Wednesday - last week, forgot to post

 Mostly summarized from Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, 5th Ed.

PART 8 The Data of Macroeconomics
Chapter 23 of 36 Measuring A Nation’s Income
Section 12 of 14
…
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) does not directly measure things that make life better, but it does measure our ability to obtain the inputs that help make life better.
Leisure, a major part of a good life, is left out of GDP.
Suppose everyone in the economy started working every day of the week and did not take Saturday and Sunday off for leisure.
More goods would be produced and GDP would rise.
Despite the increase in GDP we would not conclude everyone is better off.
…
GDP uses market prices to value goods and services, so it excludes the value of activity outside markets.
GDP omits the value of goods produced at home.
When a chef prepares a meal and sells it at his restaurant, the value of the meal is included in GDP.
If the chef prepares the same meal at home for his family, the value he has added to the raw ingredients is not included in GDP.
Child care provided in daycare centers is part of GDP, but child care by parents at home is not.
Volunteer work contributes to society well-being, but GDP does not include this work.
…
GDP excludes environment quality.
Suppose the government eliminated all environmental regulations.
Firms could then produce goods without considering pollution.
Product costs and prices would be lower so firms would produce and sell more, increasing GDP.
But because of the increased pollution society well-being would fall.
…
GDP does not consider distribution of income.
Two societies have GDP of $5,000,000 and population of 100 people, therefore average annual income of $50,000.
In society #1 everyone has an annual income of $50,000.
In society #2 ten people have income of $500,000 and the other ninety have no income.
GDP per person tells us income of the average person, but nothing of income distribution.
We can conclude GDP is a good measure of economic well-being for many but not all purposes.
… …
In the U.S. what is the average income per person and what is the median income per person?
ChatGPT:
Here are the most recent reliable figures for individual income in the United States (U.S.), focusing on per-person measures:
Average Income per Person (Mean Personal Income)
The U.S. average (mean) personal income — which sums total personal income of residents aged 15 and over divided by the number of people — was about $67,080 in 2024.
This includes wages, investment income, and other income sources.
…
Median Income per Person
The median personal income — the midpoint where half of individuals earn more and half earn less — was about $45,140 in 2024.
This reflects typical earnings across people aged 15 and older.
…
Average (mean) income is higher than median because a small number of very high earners pull the average up.
Median income gives a better sense of a “typical” individual’s earnings.
These figures include earnings from all sources and all adults, not just full-time workers.
… …
Saturday and Sunday are leisure days
doyoubi to nichiyoubi wa yoka no hibi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HAT Manifesto Part 1/2 - Rubric Cube - 251207 edit

Image
“The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.” - William James “All experience has shown mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” - Thomas Jefferson “Wherever good fortune enters, envy lays siege and attacks it. And when it departs, sorrow and repentance remain behind.” - Leonardo da Vinci “Struggle is the indispensable accompaniment of progress. If men were entirely social, man would stagnate. A certain alloy of individualism and competition is required to make the human species survive and grow. Without qualities of an unsocial kind men might have led an Arcadian shepherd life in complete harmony, contentment, and mutual love. But in that case all their talents would hav...
Read more
  From article What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler alert: Not democracy). Aaron Mate. April 30, 2024. Section 2. Seeking to capitalize on the unrest in Ukraine in 2013, U.S. figures including State Department official Victoria Nuland, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy visited Maidan Square. In a show of support for the movement’s hardline faction, which went beyond supporting the EU trade deal to demand Yanukovych’s ouster, the trio met privately with Tyahnybok and appeared with him on stage. The senators’ mission, Murphy said, was to “bring about a peaceful transition in ukraine.” … The Maidan Movement’s most significant U.S. endorsement came from then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Nothing would have greater impact for securing our interests and the world’s interests in Europe than to see a democratic, prosperous, and independent Ukraine in the region,” Biden said. According to Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian...
Read more
Image
  Review of book Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them). Jack Posobiec. 2024. Kindle online sample. Section 1. From book introduction: The old rules are over. The old order is over. Accusations are evidence. Activism means bigotry and hate. Criminals are allowed to roam free. Citizens are locked up. An appetite for vengeance is unleashed—to deplatform, debank, destroy. This is the daily news, yet none of it’s new. Patterns from the past make sense of our present. They also FORETELL A TERRIFYING FUTURE WE MIGHT BE CONDEMNED TO ENDURE. … For nearly 250 years, far-left uprisings have followed the same battle plans -from the first call for change to last innocent executed -from denial a revolution is even happening to declaration of the new order Unhumans takes readers on a shocking, sweeping, and succinct journey through history to share THE UNTOLD STORIES OF RADICAL TAKEOVERS textbooks don’t teach. … And there is one conclusion: We're in a new...
Read more