Download Introduction to Macroeconomic Section: 202 Instructor`s name: Mr

Introduction to Macroeconomic
Section: 202
Instructor’s name: Mr. Mahmod
Assignment 1:
Due Date: November 25, 2012
Group members:
Haifa AlQahtani / 201000203
Bshayr Bazaid / 201000643
Razan Abduljabbar / 201001157
Rawia Bakhashwain / 201002438
Dana AlRabiah / 201000364
Lulu Alyousef / 201001400
Introduction:
The world’s population has increase greatly. Statistics of 2009 estimated the world
population to be 8.6 billion people. But even, long ago when the population of our planet
was not so big, there were still some challenges. One of the major challenges human
beings face as individuals or groups was how to make use of the earth’s resources.
Another challenge is concerned with the distribution of these resources through trade.
One of the advances which mankind came up with to meet this challenge of resources/
people equation was the study of economics. My experience of try and error, then a little
by little to the basic economic concepts like using currency, using mathematics and until
a set of economic theories were developed. Through this gradual addressing of this issue
is allocating the available resources to the most effective use. This is what the economics
discipline is about. Generally, the smaller version of economics, which is about
individuals and business organizations’ activities, was developed first. Then it comes the
big picture of this individual and organization’s economy. It was the macroeconomic,
which theorized, formulated and applied principles that today are governing the economy
of every country in this world. Macroeconomic was found to tackle the complicated
economies of countries. It is about governing the national resources, economic interest of
country and also governing the countries individuals and organizations’ economic
activities. Not only that, but macroeconomic also governs and tackles the inter-state or
the economic activities between countries. This research will focus on shed light on the
difference between Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. Secondly, a brief scope into
macroeconomics will be explained and the importance of macroeconomics will be
illustrated. It also reveals the fundamental principles of macroeconomics and illustrates
the basic structure of macro model. It will discuss the main problems that face
macroeconomics in generally. It also tells us how the government behaves as far as the
economy is concerned. Lastly, the report will explain the GDP and its types followed by
the macroeconomic growth.
The Difference between Macroeconomics and Microeconomics
Economy itself is a term with a wide meaning. The basic definition of economy
is: “The large set of inter-related economic production and consumption activities which
help in determining how scarce resources are allocated” (businessdictionary.com, 2012)
has yet a narrower detail and divided in smaller two types from the point of studying
economy. However these two parts of economics have little difference but at the end they
are closely inter-related and complete each other.
Macroeconomics is defined as “The field of economics that studies the behavior
of the economy as a whole”. We can notice here the emphasis on the word das a whole
because macroeconomic is the specialty of the highest authority which is the government.
This definition means macroeconomics takes care of large picture of the economy of the
country and the government economic decisions. Up on the top there are decisions that
people and businesses should make to govern the different activities. The first feature,
which lies under macroeconomic, is the country’s Domestic Gross Product (GDP) like
unemployment, national income and rate of growth. Such authority decision may include
the allocation of the country’s resources, the prices of goods and services, and other
major economic rules like the taxes, currency value and other major decisions about
economic events like inflation.
Microeconomics is defined as “The study of individuals and business decisions”.
The word of focus here is “individual” which means persons or business partners because
microeconomics takes the citizens’ business and commercial activities. Of course for
such people microeconomics is their look on how their company can increase its
production and expansion. These individuals or organization seek their own interest but
the government governs them. They take decisions to change their prices and improved
their competitiveness in the industry. Such microeconomic activities are ruled by several
economic principles, mainly the supply and demand principle. From this definition, the
difference can be expressed in the fact that; microeconomic takes the picture of the
economy from the bottom going up, while the macroeconomic is the opposite and takes
the top picture going down.
Scope of Macroeconomics
Studying microeconomics is important for several reasons:

The performance of an economy is judges by
the gross national product GNP of the economy.

Macroeconomic theory defines the material
wellbeing of the country to raise that material.

