曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案25章

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曼昆《经济学原理》(宏观经济学分册)英文原版课件——25production-growth

曼昆《经济学原理》(宏观经济学分册)英文原版课件——25production-growth

Production and Growth
• In the United States over the past century, average income as measured by real GDP per person has grown by about 2 percent per year.
Copyright © 2004 South-Western
Why Productivity Is So Important • Productivity refers to the amount of goods and
services that a worker can produce from each hour of work.
Copyright © 2004 South-Western
How Productivity Is Determined • The inputs used to produce goods and services
are called the factors of production. • The factors of production directly determine
Copyright © 2004 South-Western
ECONOMIC GROWTH AROUND THE WORLD
• The poorest countries have average levels of income that have not been seen in the United States for many decades.
Copyright © 2004 South-Western
Production and Growth

曼昆宏观经济学最新英文版参考答案第25章

曼昆宏观经济学最新英文版参考答案第25章

Chapter 25Problems and Applications1. The facts that countries import many goods and services yet must produce a large quantity ofgoods and services themselves to enjoy a high standard of living are reconciled by noting that there are substantial gains from trade. In order to be able to afford to purchase goods from othercountries, an economy must generate income. By producing many goods and services, then trading them for goods and services produced in other countries, a nation maximizes its standard of living.2. a. More investment would lead to faster economic growth in the short run.b. The change would benefit many people in society who would have higher incomes as theresult of faster economic growth. However, there might be a transition period in whichworkers and owners in consumption-good industries would get lower incomes, andworkers and owners in investment-good industries would get higher incomes. In addition,some group would have to reduce their spending for some time so that investment couldrise.3. a. Private consumption spending includes buying food and buying clothes; private investmentspending includes people buying houses and firms buying computers. Many otherexamples are possible. Education can be considered as both consumption and investment.b. Government consumption spending includes paying workers to administer governmentprograms; government investment spending includes buying military equipment andbuilding roads. Many other examples are possible. Government spending on healthprograms is an investment in human capital. This is truer for spending on health programsfor the young rather than those for the elderly.4. The opportunity cost of investing in capital is the loss of consumption that results from redirectingresources toward investment. Over-investment in capital is possible because of diminishingmarginal returns. A country can "over-invest" in capital if people would prefer to have higherconsumption spending and less future growth. The opportunity cost of investing in human capital is also the loss of consumption that is needed to provide the resources for investment. A countrycould "over-invest" in human capital if people were too highly educated for the jobs they couldget for example, if the best job a Ph.D. in philosophy could find is managing a restaurant.5. a. When a German firm opens a factory in South Carolina, it represents foreign directinvestment.b. The investment increases U.S. GDP because it increases production in the United States.The effect on U.S. GNP would be smaller because the owners would get paid a return ontheir investment that would be part of German GNP rather than U.S. GNP.6. a. The United States benefited from the Japanese investment because it made our capitalstock larger, increasing our economic growth.b. It would have been better for the United States to make the investments itself becausethen it would have received the returns on the investment itself, instead of the returnsgoing to Japan.7. Greater educational opportunities for women could lead to faster economic growth in the countriesof South Asia because increased human capital would increase productivity and there would beexternal effects from greater knowledge in the country. Second, increased educational1Chapter 25/Production and Growth 2opportunities for young women may lower the population growth rate because such opportunities raise the opportunity cost of having a child.8. a. Individuals with higher incomes have better access to clean water, medical care, and goodnutrition.b. Healthier individuals are likely to be more productive.c. Understanding the direction of causation will help policymakers place proper emphasis onthe programs that will achieve both greater health and higher incomes.9. a. Political stability could lead to strong economic growth by making the country attractive toinvestors. The increased investment would raise economic growth.b. Strong economic growth could lead to political stability because when people have highincomes they tend to be satisfied with the political system and are less likely to overthrowor change the government.10. a. If output is rising and the number of workers is declining, then output per worker must berising.b. Policymakers should not be concerned as long as output in the manufacturing sector is notdeclining. The reduction in manufacturing jobs will allow labor resources to move to otherindustries, increasing total output in the economy. An increase in productivity of workers(as measured by output per worker) is beneficial to the economy.。

曼昆《经济学原理》宏观经济学分册英文原版课件——25production-growth

曼昆《经济学原理》宏观经济学分册英文原版课件——25production-growth
• Encourage saving and investment. • Encourage investment from abroad • Encourage education and training. • Establish secure property rights and maintain
• Physical Capital
• is a produced factor of production.
• It is an input into the production process that in the past was an output from the production process.
FYI: The Production Function
• Economists often use a production function to describe the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and the quantity of output from production.
Figure 1 Growth and Investment
Table 1 The Variety of Growth Experiences
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ECONOMIC GROWTH AROUND THE WORLD
• Living standards, as measured by real GDP per person, vary significantly among nations.
• The preceding equation says that productivity (Y/L) depends on physical capital per worker (K/L), human capital per worker (H/L), and natural resources per worker (N/L), as well as the state of technology, (A).

曼昆《经济学原理》(宏观)第五版测试题库(25)

曼昆《经济学原理》(宏观)第五版测试题库(25)

