Business Economics: GDP, Unemployment, Inflation, and Saving Rate

This article covers various topics in Business Economics such as GDP, unemployment, inflation, and saving rate. It explains the impact of minimum wage on unskilled labor market and the quantity theory of money. It also provides insights into cost push and demand push inflation. The article also discusses ways to enhance the saving rate of the nation.

BUSINESS ECONOMICS
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Question 1
PART A
(i) Banking service would be termed as a final service since it would be consumed without
any more processing at the end of consumer. Since, Coles is availing the banking services,
hence the concerned spending would be categorised as consumption expenditure (Barro,
2017).
(ii) Security system would be termed as final product as it would be deployed by ANZ Bank
without engaging in more processing. Since, this is not a consumable but rather an investment
on the part of the bank to extend service, hence it will be categorised as investment
expenditure (Froyen, 2013).
(iii) The coffee beans that are sold to McDonalds would be processed further before being
sold to customers in the form of coffee beverage. Therefore, this would be categorised as an
intermediate food. Further, since coffee beans are consumed at McDonalds, hence it will be
categorised as consumer expenditure (Koutsoyiannis, 2013).
(iv)The coffee grinder is a product which can be used without any more processing and
thereby it is a final product. Besides, in context of Starbucks, the coffee grinder is an
equipment which is used and hence would be termed as investment expenditure (Mankiw,
2016).
PART B
A common indicator for measuring the national economic development is GDP. But since
population has a significant impact on GDP, therefore it is not fair to compare the GDP of
two or more nations to comment on their respective economic development. A better measure
in this regards is GDP per capita. Even though it is often used for comparing the economic
development across nations, there are certain issues with the usage of GDP per capita as a
measure of economic welfare and living standards that are indicated below (Krugman &
Wells, 2015).
 The income distribution pattern is not captured by GDP per capita since it only
highlights the average value which is assumed to be true for every citizen of the
corresponding nation. However, this may not be true especially in case of developing

nations where there is significant disparity of wealth and hence GDP per capita may
present a distorted image.
 The various measures of living standard such as access of quality healthcare,
education, sanitation etc. are not represented by the GDP per capita. It is only
assumed that if the GDP per capita is at a particular value, then the corresponding
improvement in standard of living would be same across nations which is not
necessarily true.
Question 2
PART A
(i) The significant drop in rate unemployment could be a bad news as this would result in
wage level increase owing to increasing demand and limited supply of labour. With the
increase in wages, the producers would have higher cost which then would be levied on the
consumers which would lead to inflation. Due to higher prices of goods and services, it is
possible that the export competitiveness would be adversely impacted. Also, owing to
increasing cost of labour coupled with shortage of labour, it is possible that some firms may
outsource some of the jobs requiring high labour to cheaper destinations (Krugman & Wells,
2015).
(ii) The following unemployment types are included in the natural unemployment rate
(Mankiw, 2016).
 Structural Unemployment – This type of unemployment is the result of structural
economic changes owing to which there is an alteration in the skill requirement. Thus,
since all the labour force would not have the requisite skills, hence some of people
with redundant skills would not be able to secure a job and remain unemployment.
 Frictional Unemployment- This type of unemployment is the result of people shifting
jobs. Typically, when people make this shift there is a brief period of unemployment
in between when the efforts for securing a better job might be continuing after leaving
the previous job.
PART B

The impact of minimum wage on the unskilled labour market can be represented using the
following diagram (Barro, 2017).
It is evident that there is an inverse relation between the demand for unskilled labour and
wage rate which leads to the above demand curve. Also, the supply curve for unskilled labour
would be upwards sloping as at higher wage rates, the supply would be higher. The minimum
wage level imposed lies above the equilibrium wage level in the free market. This leads to a
mismatch between demand and supply since the supply of unskilled labour outstrips the
demand (Froyen, 2013).
The imposition of minimum wage is intended to help unskilled labour command a higher
price but an opposite effect sets up. As the unskilled labour has become expensive, hence the
employers make a switch towards the skilled labour which now is comparatively cheape
considering the lower differential wage. Further, the unskilled labour supply surplus might
also lead to a situation where some workers might work for lower wages than the minimum
wage set by the government. Thus, the beneficiaries are the skilled labour while the interest
of unskilled labour is adversely impacted as explained above (Barro, 2017).
Question 3
PART A