Macroeconomic theory is useful to the
government for formulating appropriate policies such as: fiscal policy, monetary
policy and income policy etc.

The main objective of a country is to promote
economic development. That’s why it is important to know the factors influencing
the process of economic development. Thus, theses factors can be manipulated.

It’s required for any business firm to
acknowledge the macroeconomic theory.
Principles of Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics study how the economy in a given country moves, also decide,
and propose the possible effective choices to improve the economy. the main
issues of macroeconomics are concerned with issues namely, growth, inflation,
unemployment, interest rates, exchange rates, technological progress, and budget
deficits. In order to understand macroeconomics it is compulsory to recognize the
fundamental principles of it.
The first principle of macroeconomics revolves around the fact that interaction of
households, firms, and governments interventions and policies determine the
general income and output of the nation. The influence occurs as they produce
goods and services, exchange, consume, save and invest in different fields. Of
course, these interactions happen through different markets. The markets in turn
are a good way to organize economic activity.
The next principle introduces the various means that work together with the
objective of improving the standard of living in modern economies. The standard
of living depends on the country's production. These means are summarized in
capital accumulation and the advancement in technology. If the country produces
more goods and services, the standard of living increases. When people consume
greater quantities of goods and services, their standard of living goes up.
A third fundamental principle reveals that the determination of production and
income relies on the aggregate demand. The market prices balance supply and
demand, and the availability of resources. This can happen in the long run.
Moreover, the scarcity of labor and labor's value in producing goods determine
the real wages and employment. In addition, the act of lending and borrowing in
the market of finance, the impact of saving, consumption and distribution of
resources determine the real interest rate. Money is also an element that reduces
transactions costs. However, in the end its quantity is neutral.
Another principle in macroeconomics states that recession and unemployment
caused by market severity, in the short run by the fluctuations in aggregate
demand and the quantity of money. Sometimes the economy of the country faces
a short-run Tradeoff between Inflation and Unemployment. When prices increase,
suppliers tend to increase the production of goods and services. To achieve the
objective companies have to hire more workers to produce more .So, the more
organizations need workers the less unemployment rate we have. This happens
while there is still inflation.
The last fundamental principle introduces how policy makers can use the
government's monetary and fiscal policies. Their objective is always focusing on
keeping the economy stable to face internal and external challenges. It is
according to their expectations of policy that macro policies' work can be
influenced.
Economic Model
To explain the theoretical principles of economics we use the economic model. This
model contains functional relations and equations, which explain economy or economic
units. The economic model consists of diagrams, mathematical equations and computer
programs, which make the forecasting regarding the behavior of economic variables. The
economic models are classified into two types:

Microeconomics.

Macroeconomics.
Microeconomic Model:
Microeconomic model studies the individual units of economy like firms, consumer and
factors of production and also studies firms’ work, behavior of customer and determine
the prices of goods. This model observes the consumer’s demand model, consumer
behavior model, demand and supply model, and the equilibrium model.
Macroeconomic Model:
Macroeconomic model studies the aggregate consumption, aggregate investment,
national income and the general price level etc. This model studies the economy as a
whole.
The economic model is divided into two types:

Partial Equilibrium
This model has two or few variables selected while the rest are fixed. Then the efficient
relationship is anticipated between the selected variables of the model.

General Equilibrium model
The general equilibrium model consists of all the variables of the economy. The
general equilibrium model establishes the relationship between the variables of the
economy. In the market model we will see that the price of goods, supply of goods
and demand of goods will affect the demand and supply of goods. This is what is
called general equilibrium model.
Derivation of Economic Model
There are two methods to derive the economic model

Deduction method
The specific result is derived from ordinary reality of life. A deductive method to
derive an economic model results from a routine fact of life. (E.g.) consumption
depends upon income and when income increase consumption also increases, but
not in the same proportion.