曼昆《经济学原理》(宏观)第五版测试题库(25)Chapter 25Production and GrowthTRUE/FALSE1. If per capita real income grows by 2 percent per year, then it will double in approximately 20 years.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional2. Over the period 1870-2006, the United States experienced an average annual growth rate of real GDP perperson of about 4 percent per year.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional3. In 2006, income per person in the United States was about 12 times that in India.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional4. Over the period 1900-2006, Brazil’s rate of economic growth exceeded t hat of China.ANS: T DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional5. If a country has a higher level of productivity than another, then it also has a higher level of real GDP.ANS: F DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: ProductivityMSC: Analytical6. International data on real GDP per person give us a sense of how standards of living vary across countries. ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Real GDPMSC: Definitional7. Real GDP per person in rich countries, such as Germany, is sometimes more than 10 times that of poorcountries like Pakistan.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Standard of livingMSC: Definitional8. Both the standard of living and the growth of real GDP per person vary widely across countries.NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Standard of living | Real GDP MSC: Definitional9. If they could increase their growth rates slightly, countries with low income would catch up with richcountries in about ten years.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Economic growth | Catch-up effect MSC: Interpretive10. In the United States real GDP per person is about $44,000, while in some poor countries real GDP per personis less than $3,000.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional168311. Although growth rates across countries vary some, rankings of countries by income remain pretty much thesame over time.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional12. International data on the history of real GDP growth rates shows that over the last 100 years or so, richcountries got richer and poor countries got poorer.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional13. Productivity can be computed as number of hours worked divided by output.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: ProductivityMSC: Definitional14. Indonesians, for example, have a lower standard of living than Americans because they have a lower level of productivity.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Productivity | Standard of living MSC: Interpretive15. If Country A produces 6,000 units of goods and services using 600 hours of labor, and if Country Bproduces 5,000 units of goods and services using 450 units of labor, then productivity is higher in Country B than in Country A.NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: ProductivityMSC: Applicative16. Like physical capital, human capital is a produced factor of production.ANS: T DIF: 2 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Physical capital | Human capital MSC: Interpretive17. Human capital is the term economists use to refer to the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training, and experience.ANS: T DIF: 2 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Human capitalMSC: Definitional18. A forest is an example of a nonrenewable resource.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Natural resourcesMSC: Definitional19. Historical trends in the prices of most natural resources compared to prices of other goods indicate that natural resources have become scarcer over time.ANS: F DIF: 2 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Natural resourcesMSC: Interpretive20. It is possible for a country without a lot of domestic natural resources to have a high standard of living. ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Natural resources | Standard of living MSC: Interpretiveword⽂档可⾃由复制编辑Chapter 25 /Production and Growth 1685 21. Constant returns to scale is the point on a production function where increasing inputs will no longer increaseoutput.ANS: F DIF: 2 REF: 25-2NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Constant returns to scaleMSC: Interpretive22. As capital per worker rises, output per worker rises. However, the increase in output per worker from anaddition to capital is smaller, the larger is the existing amount of capital per worker.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Production functionMSC: Analytical23. An increase in the saving rate does not permanently increase the growth rate of real GDP per person. ANS: T DIF: 2 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Saving rateMSC: Definitional24. Other things the same, another unit of capital will increase output by more in a poor country than in a rich country.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Productivity | Diminishing returns MSC: Interpretive25. The catch-up effect refers to the idea that poor countries, despite their best efforts, are not likely ever to experience the economic growth rates of wealthier countries.ANS: F DIF: 2 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Catch-up effectMSC: Interpretive26. Two countries with the same saving rates must have the same growth rate of real GDP per person. ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Saving rate | Catch-up effectMSC: Definitional27. When Americans invest in Russia, the income of Russians (that is, Russian GNP) rises by more than does production in Russia (that is, Russian GDP).ANS: F DIF: 3 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Foreign investmentMSC: Applicative28. If your company opens and operates a branch in a foreign country, you will be engaging in foreign direct investment.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: International trade and finance TOP: Foreign investmentMSC: Definitional29. Investment in human capital has opportunity costs, but investment in physical capital does not.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growthTOP: Opportunity costs | Human capital | Physical capital MSC: Interpretive30. Incentives for parents to send their children to school, such as small monthly payments to parents if their children have regular attendance, appear to increase school attendance.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional31. A country that made its courts less corrupt and its government more stable would likely see its standard of living rise.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Property rightsMSC: Definitional32. If a country made it easier for people to establish and prove the ownership of their property, real GDP per person would likely rise.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Property rightsMSC: Interpretive33. Economists generally believe that inward-oriented policies are more likely to foster growth than outward oriented policies.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Trade policyMSC: Definitional34. If a rich country reduced subsidies to domestic producers who produce goods for which poor countries have a comparative advantage, the standard of living in these poor countries would likely rise.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Trade policyMSC: Definitional35. One reason that governments may find it useful to sponsor universities and basic research is that to a large extent knowledge is generally a private good.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Public goodsMSC: Interpretive36. The population growth rate tends to be higher in developed countries than in developing countries.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growthMSC: Definitional37. In countries where women are discriminated against, policies that increase the likelihood of career success and educational opportunities for women are likely to decrease the birth rate.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growthMSC: Definitional38. Countries with high population growth rates tend to have lower levels of educational attainment.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growthMSC: Definitional39. Studies confirm that controlling for other variables such as the percentage of GDP devoted to investment, poor countries tend to grow at a faster rate than rich countries.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Catch-up effectMSC: Definitional40. An increase in capital increases productivity only if it is purchased and operated by domestic residents. ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Foreign investmentMSC: Definitionalword⽂档可⾃由复制编辑Chapter 25 /Production and Growth 1687 41. Other things the same, an economy’s f actors of production are likely to be used more effectively if there is aneconomywide respect for property rights.ANS: T DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Property rightsMSC: Definitional42. Economist Michael Kremer found that world growth rates fell as population increased.ANS: F DIF: 1 REF: 25-3NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growthMSC: DefinitionalSHORT ANSWER1. Use the data on U.S. real GDP below to compute real GDP per person for each year. Then use these numbersto compute the percentage increase in real GDP per person from 1987 to 2005.ANS:Real GDP per person in 1987 was $6,435,000/243= about $26,481. Income per person in 2005 was$11,092,000/296.6 = about $37,397. Income per person grew by (37,397 - 26,481)/26,481 = about 41.2 percent. DIF: 1 REF: 25-1 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Real GDP | Economic growthMSC: Applicative2. Why is productivity related to the standard of living? In your answer be sure to explain what productivity andstandard of living mean. Make a list of things that determine labor productivity.ANS:The standard of living is a measure of how well people live. Income per person is an important dimension of the standard of living and is positively correlated with other things such as nutrition and life expectancy that make people better off. Productivity measures how much people can produce in an hour. As productivity increases, people can produce more (and use less to produce the same amount) and so their standard of living increases.The factors that determine labor productivity include the amounts of physical capital (equipment and structures), human capital (knowledge and skills), and natural resources available to workers, as well as the state of technological knowledge in society.DIF: 2 REF: 25-1 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Productivity | Standard of livingMSC: Interpretive3. What is a production function? Write an equation for a typical production function, and explain what each ofthe terms represents.ANS:A production function is a mathematical representation of the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and the quantity of output produced using these inputs. A typical production function could be written as Y = A F(L, K, H, N), where Y denotes the quantity of output, L the quantity of labor, K the quantity of physical capital, H the quantity of human capital, N the quantity of natural resources, and A is a variable that reflects the available production technology.DIF: 2 REF: 25-2 NAT: AnalyticLOC: The Study of economics, and definitions of economics TOP: Production functionMSC: Interpretive4. What is the difference between human capital and technology?ANS:Technology is society's understanding of production techniques. Human capital is the labor force's understanding of these ideas. A society may have lots of information available about how to produce goods, but still have lots of people who know little of this information. For example, in the United States there exists information about how best to use a butter churn and how to make lye soap, but most people know nothing about it.DIF: 2 REF: 25-2 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Human capital | TechnologyMSC: Interpretive5. The