GrowthGrowthGrowth IntroElias YannopoulosSeptember 17, 2012Elias Yannopoulos Growth IntroGrowthWhy do we care about growth?Per Capita GDP graphCompare life in 1904 to life todayAverage life expectancy was 478% of homes had a telephone6% graduated from high schoolCoca Cola contained cocaineMarijuana, heroin and morphine available over the counter atdrugstoresEven modest growth over long time periods can have a largeeffectYears to double, and Rule of 72Remember growth theory is part of the ”long run framework”Elias Yannopoulos Growth IntroGrowthGrowth Theory IntroWhat is growth?Long run increase in an economy’s potential outputPotential output - the highest amount of output an economycan produce from existing production processes and resourcesEx: PPFEconomic growth - the growth rate of per capita GDPEconomic growth ≈ %∆ output - %∆ populationMeasures the changes in living standards, output = incomeGrowth vs DistributionAbsolutely vs relatively better offElias Yannopoulos Growth
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