Induction method
A simple law is derived in this method on based on specific fact of life. Regarding
the chosen facts, the statistical data are collected. After analyzing the data comes
finding the conclusion. Therefore, based on the conclusion an ordinary law is
formed.
Macroeconomic Problems
There are two major issues that face macroeconomics:

Unemployment
Unemployment refers to the fact of being unemployed, or to the average of people
in the working society who are unemployed. In this modern world unemployment
is considered as a huge problem. The working population can measure this
problem, with putting in consideration that not every person is able to work. It is a
waste of time to include children and youngsters as labor resources. Therefore, the
first step of controlling unemployment is to measure the scale size we are working
with. Also, we must observe the current unemployment problems. For example,
would 100% employment affect the economy positively? Overall, the
consequences unemployment fetch and how it may be controlled.
Unemployment rate
The unemployment rate is basically a ratio, which is measured by dividing the
number of unemployed people in the working society by the number of
employees or persons in the labor force.
Unemployment as a problem
The problem of unemployment can be contributed by several circumstances. The
first main reason of unemployment is the lack of education or age. That makes
them unable to adapt new technology techniques and sectors. This obviously
impacts the working lifestyle, which expects income and production. Above what
has been mentioned it is important to reinforce individuals making sure that they
own the idea of continuing education, empowering their talents. The importance
of education will be a widespread and overall wiling to learn independently
throughout your life.

Inflation
Inflation is considered as a rise in the average level of price in the economy. Thus, If
the price of each good or service in the economy rose by 5% from one year to the
year after, we could approve that the average level of price has rose by 5% and
there has been 5% inflation throughout the year. But, in general prices do not all
raise the same rate. Some raise slowly, some rise rapidly and some prices even
decrease. Therefore, we express the overall level of price by a price index that is
an average of theses different rising and falling prices.
Government behavior
The government intervenes by issuing economic policies in order to keep inflation
at low levels with the objective of preserving the stability of growth and to provide high
level of employment opportunities to its citizens. It also strives to draw policies aiming at
keeping stable position on the balance of payment and build strong finances. it also aims
at rising the average living standards in the country.
The government's economic policy intends to achieve a strong sustainable and
balanced growth. In fact, the government behaves in a way to provide the convenient
conditions to achieve a dynamic economy by removing barriers on taxes, regulations and
spending. The reason is that it is necessary for the government to keep a sustainable and
balanced growth. Such policy can enable it to pay its debts and give its citizens new
opportunities. The success of its policy can make the country in a good position for
competing and expending the economy.
The government sometimes reacts with the objective of ensuring stable prices.
The economy can be subject to different unexpected instabilities. The fluctuations in
economic activity, which can be caused by economic conditions, international events,
political decisions, wars, natural disasters and technological changes, urge the
government to issue policies to reduce the effect of these fluctuations. Accordingly, the
government strives to find solutions by acting before unemployment or inflation
jeopardize the national economy.
The government also acts as a collector of information to know about
unemployment situation. So, statistics are conducted and then interpreted to have a clear
view of the situation. This information and other economic data are used to make
decisions and set plans to reduce the average of unemployment in the country by focusing
on the underlying causes. Sometimes governments resort to lowering taxes, which in turn
can promote companies to grow. Thus, they create jobs instead of downsizing and
aggravate the problem of unemployment. The government can also draw policies to
maintain a stable and sustainable balance of payment. To concretize the government
must. Implement monetary, fiscal and commercial policies in order to stabilize their
economies to face external impact. Thus, the receipt from exports can equal the imports.
Fiscal policy aims at using the government spending, taxation and borrowing to influence
the economic activity. However, monetary policy involves the use of interest’s rate to
control the rate of growth of aggregate demand in the economy.
In short, government policy has strong effect on economic situation. A good
policy can promote the economy and thus create positive social repercussions. On the
other hand, miscalculated behavior or decisions from the government can lead to
recession or depression.
Definition of Gross Domestic Product - GDP:
Gross Domestic Product. The total market value of all final goods and services produced
in a country in a given year, equal to total consumer About GDP:
GDP is commonly used as an indicator of the economic health of a country, as well as to
gauge a country's standard of living. GDP is composed of goods and services produced
for sale in the market and also include some nonmarket production, such as defense or
education services provided by the government. An alternative concept, gross national
product but, there is something’s that are not counted in GDP such as the value of leisure,
clean environment and its excludes items sold illicitly, such as illegal drugs.
GDP is measured by components of expenditure:
Consumptions, investment, government purchases and net export
Real GDP:
It’s the value of the goods and services that is produces I a given year at contrast prices
and account for changes in the price level, and provide a more accurate figure unlike,
nominal GDP its values production of goods and services at current prices
Why GDP is important:
GDP is important because it gives information about the size of the economy and how an
economy is performing. The growth rate of real GDP is often used as an indicator of the
general health of the economy in addition, it is important to differentiate Gross Domestic
Product from G National Product (GNP). GDP includes only goods and services
produced within the geographic boundaries of the U.S regardless of the producer's
nationality. GNP doesn't include the good and services produced by U.S
What the GDP does not reveal:
It’s also important to understand what GDP cannot tell us. The commonly used GDP
indicator in real terms does not catch a country trading gain or loss. The real gross
domestic income rates of Growth, which include the influence of terms of trade changes,
were approximately 1 percentage point higher in annual average than the GDP rates in
the Czech economy and belonged to the fastest in Central Europe moreover, it does not
reveal the economy health moreover, GDP is not a measure of the overall standard of
living or well-being of a country for instance, increased output may come at the cost of
environmental damage or other external cost such as noise.
Economic growth
What is Economic Growth?
It is the measuring of the productivity for goods and services of a country, and comparing
it in period of time from another. Economic growth is divided into two terms of
measuring: nominal terms, which include inflation, or in real terms, which are adjusted
for inflation. As we mentioned we measure the growth of a country from one period of
time to another, for example: comparing economic growth of Saudi in year 2002 and
economic growth of Saudi in year 2003, we also can be compare between a country’s
economic growth and another using GDP witch includes the population difference
between each country. Factors can lead to Economic Growth:
There is no countries have the same economy and each has different factors of growth
that can effect on other country or region, it shows us how the economy growth of
countries is connected to one another. Further more, here are some of the factors that
considers economic growth:

Growth in physical capital stock leading to rise in capital per employee.

Growth in the size of the active labor force.

Growth n the quality of labor (human capital).

Technological progress and innovation driving productivity improvement

Higher GDP per hour worked).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Economic Growth:
There are many advantages of economic growth such as:

High living standard, increasing in the income of an individual.

Reduce unemployment as its stimulate more job opportunities.

Financial profits as the GDP growth enhance tax revenues witch benefits the
government to gain more money in order to improve and provide services for the
public such as education and healthcare.

Economic growth supports social responsibilities, with a stronger economy

Decision makers in business and firms are encourage to spend money and invest
Researches production processes to reduce costs in order to protect the
environment, such as low-carbon investment.

On the other hand, there are also some disadvantages of economic growth, for
Example:

Due to the fast economy expanding there are some costs such as rising prices
Increasing in working hours, which can upset work life balance and it, may lead
employees to quit.

Environmental damages as it creates negative impact on the environment, for
Example pollution.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I think when you get into Macroeconomics with its interesting
theories about things like the relationship of interest rates to unemployment, exchange
rates..etc you will believe that Economics knowledge is useful at a personal level because
you learn a lot of skills and knowledge that you can apply to other jobs or to your
personal life also, Economics provides an understanding of how the world works it will
make us learn more About the impact decisions have on the firm, industry, and national
level and learn more About the impact of international trade, both good and bad and it
will defiantly teach us how we allocate our scarce resources because macroeconomics
examines the structure and performance of the economy. And the Economic theory states
that we live in a world of scarcity; we do not have enough natural resources or time to
fulfill our unlimited desires.