catch-up effect says that countries with low income can grow faster than countries with higher income.However, in statistical studies that include many diverse countries we do not observe the catch-up-effectunless we control for other variables that affect productivity. Considering the determinants of productivity, list and explain some things that would tend to prohibit or limit a poor country's ability to catch up with the rich ones.ANS:The argument that poor countries will tend to catch up with rich ones is based on the idea that another unit of capital will increase output more in a country that has little capital than one that has much capital. So, for a given share of GDP devoted to investment, a poor country will grow faster than a rich one.This argument assumes that other things are the same, but share of GDP invested may be lower in a poor country and the productivity of investment may be less. A politically unstable environment where property rights are unprotected or not securetends to discourage investment. A country that has limited trade because of legal restrictions or geography cannot focus on producing what it produces best and so has lower productivity. To get the most out of investment, or even simply to use some types of new investment, requires having workers who have acquired some basic human capital.DIF: 3 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Catch-up effectMSC: Analytical6. Some data that at first might seem puzzling: The share of GDP devoted to investment was similar for theUnited States and South Korea from 1960-1991. However, during these same years South Korea had a 6percent growth rate of average annual income per person, while the United States had only a 2 percent growth rate. If the saving rates were the same, why were the growth rates so different?ANS:The explanation is based on the concept of diminishing returns to capital. A country that has a lot of income, and so a lot of capital, gains less by adding more capital than does a country that currently has little capital. It is easy to envision how a poor country without much capital could increase its output considerably with even a little more capital.DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Investment | Catch-up effect | Diminishing returnsMSC: Analytical7. In addition to investment in physical and human capital, what other public policies might a country adopt toincrease productivity?ANS:In addition to investment in physical and human capital, a country might increase productivity by (a) specifying and enforcing property rights, (b) encouraging free trade, (c) controlling population growth, and (d) promoting research and development. DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Productivity MSC: Definitionalword⽂档可⾃由复制编辑Chapter 25 /Production and Growth 1689 8. Why does a nation’s standard of living depend on property rights?ANS:Property rights are an important prerequisite for the price system to work in a market economy. If an individual or company is not confident that claims over property or over the income from property can be protected, or that contracts can be enforced, there will be little incentive for individuals to save, invest, or start new businesses. Likewise, there will be little incentive for foreigners to invest in the real or financial assets of the country. The distortion of incentives will reduce efficiency in resource allocation and will reduce saving and investment which in turn will reduce the standard of living.DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Property rightsMSC: Interpretive9. How do outward-oriented policies affect a nation's productivity?ANS:Most economists believe that poor nations are better off pursuing outward-oriented policies that promote free trade. Countries that use their comparative advantage in trade are, in effect, helping themselves through the gains from trade in the same way that nations that develop new technology raise their standard of living. Hence, a country that eliminates trade restrictions will experience the same kind of economic growth that would occur after a major technological advance. Inward-oriented tradepolicies are akin to a country choosing to restrict the use of superior technologies.DIF: 1 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive10. At first patents might seem like a deterrent to growth because in effect they restrict the use of new technology.Yet many economists believe that patents generate growth. Explain why.ANS:Once someone comes up with an idea it is often easy for others to take advantage of it so that the idea becomes part of a society’s knowledge. So, knowledge is frequently a public good. Without patents an inventor’s reward for research and development of a good idea would be smaller. So, patents increase the incentives for firms and individuals to engage in research. The negative consequences of temporarily restricting the use of new ideas with patents is outweighed by the increase in new ideas that patents induce.DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive11. Some economists argue that it is possible to raise the standard of living by reducing population growth. As an economist interested in incentives rather than coercion, what kind of policy would you recommend to slow population growth?ANS:Since bearing a child has an opportunity cost, policies designed to increase the opportunity cost of bearing children would likely reduce population growth rates. In particular, women with the opportunity to receive a good education and desirable employment tend to want to have fewer children than do those with fewer opportunities outside the home. Hence, policies designed to increase educational and employment opportunities for women will likely reduce population growth rates without coercion.DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growth | Standard of livingMSC: Interpretive12. Compare and contrast the population theories of Malthus and Kremer.ANS:The difference is that Malthus predicted that population growth would be greater than growth in the ability to increase output. He believed that people would continue to populate the earth until output reached a subsistence level. On the other hand Kremer argues that population growth increased productivity allowing people to improve their standard of living despite growing population. Kremer argues that with more population comes more innovations. The improvements in technology outweighed any adverse impact of the increase in population on the standard of living.DIF: 2 REF: 25-3 NAT: AnalyticLOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Population growth | EconomistsMSC: InterpretiveSec00 - Production and GrowthMULTIPLE CHOICE1. The average income in a rich country, such as the United States or Japan, is more thana. 3 times, but less than 5 times, the average income in a poor country, such as Indonesia or Nigeria.b. 5 times, but less than 10 times, the average income in a poor country, such as Indonesia or Nigeria.c.10 times, but less than 20 times, the average income in a poor country, such as Indonesia orNigeria.d.more than 20 times the average income in a poor country, such as Indonesia or Nigeria.ANS: C DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional2. Over the past century in the United States, real GDP per person has grown, on average, by abouta. 1 percent per year.b. 2 percent per year.c. 3 percent per year.d. 5 percent per year.ANS: B DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional3. During the past century the average growth rate of U.S. real GDP per person implies that it doubled, on average, about everya.100 years.b.70 years.c.35 years.d.25 years.ANS: C DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive4. In the United States, as measured by real GDP per person, average income is about how many times as high as average income a century ago?a.2b.4c.6d.8ANS: D DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitionalword⽂档可⾃由复制编辑Chapter 25 /Production and Growth 16915. Over the last century, U.S. real GDP per person grew at a rate of abouta. 2 percent per year, so that it is now 2 times as high as it was a century ago.b. 2 percent per year, so that it is now 8 times as high as it was a century ago.c. 4 percent per year, so that it is now 2 times as high as it was a century ago.d. 4 percent per year, so that it is now 8 times as high as it was a century ago.ANS: B DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional6. Over the past 100 years, U.S. real GDP per person has doubled about every 35 years. If, in the next 100 years, it doubles every 25 years, then a century from now U.S. real GDP per person will bea. 4 times higher than it is now.b.8 times higher than it is now.c.12 times higher than it is now.d.16 times higher than it is now.ANS: D DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive7. Over the past century in the United States, average income as measured by real GDP per person has grown abouta. 4 percent per year, which implies a doubling about every 18 years.b. 4 percent per year, which implies a doubling about every 8 years.c. 2 percent per year, which implies a doubling about every 35 years.d. 2 percent per year, which implies a doubling about every 18 years.ANS: C DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive8. In which of the following countries has economic growth been sufficiently strong in recent history to propel that country from being among the poorest in the world to being among the richest in the world?a.Indiab.Mexicoc.Nigeriad.SingaporeANS: D DIF: 1 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional9. Average income has been stagnant for many years ina.Argentina.b.Singapore.c.Nigeria.d.All of the above are correct.ANS: C DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitional10. Which of the following statements is correct?a.The level of real GDP is a good gauge of economic prosperity, and the growth of real GDP is agood gauge of economic progress.b.The level of real GDP is a good gauge of economic progress, and the growth of real GDP is a goodgauge of economic prosperity.c.The level of real GDP is a good gauge of economic prosperity, and the level of real GDP per personis a good gauge of economic progress.d.The level of real GDP is a good gauge of economic progress, and the level of real GDP per personis a good gauge of economic prosperity.ANS: A DIF: 2 REF: 25-0NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: InterpretiveSec01 - Production and Growth - Economic Growth around the WorldMULTIPLE CHOICE1. You are told that Country A experienced growth of real GDP per person of 4 percent per year throughout the 1900s. In view of other countries’ experience, you would have to characterize Country A’s growth asa.exceptionally high.b.moderately high.c.moderately low.d.exceptionally low.ANS: A DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive2. You are told that Country A experienced growth of real GDP per person of 0.5 percent per year throughout the 1900s. In view of other countries’ experience, you would have to characterize Country A’s growth asa.exceptionally high.b.moderately high.c.moderately low.d.exceptionally low.ANS: D DIF: 1 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Interpretive3. As of 2006, using real GDP per person as a measure, we would classifya.the United States and Mexico as advanced economies and Bangladesh as a middle-income country.b.Canada as an advanced economy, Mexico as a middle-income country, and Mali as a poor country.c.Japan and India as advanced economies and Mexico as a poor country.d.Japan as an advanced economy, the United Kingdom as a middle-income country, and Argentina asa poor country.ANS: B DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Standard of livingMSC: Interpretive4. Over the period 1900-2006, which of the following countries experienced the highest average annual growth rate of real GDP per person?a.Indonesiab.Indiac.Pakistand.BrazilANS: D DIF: 2 REF: 25-1NAT: Analytic LOC: Productivity and growth T OP: Economic growthMSC: Definitionalword⽂档可⾃由复制编辑。

