propensity to consume
  • DI = 0; no saving
- Average propensity to consume (APC) and Average propensity to save (APS)
  • APC + APS = 1
  • 1 - APC = APS; vice versa
  • APC > 1 = dissaving
  • -APS = dissaving
- Marginal propensity to consume and save (MPC and MPS)
  • MPC 
    • change in consumption / change in disposable income
    • % of every extra dollar earned that is spent
  • MPS
    • change in saving / change in disposable income
    • % of dollar earned that is saved
  • MPC + MPS = 1
  • 1 - MPC = MPS; vice versa
- Determinants of consumption and saving
  •  wealth
  • expectation
  • household debt
  • taxes
The Spending Multiplier Effect

- an initial change in spending causes a larger change in aggregate spending or AD
  • multiplier = change in AD / change in spending 
- Why it happens - expenditures and income flow continuously which sets off a spending increase in the economy
- spending multiplier = ( 1 / ( 1 - MPC ) ) or 1 / MPS
     - positive = increase in spending; negative = decrease in spending
- tax multiplier = -MPC / MPS
     - it is negative because money is leaving circular flow
     - a tax cut would mean a positive change


Investment

- What is investment? 
     - money spent or expenditures on
  • new factories
  • capital equipment
  • technology
  • new homes
  • inventories
- Expected rates or return
  • How do businesses make investment decisions?
    • through cost and benefit analysis
  • How do businesses determine the benefits?
    • through the expected rate of return 
  • How do businesses count the cost?
    • through the interest costs 
  • How do businesses determine the amount of investment they undertake?
    • compare expected rate of return to interest cost
      • if expected return > interest cost, then invest, if not, then do not invest.
Real (r%) vs. Nominal (i%) interest rate
- difference - nominal os observable rate of interest. Real interest rate subtracts out inflation
- How do you compute the real IR?
     - real interest rate = nominal interest rate - interest rate
- Real interest rate determines investment decisions

Investment Demand Curve

- Downward sloping because
  • when interest rates are high, fewer investments are profitable; when IR is low, more investment is profitable
  • conversely, there are few investments that yield high rates of return
- Shifts in ID
  • cost of production
  • change in technology
  • business taxes
  • stock of capital
  • expectations

Fiscal Policy

- Change in the expenditure/tax revenues of the federal government
  • taxes - government can increase or decrease taxes
  • spending - government can increase or decrease spending
- Fiscal policy is enacted to promote our nation's economic goals; full employment, price stability, and economic growth
- Deficits, surpluses and debt
  • Balance budget: revenues = expenditures
  • Budget deficit: revenues < expenditures
  •  Budget surplus: revenue > expenditures
  • Government debt - sum of all deficit - sum of all surpluses
    • Government must borrow money ifit is in a budget deficit
      • can borrow from individuals, corporations, financial institutions, and foreign entities/government   
- Fiscal policy - Discretionary (action) - expansionary (deficit)
                                                              - contractionary (surplus)
                        - Non-discretionary (no action)
- Discretionary vs. Automatic fiscal policy
  • Automatic - no government intervent
  • Discretionary - increase or decrease in government spending/taxing to bring economy back into full employment
- Contractionary vs. Expansionary fiscal policy
  • Contractionary - policy designed to decrease aggreage demand
    • strategy to control inflation
      • inflation is countered by contrationary policy
        • decrease in government spending and increase in taxes
  • Expansionary - designed to increase AD
    • recession is counter with expansionary policy
      • increase in government spending and decrease in taxes