of economic growth, and so on. The question asked by the macroeconomist
are in terms of broad aggregates - what the spending of all consumers as
opposed to the microeconomic question of how the spending decisions of
individual households are made; determines
the capital spending of all
firms combined as opposed to the decision to build anew factory by a
single firm; what determines total unemployment it the economy as
opposed to why there have been layoffs in a specific industry.
Macroeconomists measure overall economic activity; analyze the
determinants of such activity by the use of macroeconomic theory: forecast
future economic activity; and attempt to formulate policy responses
designed to reconcile forecasts with
target values o f production,
employment, and prices.
An important task of macroeconomics is to develop ways of aggregating
the values of the economic activities of individuals and firms into
meaningful totals. To this end such concepts as gross domestic product
(GDP), national income, personal income, and personal disposable income
have been developed.
Macroeconomic analysis attempts to explain how the magnitudes of the
principal macroeconomic variables are determined and how they interact.
And through the development of theories
of the business cycle and
economic growth, macroeconomics helps to explain the dynamics of how
there aggregates move over time.
Macroeconomics is concerned with such major policy issues as the
attainment and maintenance of full employment and price stability.
Considerable effort must first
be expended determine what goals could be achieved. Experience teaches
that it would not be possible to inflation entirely without inducing
recession combined with high unemployment. Similarly, an overambitious
employment target would produce labor shortages and wage inflation.
During the 1960s it was believed that unemployment could be reduced to 4
percent of the labor force without causing inflation. More resent
experience suggests that reduction of unemployment to 5.5 percent of the
labor force is about as we can do.
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