曼昆经济学原理英文版答案

曼昆经济学原理英文版答案

曼昆经济学原理英文版答案As the creator of the Baidu Wenku document "Principles of Economics by Mankiw (English Version) Answers", I would like to provide a comprehensive guide to the solutions of the questions in the book. This document aims to help students better understand the principles of economics and improve their problem-solving abilities.Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics。

1. People face trade-offs.2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it.3. Rational people think at the margin.4. People respond to incentives.5. Trade can make everyone better off.6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.7. Governments can sometimes improve economic outcomes.8. The standard of living depends on a country's production.9. Prices rise when the government prints too much money.10. Society faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment.Chapter 2: Thinking Like an Economist。

【精品】曼昆经济学原理答案21—25

【精品】曼昆经济学原理答案21—25

第七篇高深的论题第二十一章消费者选择理论复习题1.某消费者收人为3 000美元。

红酒1杯3美元,奶酪1磅6美元。

画出该消费者的预算约束线。

这条预算约束线的斜率是多少?答:因为预算约束线的斜率等于两种物品的相对价格,因此这条预算约束线的斜率为1/2。

图21-1 某消费者的预算约束线2.画出消费者对红酒和奶酪的无差异曲线。

描述并解释这些无差异曲线的四个特征。

答:由于无差异曲线代表消费者偏好,所以它们有某些反映这些偏好的特征。

下面我们描述大多数无差异曲线的四个特征:特征1:消费者对较高无差异曲线的偏好大于较低无差异曲线。

特征2:无差异曲线向右下方倾斜。

特征3:无差异曲线不相交。

特征4:无差异曲线凸向原点。

图21-2 某消费者的无差异曲线3.选出红酒与奶酪的无差异曲线上的一点,并说明边际替代率。

边际替代率告诉我们什么?答:边际替代率是消费者愿意用一种物品替代另一种物品的比率,即无差异曲线的斜率。

在上图中,无差异曲线上任意一点的斜率等于消费者愿意用红酒替代奶酪的比率。

由于无差异曲线不是一条直线,所以在一条既定的无差异曲线上,所有各点的边际替代率都不相同。

特别是,由于人们更愿意放弃他们丰富的物品,并更不愿意放弃他们不多的物品,所以无差异曲线凸向原点。

在图21—3中,在A 点时,由于消费者有大量的红酒而只有少量的奶酪,所以他愿意用3杯红酒来换取一磅奶酪,所以A点的边际替代率等于3。

图21-3 凸向原点的无差异曲线4.说明消费者的预算约束线和红酒与奶酪的无差异曲线。

说明最优消费选择。

如果1杯红酒的价格是3美元,而1磅奶酪的价格是6美元,在这种最优时边际替代率是多少?答:在最优消费选择时,无差异曲线的斜率等于预算约束线的斜率,也就是无差异曲线与预算约束线相切的那一点。