Cost push inflation
As the name suggests, this inflation is caused by the increased production cost which are then
passed on to the consumers. The applicable AD/AS curve corresponding to this type of
inflation is shown as follows.
From the above graph, it is evident that a reduction in the aggregate supply has taken place on
account of the increase in production costs which cause the AS curve to shift. In the short
run, the aggregate demand would not change. As a result, the equilibrium price tends to
increase while the real GDP decreases which is represented above (Koutsoyiannis, 2013).
Demand push inflation
As the name suggests, this inflation is caused on account of higher demand. The associated
AD/AS curve in this case is shown as follows.

In demand push inflation, the aggregate demand increases which lead to demand curve shift
as has been represented in the above graph (AD1 to AD2). Over the short term, the supply
curve does not alter and remains constant. Further, the new equilibrium point indicates that
there has been a rise in price level coupled with increased real output level (McConnell, Brue
& Flynn, 2014).
Comparison
The above analysis is indicative that a common aspect to both type of inflations is that the
price rise happens but in case of demand push inflation, there is an increase in the GDP or
output level which is in contrast with cost push inflation where there is a decrease in the GDP
or output level.
PART B
Owing to the submarine order, the government expenditure on part of Australia would
witness an increase. Also, it is known that aggregate demand is impacted by changes in
government expenditure. Thus, if government expenditure would increase, it would imply an
increase in aggregate demand which is represented in the following graph (Dombusch,
Fischer. & Startz, 2015).
The above graph indicates the shift in the aggregate demand curve facilitated by the
government spending increase. Over the short run, there would be no change in the aggregate
supply which is reflected in the above diagram also. As a result, the equilibrium point
changes and leads to higher GDP and hence promotes economic development. However,

there could be potential cost pressure owing to higher price level which needs to be checked
(Mankiw, 2016).
Question 4
PART A
In accordance with the quantity theory of money, the following equation holds true.
The information provided highlights that money supply has increased to the tune of 25%. To
balance the above equation, a proportional increase in the price also ought to be observed
(McConnell, Brue & Flynn, 2014).
PART B
It is known that the CPI index value for the previous year = 250
The inflation this year has been 10%
Thus the requisite CPI index = 250 *(1+ 10%) = 275
PART C
The relationship between consumption and disposable income amount is captured by the
consumption function. It is represented in the form a straight line with a y intercept. This
intercept indicates the basic amount of consumption which happens when the underlying
disposable income does not exist or is zero. Besides, the linear trend indicates that the
disposable income increase would lead to increased consumption (Mankiw, 2016).
PART D
The means for enhancing the saving rate of the nation are highlighted as follows (Barro,
2017).
 The government needs to provide incentives related to tax for people who invest in
various retirement schemes and other savings schemes so as to enable altering their
behaviour through positive incentives.

 Also, the government to bring about a long term change can embark on a financial
literary campaign which can focus on the need for saving and how it can potentially
result in long term wealth creation.
.

References
Barro, R. (2017). Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach (4th ed.). London: Cengage
Learning.
Dombusch, R., Fischer, S. & Startz, R. (2015). Macroeconomics (10th ed.). New York:
McGraw Hill Publications.
Froyen, A. (2013), Macroeconomics (3rd ed.). New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Koutsoyiannis, A. (2013). Modern Macroeconomics (4th ed.). London: Palgrave McMillan.
Krugman, P. & Wells, R. (2015). Macroeconomics (3rd ed.). London: Worth Publishers.
Mankiw, G. (2016). Principles of Macroeconomics (6th ed.). London: Cengage Learning.
McConnell, C., Brue, S. & Flynn, S. (2014). Macroeconomics: Principles, Problems, &
Policies (20th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Publications.