宏观经济学原理1.ppt

* This slide and the next contain a list of some topical issues that macro can help students understand. Feel free to substitute others as new issues emerge. * source: same as textbook source: same as textbook * source: same as textbook source: same as textbook through 2007. More recent values from Bureau of Labor Statistics, The chart shows that the rates of unemployment and property crimes are highly correlated. The correlation is not perfect. The series move in opposite directions in a few years, e.g. 1981-2, 1985-9, and 2002. But in most years, they move in the same direction. Sources: unemployment rates - BLS crime rates - Bureau of Justice Statistics, Data Online at /bjs Macroeconomics helps students understand forces that will affect their financial well-being. Here’s an example. When the unemployment rate is rising, tens or hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs. This affects even those who don’t lose their jobs: As the graph shows, during most years there is a clear negative relationship between the (12-month) change in unemployment and the annual growth rate of real wages. In plain English, rising unemployment is associated with falling (and often negative) wage growth. So when the economy goes into recession, even if our students get to keep their jobs, they will find it much harder to get a raise, and may have to accept a real wage cut. Students find this relationship intuitive. When unemployment is rising, the supply of workers is rising faster than demand, so wages grow more slowly or even fall. Conversely, falling unemployment gives workers more bargaining power over wages, as it becomes increasingly hard for employers to replace their workers, and increasingly easy for workers to find good opportunities with other companies. I’d also suggest you briefly define the inflation rate (as the percentage increase in the cost of living) to help students understand this slide. Main point of this data: The