本题中无差异曲线的斜率是奶酪和红酒之间的替代率,而预算约束线的斜率是奶酪和红酒的相对价格,因此,消费者在作出自己的消费选择时把红酒和奶酪的相对价格作为既定的,然后选择使他的边际替代率等于红酒和奶酪相对价格的那一点。

曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案25章.doc

曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案25章.doc

209WHAT’S NEW IN THE S EVENTH EDITION: There is a new In the News box on “Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?”LEARNING OBJECTIVES: By the end of this chapter, students should understand:how much economic growth differs around the world.why productivity is the key determinant of a country’s standard of living.the factors that determine a country’s productivity.how a country’s policies influence its productivity growth.CONTEXT AND PURPOSE: Chapter 12 is the first chapter in a four-chapter sequence on the production of output in the long run. Chapter 12 addresses the determinants of the level and growth rate of output. We find that capital and labor are among the primary determinants of output. In Chapter 13, we address how saving and investment in capital goods affect the production of output, and in Chapter 14, we learn about some of the tools people and firms use when choosing capital projects in which to invest. In Chapter 15, we address the market for labor.The purpose of Chapter 12 is to examine the long-run determinants of both the level and the growth rate of real GDP per person. Along the way, we will discover the factors that determine the productivity of workers and address what governments might do to improve the productivity of their citizens.KEY POINTS:Economic prosperity, as measured by GDP per person, varies substantially around the world. Theaverage income in the world’s richest countries is more than ten times that in the world’s poorest countries. Because growth rates of real GDP also vary substantially, the relative positions of countries can change dramatically over time.PRODUCTION AND GROWTH210 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth∙ The standard of living in an economy depends on the economy’s ability to produce goods and services. Productivity, in turn, depends on the amounts of physical capital, human capital, natural resources, and technological knowledge available to workers.∙ Government policies can try to influence the economy’s growth rate in many ways: by encouraging saving and investment, encouraging investment from abroad, fostering education, promoting good health, maintaining property rights and political stability, allowing free trade, and promoting the research and development of new technologies.∙ The accumulation of capital is subject to diminishing returns: The more capital an economy has, the less additional output the economy gets from an extra unit of capital. As a result, whilehigher saving leads to higher growth for a period of time, growth eventually slows down ascapital, productivity, and income rise. Also because of diminishing returns, the return to capital is especially high in poor countries. Other things equal, these countries can grow faster because of the catch-up effect.∙ Population growth has a variety of effects on economic growth. On the one hand, more rapid population growth may lower productivity by stretching the supply of natural resources and byreducing the amount of capital available for each worker. On the other hand, a larger population may enhance the rate of technological progress because there are more scientists and engineers.CHAPTER OUTLINE:I. Economic Growth around the WorldA. Table 1 shows data on real GDP per person for 13 countries during different periods of time.1. The data reveal the fact that living standards vary a great deal between these countries.2. Growth rates are also reported in the table. Japan has had the largest growth rate over time,2.65% per year (on average).3. Because of different growth rates, the ranking of countries by income per person changesover time.a. In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom was the richest country in the world.b. Today, income per person is lower in the United Kingdom than in the United States (aformer colony of the United Kingdom).Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖211B. FYI: Are You Richer Than the Richest American?1. According to the magazine American Heritage, the richest American of all time is John B.Rockefeller, whose wealth today would be the equivalent of approximately $200 billion.2. Yet, because Rockefeller lived from 1839 to 1937, he did not get the chance to enjoy manyof the conveniences we take for granted today such as television, air conditioning, andmodern medicine.3. Thus, because of tech nological advances, the average American today may enjoy a “richer”life than the richest American who lived a century ago.C. FYI: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Statistics1. This box presents three photos showing a typical family in three countries – the UnitedKingdom, Mexico, and Mali. Each family was photographed outside their home, together withall of their material possessions.2. These photos demonstrate the vast difference in the standards of living in these countries. II. Productivity: Its Role and DeterminantsA. Why Productivity Is So Important1. Example: Robinson Crusoea. Because he is stranded alone, he must catch his own fish, grow his own vegetables, andmake his own clothes.b. His standard of living depends on his ability to produce goods and services.2. Definition of productivity: the quantity of goods and services produced from eachunit of labor input.3. Review of Principle #8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to ProduceGoods and Services.B. How Productivity Is Determined1. Physical Capital per Workera. Definition of physical capital: the stock of equipment and structures used toproduce goods and services.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has more fishing poles.2. Human Capital per Workera. Definition of human capital: the knowledge and skills that workers acquirethrough education, training, and experience.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has been trained in the best fishing techniquesor as he gains experience fishing.212 ❖ Chapter 12/Production and Growth3. Natural Resources per Workera. Definition of natural resources: the inputs into production that are provided by nature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits .b. Example: Crusoe will have better luck catching fish if there is a plentiful supply around his island.4. Technological Knowledgea. Definition of technological knowledge : society’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services .b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has invented a better fishing lure.C. FYI: The Production Function1. A production function describes the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and the quantity of output from production.2. The production function generally is written like this:where Y = output, L = quantity of labor, K = quantity of physical capital, H = quantity of human capital, N = quantity of natural resources, A reflects the available production technology, and F () is a function that shows how inputs are combined to produce output.3. Many production functions have a property called constant returns to scale.a. This property implies that as all inputs are doubled, output will exactly double.b. This implies that the following must be true:where x= 2 if inputs are doubled.c. This also means that if we want to examine output per worker we could set x = 1/L and we would get the following:This shows that output per worker depends on the amount of physical capital per worker (K /L ), the amount of human capital per worker (H /L ), and the amount of naturalresources per worker (N /L ).4. Case Study: Are Natural Resources a Limit to Growth?a. This section points out that as the population has grown over time, we have discoveredways to lower our use of natural resources. Thus, most economists are not worried about shortages of natural resources.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 213III. Economic Growth and Public PolicyA. Saving and Investment1. Because capital is a produced factor of production, a society can change the amount of capital that it has.2. However, there is an opportunity cost of doing so; if resources are used to produce capital goods, fewer goods and services are produced for current consumption.B. Diminishing Returns and the Catch-Up Effect1. Definition of diminishing returns: the property whereby the benefit from an extra unit of an input declines as the quantity of the input increases .a. As the capital stock rises, the extra output produced from an additional unit of capital willfall.b. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows how the amount of capital per worker determines the amount of output per worker, holding constant all other determinants ofoutput.c. Thus, if workers already have a large amount of capital to work with, giving them anadditional unit of capital will not increase their productivity by much.d. In the long run, a higher saving rate leads to a higher level of productivity and income, but not to higher growth rates in these variables.2. An important implication of diminishing returns is the catch-up effect.a. Definition of catch-up effect: the property whereby countries that start off poor tend to grow more rapidly than countries that start off rich .b. When workers have very little capital to begin with, an additional unit of capital will increase their productivity by a great deal.C. Investment from Abroad1. Saving by domestic residents is not the only way for a country to invest in new capital.2. Investment in the country by foreigners can also occur.a. Foreign direct investment occurs when a capital investment is owned and operated by a foreign entity.214 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthb. Foreign portfolio investment occurs when a capital investment is financed with foreignmoney but operated by domestic residents.3. Some of the benefits of foreign investment flow back to foreign owners. But the economy stillexperiences an increase in the capital stock, which leads to higher productivity and higherwages.4. The World Bank is an organization that tries to encourage the flow of investment to poorcountries.a. The World Bank obtains funds from developed countries such as the United States andmakes loans to less-developed countries so that they can invest in roads, sewer systems,schools, and other types of capital.b. The World Bank also offers these countries advice on how best to use these funds.D. Education1. Investment in human capital also has an opportunity cost.a. When students are in class, they cannot be producing goods and services forconsumption.b. In less-developed countries, this opportunity cost is considered to be high; as a result,children often drop out of school at a young age.2. Because there are positive externalities in education, the effect of lower education on theeconomic growth rate of a country can be large.3. Many poor count ries also face a “brain drain”—the best educated often leave to go to othercountries where they can enjoy a higher standard of living.E. Health and Nutrition1. Human capital can also be used to describe another type of investment in people:expenditures that lead to a healthier population.2. Other things being equal, healthier workers are more productive.3. Making the right investments in the health of the population is one way for a nation toincrease productivity.F. Property Rights and Political Stability1. Protection of property rights and promotion of political stability are two other important waysthat policymakers can improve economic growth.2. There is little incentive to produce products if there is no guarantee that they cannot betaken. Contracts must also be enforced.3. Countries with questionable enforcement of property rights or an unstable political climatewill also have difficulty in attracting foreign (or even domestic) investment.