Questions

Define GDP. List two things that GDP measures. How can GDP measure two things at once?

A farmer grows a bushel of wheat and sells it to a miller for $1.00. The miller turns the wheat into flour and then sells the flour to a baker for $3.00. The baker uses the flour to make bread and sells the bread to an engineer for $6.00. The engineer eats the bread. What is the value added by each person? What is GDP?

Suppose a woman marries her butler. After they are married, her husband continues to wait on her as before, and she continues to support him as before (but as a husband rather than as an employee). How does the marriage affect GDP? How should it affect GDP?

Here are the latest GDP figures (in an Excel file), in current and constant (chained) dollars. We will discuss chain-weighting on Thursday.