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖2154. In the News: Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?a. Economic policies designed to improve productivity sometimes have adverse unintendedeffects.b. This article from The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog discusses economicresearch on the effects of food aid to poor countries on armed conflict in a recipientcountry.G. Free Trade1. Some countries have tried to achieve faster economic growth by avoiding transacting withthe rest of the world.2. However, trade allows a country to specialize in what it does best and thus consume beyondits production possibilities.3. When a country trades wheat for steel, it is as well off as it would be if it had developed anew technology for turning wheat into steel.4. The amount a nation trades is determined not only by government policy but also bygeography.a. Countries with good, natural seaports find trade easier than countries without thisresource.b. Countries with more than 80 percent of their population living within 100 kilometers of acoast have an average GDP per person that is four times as large as countries with lessthan 20 percent of their population living near a coast.H. Research and Development1. The primary reason why living standards have improved over time has been due to largeincreases in technological knowledge.2. Knowledge can be considered a public good.3. The U.S. government promotes the creation of new technological information by providingresearch grants and providing tax incentives for firms engaged in research.4. The patent system also encourages research by granting an inventor the exclusive right toproduce the product for a specified number of years.I. Population Growth1. Stretching Natural Resourcesa. Thomas Malthus (an English minister and early economic thinker) argued that an ever-increasing population meant that the world was doomed to live in poverty forever.b. However, he failed to understand that new ideas would be developed to increase theproduction of food and other goods, including pesticides, fertilizers, mechanizedequipment, and new crop varieties.216 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth2. Diluting the Capital Stocka. High population growth reduces GDP per worker because rapid growth in the number ofworkers forces the capital stock to be spread more thinly.b. Countries with a high population growth have large numbers of school-age children,placing a burden on the education system.3. Some countries have already instituted measures to reduce population growth rates.4. Policies that foster equal treatment for women should raise economic opportunities forwomen leading to lower rates of population.5. Promoting Technological Progressa. Some economists have suggested that population growth has driven technologicalprogress and economic prosperity.b. In a 1993 journal article, economist Michael Kremer provided evidence that increases inpopulation lead to technological progress.J. In the News: One Economist’s Answer1. Why do some nations thrive while others do not?2. This article by economist Daron Acemoglu provides his ideas on the answers to this question. SOLUTIONS TO TEXT PROBLEMS:Quick Quizzes1. The approximate growth rate of real GDP per person in the United States is 1.77 percent(based on Table 1) from 1870 to 2010. Countries that have had faster growth include Japan,Brazil, Mexico, China, Germany, and Canada; countries that have had slower growth includeArgentina, India, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.2. The four determinants of a country’s productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stockof equipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which is the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training, andexperience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits; and (4) technological knowledge, which issociety’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services.3. Ways in which a government policymaker can try to raise the growth in living standards in asociety include: (1) investing more current resources in the production of capital, which hasChapter 12/Production and Growth ❖217 the drawback of reducing the resources used for producing current consumption; (2)encouraging investment from abroad, which has the drawback that some of the benefits ofinvestment flow to foreigners; (3) increasing education, which has an opportunity cost in thatstudents are not engaged in current production; (4) protecting property rights and promotingpolitical stability, which has the drawback of enforcement costs; (5) pursuing outward-oriented policies to encourage free trade, which may have the drawback of making a countrymore dependent on its trading partners; (6) reducing the rate of population growth, whichmay have the drawbacks of reducing individual freedom and lowering the rate oftechnological progress; and (7) encouraging research and development, which (likeinvestment) may have the drawback of reducing current consumption.Questions for Review1. The level of a nation’s GDP measure s both the total income earned in the economy and thetotal expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of real GDP is agood gauge of economic prosperity, and the growth rate of real GDP is a good gauge ofeconomic progress. You would rather live in a nation with a high level of GDP, even though ithad a low growth rate, than in a nation with a low level of GDP and a high growth rate,because the level of GDP is a measure of prosperity.2. The four determinants of productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stock ofequipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which consists of the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training,and experience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature; and (4) technological knowledge, which is society’s understanding of the best waysto produce goods and services.3. A college degree is a form of human capital. The skills learned in earning a college degreeincrease a worker's productivity.4. Higher saving means fewer resources are devoted to consumption and more to producingcapital goods. The rise in the capital stock leads to rising productivity and more rapid growthin GDP for a while. In the long run, the higher saving rate leads to a higher standard of living.A policymaker might be deterred from trying to raise the rate of saving because doing sorequires that people reduce their consumption today and it can take a long time to get to ahigher standard of living.5. A higher rate of saving leads to a higher growth rate temporarily, not permanently. In theshort run, increased saving leads to a larger capital stock and faster growth. But as growthcontinues, diminishing returns to capital mean growth slows down and eventually settlesdown to its initial rate, though this may take several decades.6. Removing a trade restriction, such as a tariff, would lead to more rapid economic growthbecause the removal of the trade restriction acts like an improvement in technology. Freetrade allows all countries to consume more goods and services.7. The higher the rate of population growth, the lower is the level of GDP per person becausethere's less capital per person, hence lower productivity.8. The U.S. government tries to encourage advances in technological knowledge by providingresearch grants through the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health,218 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthwith tax breaks for firms engaging in research and development, and through the patentsystem.Quick Check Multiple Choice1. b2. c3. d4. c5. c6. aProblems and Applications1. The facts that countries import many goods and services yet must produce a large quantityof goods and services themselves to enjoy a high standard of living are reconciled by notingthat there are substantial gains from trade. To be able to afford to purchase goods fromother countries, an economy must generate income. By producing many goods and services,then trading them for goods and services produced in other countries, a nation maximizes itsstandard of living.2. a. More investment would lead to faster economic growth in the short run.b. The change would benefit many people in society who would have higher incomes as theresult of faster economic growth. However, there might be a transition period in whichworkers and owners in consumption-good industries would get lower incomes, andworkers and owners in investment-good industries would get higher incomes. In addition,some group would have to reduce their spending for some time so that investment couldrise.3. a. Private consumption spending includes buying food and buying clothes; privateinvestment spending includes people buying houses and firms buying computers. Manyother examples are possible. Education can be considered as both consumption andinvestment.b. Government consumption spending includes paying workers to administer governmentprograms; government investment spending includes buying military equipment andbuilding roads. Many other examples are possible.4. The opportunity cost of investing in capital is the loss of consumption that results fromredirecting resources toward investment. Over-investment in capital is possible because ofdiminishing marginal returns. A country can "over-invest" in capital if people would prefer tohave higher consumption spending and less future growth. The opportunity cost of investingin human capital is also the loss of consumption that is needed to provide the resources forinvestment. A country could "over-invest" in human capital if people were too highlyeducated for the jobs they could get for example, if the best job a Ph.D. in philosophy couldfind is managing a restaurant.5. a. The United States benefited from the Chinese and Japanese investment because it madeour capital stock larger, increasing our economic growth.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 219© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.b. It would have been better for Americans to make the investments because then they would have received all of the returns on the investments, instead of the returns going toChina and Japan.6. Greater educational opportunities for women could lead to faster economic growth in thesedeveloping countries because increased human capital would increase productivity and there would be external effects from greater knowledge in the country. Second, increasededucational opportunities for young women may lower the population growth rate because such opportunities raise the opportunity cost of having a child.7. a. Individuals with higher incomes have better access to clean water, medical care, and good nutrition.b. Healthier individuals are likely to be more productive.c. Understanding the direction of causation will help policymakers place proper emphasis on the programs that will achieve both greater health and higher incomes. 8. Peace would promote economic growth because it is an indication that property rights will berespected in the future. Armed conflict and the threat of a revolutionary government reduce domestic residents' incentive to save, invest, and start new businesses. Moreover, foreigners have less incentive to invest in the country.Easy taxes would promote economic growth because they result in citizens and businesses retaining a greater share of the income they earn and, thus, being able to save and invest a greater portion of that income.A tolerable administration of justice would promote economic growth because it would ensure the maintenance of property rights, which encourages domestic saving andinvestment from abroad.。

曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案25章.doc

曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案25章.doc

209WHAT’S NEW IN THE S EVENTH EDITION: There is a new In the News box on “Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?”LEARNING OBJECTIVES: By the end of this chapter, students should understand:how much economic growth differs around the world.why productivity is the key determinant of a country’s standard of living.the factors that determine a country’s productivity.how a country’s policies influence its productivity growth.CONTEXT AND PURPOSE: Chapter 12 is the first chapter in a four-chapter sequence on the production of output in the long run. Chapter 12 addresses the determinants of the level and growth rate of output. We find that capital and labor are among the primary determinants of output. In Chapter 13, we address how saving and investment in capital goods affect the production of output, and in Chapter 14, we learn about some of the tools people and firms use when choosing capital projects in which to invest. In Chapter 15, we address the market for labor.The purpose of Chapter 12 is to examine the long-run determinants of both the level and the growth rate of real GDP per person. Along the way, we will discover the factors that determine the productivity of workers and address what governments might do to improve the productivity of their citizens.KEY POINTS:Economic prosperity, as measured by GDP per person, varies substantially around the world. Theaverage income in the world’s richest countries is more than ten times that in the world’s poorest countries. Because growth rates of real GDP also vary substantially, the relative positions of countries can change dramatically over time.PRODUCTION AND GROWTH210 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth∙ The standard of living in an economy depends on the economy’s ability to produce goods and services. Productivity, in turn, depends on the amounts of physical capital, human capital, natural resources, and technological knowledge available to workers.∙ Government policies can try to influence the economy’s growth rate in many ways: by encouraging saving and investment, encouraging investment from abroad, fostering education, promoting good health, maintaining property rights and political stability, allowing free trade, and promoting the research and development of new technologies.∙ The accumulation of capital is subject to diminishing returns: The more capital an economy has, the less additional output the economy gets from an extra unit of capital. As a result, whilehigher saving leads to higher growth for a period of time, growth eventually slows down ascapital, productivity, and income rise. Also because of diminishing returns, the return to capital is especially high in poor countries. Other things equal, these countries can grow faster because of the catch-up effect.∙ Population growth has a variety of effects on economic growth. On the one hand, more rapid population growth may lower productivity by stretching the supply of natural resources and byreducing the amount of capital available for each worker. On the other hand, a larger population may enhance the rate of technological progress because there are more scientists and engineers.CHAPTER OUTLINE:I. Economic Growth around the WorldA. Table 1 shows data on real GDP per person for 13 countries during different periods of time.1. The data reveal the fact that living standards vary a great deal between these countries.2. Growth rates are also reported in the table. Japan has had the largest growth rate over time,2.65% per year (on average).3. Because of different growth rates, the ranking of countries by income per person changesover time.a. In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom was the richest country in the world.b. Today, income per person is lower in the United Kingdom than in the United States (aformer colony of the United Kingdom).Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖211B. FYI: Are You Richer Than the Richest American?1. According to the magazine American Heritage, the richest American of all time is John B.Rockefeller, whose wealth today would be the equivalent of approximately $200 billion.2. Yet, because Rockefeller lived from 1839 to 1937, he did not get the chance to enjoy manyof the conveniences we take for granted today such as television, air conditioning, andmodern medicine.3. Thus, because of tech nological advances, the average American today may enjoy a “richer”life than the richest American who lived a century ago.C. FYI: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Statistics1. This box presents three photos showing a typical family in three countries – the UnitedKingdom, Mexico, and Mali. Each family was photographed outside their home, together withall of their material possessions.2. These photos demonstrate the vast difference in the standards of living in these countries. II. Productivity: Its Role and DeterminantsA. Why Productivity Is So Important1. Example: Robinson Crusoea. Because he is stranded alone, he must catch his own fish, grow his own vegetables, andmake his own clothes.b. His standard of living depends on his ability to produce goods and services.2. Definition of productivity: the quantity of goods and services produced from eachunit of labor input.3. Review of Principle #8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to ProduceGoods and Services.B. How Productivity Is Determined1. Physical Capital per Workera. Definition of physical capital: the stock of equipment and structures used toproduce goods and services.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has more fishing poles.2. Human Capital per Workera. Definition of human capital: the knowledge and skills that workers acquirethrough education, training, and experience.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has been trained in the best fishing techniquesor as he gains experience fishing.212 ❖ Chapter 12/Production and Growth3. Natural Resources per Workera. Definition of natural resources: the inputs into production that are provided by nature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits .b. Example: Crusoe will have better luck catching fish if there is a plentiful supply around his island.4. Technological Knowledgea. Definition of technological knowledge : society’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services .b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has invented a better fishing lure.C. FYI: The Production Function1. A production function describes the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and the quantity of output from production.2. The production function generally is written like this:where Y = output, L = quantity of labor, K = quantity of physical capital, H = quantity of human capital, N = quantity of natural resources, A reflects the available production technology, and F () is a function that shows how inputs are combined to produce output.3. Many production functions have a property called constant returns to scale.a. This property implies that as all inputs are doubled, output will exactly double.b. This implies that the following must be true:where x= 2 if inputs are doubled.c. This also means that if we want to examine output per worker we could set x = 1/L and we would get the following:This shows that output per worker depends on the amount of physical capital per worker (K /L ), the amount of human capital per worker (H /L ), and the amount of naturalresources per worker (N /L ).4. Case Study: Are Natural Resources a Limit to Growth?a. This section points out that as the population has grown over time, we have discoveredways to lower our use of natural resources. Thus, most economists are not worried about shortages of natural resources.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 213III. Economic Growth and Public PolicyA. Saving and Investment1. Because capital is a produced factor of production, a society can change the amount of capital that it has.2. However, there is an opportunity cost of doing so; if resources are used to produce capital goods, fewer goods and services are produced for current consumption.B. Diminishing Returns and the Catch-Up Effect1. Definition of diminishing returns: the property whereby the benefit from an extra unit of an input declines as the quantity of the input increases .a. As the capital stock rises, the extra output produced from an additional unit of capital willfall.b. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows how the amount of capital per worker determines the amount of output per worker, holding constant all other determinants ofoutput.c. Thus, if workers already have a large amount of capital to work with, giving them anadditional unit of capital will not increase their productivity by much.d. In the long run, a higher saving rate leads to a higher level of productivity and income, but not to higher growth rates in these variables.2. An important implication of diminishing returns is the catch-up effect.a. Definition of catch-up effect: the property whereby countries that start off poor tend to grow more rapidly than countries that start off rich .b. When workers have very little capital to begin with, an additional unit of capital will increase their productivity by a great deal.C. Investment from Abroad1. Saving by domestic residents is not the only way for a country to invest in new capital.2. Investment in the country by foreigners can also occur.a. Foreign direct investment occurs when a capital investment is owned and operated by a foreign entity.214 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthb. Foreign portfolio investment occurs when a capital investment is financed with foreignmoney but operated by domestic residents.3. Some of the benefits of foreign investment flow back to foreign owners. But the economy stillexperiences an increase in the capital stock, which leads to higher productivity and higherwages.4. The World Bank is an organization that tries to encourage the flow of investment to poorcountries.a. The World Bank obtains funds from developed countries such as the United States andmakes loans to less-developed countries so that they can invest in roads, sewer systems,schools, and other types of capital.b. The World Bank also offers these countries advice on how best to use these funds.D. Education1. Investment in human capital also has an opportunity cost.a. When students are in class, they cannot be producing goods and services forconsumption.b. In less-developed countries, this opportunity cost is considered to be high; as a result,children often drop out of school at a young age.2. Because there are positive externalities in education, the effect of lower education on theeconomic growth rate of a country can be large.3. Many poor count ries also face a “brain drain”—the best educated often leave to go to othercountries where they can enjoy a higher standard of living.E. Health and Nutrition1. Human capital can also be used to describe another type of investment in people:expenditures that lead to a healthier population.2. Other things being equal, healthier workers are more productive.3. Making the right investments in the health of the population is one way for a nation toincrease productivity.F. Property Rights and Political Stability1. Protection of property rights and promotion of political stability are two other important waysthat policymakers can improve economic growth.2. There is little incentive to produce products if there is no guarantee that they cannot betaken. Contracts must also be enforced.3. Countries with questionable enforcement of property rights or an unstable political climatewill also have difficulty in attracting foreign (or even domestic) investment.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖2154. In the News: Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?a. Economic policies designed to improve productivity sometimes have adverse unintendedeffects.b. This article from The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog discusses economicresearch on the effects of food aid to poor countries on armed conflict in a recipientcountry.G. Free Trade1. Some countries have tried to achieve faster economic growth by avoiding transacting withthe rest of the world.2. However, trade allows a country to specialize in what it does best and thus consume beyondits production possibilities.3. When a country trades wheat for steel, it is as well off as it would be if it had developed anew technology for turning wheat into steel.4. The amount a nation trades is determined not only by government policy but also bygeography.a. Countries with good, natural seaports find trade easier than countries without thisresource.b. Countries with more than 80 percent of their population living within 100 kilometers of acoast have an average GDP per person that is four times as large as countries with lessthan 20 percent of their population living near a coast.H. Research and Development1. The primary reason why living standards have improved over time has been due to largeincreases in technological knowledge.2. Knowledge can be considered a public good.3. The U.S. government promotes the creation of new technological information by providingresearch grants and providing tax incentives for firms engaged in research.4. The patent system also encourages research by granting an inventor the exclusive right toproduce the product for a specified number of years.I. Population Growth1. Stretching Natural Resourcesa. Thomas Malthus (an English minister and early economic thinker) argued that an ever-increasing population meant that the world was doomed to live in poverty forever.b. However, he failed to understand that new ideas would be developed to increase theproduction of food and other goods, including pesticides, fertilizers, mechanizedequipment, and new crop varieties.216 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth2. Diluting the Capital Stocka. High population growth reduces GDP per worker because rapid growth in the number ofworkers forces the capital stock to be spread more thinly.b. Countries with a high population growth have large numbers of school-age children,placing a burden on the education system.3. Some countries have already instituted measures to reduce population growth rates.4. Policies that foster equal treatment for women should raise economic opportunities forwomen leading to lower rates of population.5. Promoting Technological Progressa. Some economists have suggested that population growth has driven technologicalprogress and economic prosperity.b. In a 1993 journal article, economist Michael Kremer provided evidence that increases inpopulation lead to technological progress.J. In the News: One Economist’s Answer1. Why do some nations thrive while others do not?2. This article by economist Daron Acemoglu provides his ideas on the answers to this question. SOLUTIONS TO TEXT PROBLEMS:Quick Quizzes1. The approximate growth rate of real GDP per person in the United States is 1.77 percent(based on Table 1) from 1870 to 2010. Countries that have had faster growth include Japan,Brazil, Mexico, China, Germany, and Canada; countries that have had slower growth includeArgentina, India, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.2. The four determinants of a country’s productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stockof equipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which is the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training, andexperience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits; and (4) technological knowledge, which issociety’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services.3. Ways in which a government policymaker can try to raise the growth in living standards in asociety include: (1) investing more current resources in the production of capital, which hasChapter 12/Production and Growth ❖217 the drawback of reducing the resources used for producing current consumption; (2)encouraging investment from abroad, which has the drawback that some of the benefits ofinvestment flow to foreigners; (3) increasing education, which has an opportunity cost in thatstudents are not engaged in current production; (4) protecting property rights and promotingpolitical stability, which has the drawback of enforcement costs; (5) pursuing outward-oriented policies to encourage free trade, which may have the drawback of making a countrymore dependent on its trading partners; (6) reducing the rate of population growth, whichmay have the drawbacks of reducing individual freedom and lowering the rate oftechnological progress; and (7) encouraging research and development, which (likeinvestment) may have the drawback of reducing current consumption.Questions for Review1. The level of a nation’s GDP measure s both the total income earned in the economy and thetotal expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of real GDP is agood gauge of economic prosperity, and the growth rate of real GDP is a good gauge ofeconomic progress. You would rather live in a nation with a high level of GDP, even though ithad a low growth rate, than in a nation with a low level of GDP and a high growth rate,because the level of GDP is a measure of prosperity.2. The four determinants of productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stock ofequipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which consists of the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training,and experience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature; and (4) technological knowledge, which is society’s understanding of the best waysto produce goods and services.3. A college degree is a form of human capital. The skills learned in earning a college degreeincrease a worker's productivity.4. Higher saving means fewer resources are devoted to consumption and more to producingcapital goods. The rise in the capital stock leads to rising productivity and more rapid growthin GDP for a while. In the long run, the higher saving rate leads to a higher standard of living.A policymaker might be deterred from trying to raise the rate of saving because doing sorequires that people reduce their consumption today and it can take a long time to get to ahigher standard of living.5. A higher rate of saving leads to a higher growth rate temporarily, not permanently. In theshort run, increased saving leads to a larger capital stock and faster growth. But as growthcontinues, diminishing returns to capital mean growth slows down and eventually settlesdown to its initial rate, though this may take several decades.6. Removing a trade restriction, such as a tariff, would lead to more rapid economic growthbecause the removal of the trade restriction acts like an improvement in technology. Freetrade allows all countries to consume more goods and services.7. The higher the rate of population growth, the lower is the level of GDP per person becausethere's less capital per person, hence lower productivity.8. The U.S. government tries to encourage advances in technological knowledge by providingresearch grants through the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health,218 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthwith tax breaks for firms engaging in research and development, and through the patentsystem.Quick Check Multiple Choice1. b2. c3. d4. c5. c6. aProblems and Applications1. The facts that countries import many goods and services yet must produce a large quantityof goods and services themselves to enjoy a high standard of living are reconciled by notingthat there are substantial gains from trade. To be able to afford to purchase goods fromother countries, an economy must generate income. By producing many goods and services,then trading them for goods and services produced in other countries, a nation maximizes itsstandard of living.2. a. More investment would lead to faster economic growth in the short run.b. The change would benefit many people in society who would have higher incomes as theresult of faster economic growth. However, there might be a transition period in whichworkers and owners in consumption-good industries would get lower incomes, andworkers and owners in investment-good industries would get higher incomes. In addition,some group would have to reduce their spending for some time so that investment couldrise.3. a. Private consumption spending includes buying food and buying clothes; privateinvestment spending includes people buying houses and firms buying computers. Manyother examples are possible. Education can be considered as both consumption andinvestment.b. Government consumption spending includes paying workers to administer governmentprograms; government investment spending includes buying military equipment andbuilding roads. Many other examples are possible.4. The opportunity cost of investing in capital is the loss of consumption that results fromredirecting resources toward investment. Over-investment in capital is possible because ofdiminishing marginal returns. A country can "over-invest" in capital if people would prefer tohave higher consumption spending and less future growth. The opportunity cost of investingin human capital is also the loss of consumption that is needed to provide the resources forinvestment. A country could "over-invest" in human capital if people were too highlyeducated for the jobs they could get for example, if the best job a Ph.D. in philosophy couldfind is managing a restaurant.5. a. The United States benefited from the Chinese and Japanese investment because it madeour capital stock larger, increasing our economic growth.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 219© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.b. It would have been better for Americans to make the investments because then they would have received all of the returns on the investments, instead of the returns going toChina and Japan.6. Greater educational opportunities for women could lead to faster economic growth in thesedeveloping countries because increased human capital would increase productivity and there would be external effects from greater knowledge in the country. Second, increasededucational opportunities for young women may lower the population growth rate because such opportunities raise the opportunity cost of having a child.7. a. Individuals with higher incomes have better access to clean water, medical care, and good nutrition.b. Healthier individuals are likely to be more productive.c. Understanding the direction of causation will help policymakers place proper emphasis on the programs that will achieve both greater health and higher incomes. 8. Peace would promote economic growth because it is an indication that property rights will berespected in the future. Armed conflict and the threat of a revolutionary government reduce domestic residents' incentive to save, invest, and start new businesses. Moreover, foreigners have less incentive to invest in the country.Easy taxes would promote economic growth because they result in citizens and businesses retaining a greater share of the income they earn and, thus, being able to save and invest a greater portion of that income.A tolerable administration of justice would promote economic growth because it would ensure the maintenance of property rights, which encourages domestic saving andinvestment from abroad.。

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209WHAT’S NEW IN THE S EVENTH EDITION:There is a new In the News box on “Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?”LEARNING OBJECTIVES:By the end of this chapter, students should understand:➢ how much economic growth differs around the world.➢ why productivity is the key determinant of a country’s standard of living.➢ the factors that determine a country’s productivity.➢ how a country’s policies influence its productivity growth.CONTEXT AND PURPOSE:Chapter 12 is the first chapter in a four-chapter sequence on the production of output in the long run. Chapter 12 addresses the determinants of the level and growth rate of output. We find that capital and labor are among the primary determinants of output. In Chapter 13, we address how saving andinvestment in capital goods affect the production of output, and in Chapter 14, we learn about some of the tools people and firms use when choosing capital projects in which to invest. In Chapter 15, we address the market for labor.The purpose of Chapter 12 is to examine the long-run determinants of both the level and the growth rate of real GDP per person. Along the way, we will discover the factors that determine the productivity of workers and address what governments might do to improve the productivity of their citizens.KEY POINTS:• Economic prosperity, as measured by GDP per person, varies substantially around the world. Theaverage income in the world’s richest countries is more than ten times that in the world’s poorest countries. Because growth rates of real GDP also vary substantially, the relative positions ofcountries can change dramatically over time.PRODUCTION AND GROWTH210 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth• The standard of living in an economy depends on the economy’s ability to produce goods and services. Productivity, in turn, depends on the amounts of physical capital, human capital, natural resources, and technological knowledge available to workers.• Government policies can try to influence the economy’s growth rate in many ways: by encouraging saving and investment, encouraging investment from abroad, fostering education, promoting good health, maintaining property rights and political stability, allowing free trade, and promoting the research and development of new technologies.• The accumulation of capital is subject to diminishing returns: The more capital an economy has, the less additional output the economy gets from an extra unit of capital. As a result, whilehigher saving leads to higher growth for a period of time, growth eventually slows down ascapital, productivity, and income rise. Also because of diminishing returns, the return to capital is especially high in poor countries. Other things equal, these countries can grow faster because of the catch-up effect.• Population growth has a variety of effects on economic growth. On the one hand, more rapid population growth may lower productivity by stretching the supply of natural resources and byreducing the amount of capital available for each worker. On the other hand, a larger population may enhance the rate of technological progress because there are more scientists and engineers.CHAPTER OUTLINE:I. Economic Growth around the WorldA. Table 1 shows data on real GDP per person for 13 countries during different periods of time.1. The data reveal the fact that living standards vary a great deal between these countries.2. Growth rates are also reported in the table. Japan has had the largest growth rate over time,2.65% per year (on average).3. Because of different growth rates, the ranking of countries by income per person changesover time.a. In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom was the richest country in the world.b. Today, income per person is lower in the United Kingdom than in the United States (aformer colony of the United Kingdom).Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖211B. FYI: Are You Richer Than the Richest American?1. According to the magazine American Heritage, the richest American of all time is John B.Rockefeller, whose wealth today would be the equivalent of approximately $200 billion.2. Yet, because Rockefeller lived from 1839 to 1937, he did not get the chance to enjoy manyof the conveniences we take for granted today such as television, air conditioning, andmodern medicine.3. Thus, because of tech nological advances, the average American today may enjoy a “richer”life than the richest American who lived a century ago.C. FYI: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Statistics1. This box presents three photos showing a typical family in three countries – the UnitedKingdom, Mexico, and Mali. Each family was photographed outside their home, together withall of their material possessions.2. These photos demonstrate the vast difference in the standards of living in these countries. II. Productivity: Its Role and DeterminantsA. Why Productivity Is So Important1. Example: Robinson Crusoea. Because he is stranded alone, he must catch his own fish, grow his own vegetables, andmake his own clothes.b. His standard of living depends on his ability to produce goods and services.2. Definition of productivity: the quantity of goods and services produced from eachunit of labor input.3. Review of Principle #8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to ProduceGoods and Services.B. How Productivity Is Determined1. Physical Capital per Workera. Definition of physical capital: the stock of equipment and structures used toproduce goods and services.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has more fishing poles.2. Human Capital per Workera. Definition of human capital: the knowledge and skills that workers acquirethrough education, training, and experience.b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has been trained in the best fishing techniquesor as he gains experience fishing.212 ❖ Chapter 12/Production and Growth3. Natural Resources per Workera. Definition of natural resources: the inputs into production that are provided by nature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits .b. Example: Crusoe will have better luck catching fish if there is a plentiful supply around his island.4. Technological Knowledgea. Definition of technological knowledge : society’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services .b. Example: Crusoe will catch more fish if he has invented a better fishing lure.C. FYI: The Production Function1. A production function describes the relationship between the quantity of inputs used in production and the quantity of output from production.2. The production function generally is written like this:where Y = output, L = quantity of labor, K = quantity of physical capital, H = quantity ofhuman capital, N = quantity of natural resources, A reflects the available production technology, and F () is a function that shows how inputs are combined to produce output.3. Many production functions have a property called constant returns to scale.a. This property implies that as all inputs are doubled, output will exactly double.b. This implies that the following must be true:where x = 2 if inputs are doubled.c. This also means that if we want to examine output per worker we could set x = 1/L and we would get the following:This shows that output per worker depends on the amount of physical capital per worker(K /L ), the amount of human capital per worker (H /L ), and the amount of natural resources per worker (N /L ).4. Case Study: Are Natural Resources a Limit to Growth?a. This section points out that as the population has grown over time, we have discovered ways to lower our use of natural resources. Thus, most economists are not worried aboutshortages of natural resources.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 213III. Economic Growth and Public PolicyA. Saving and Investment1. Because capital is a produced factor of production, a society can change the amount of capital that it has.2. However, there is an opportunity cost of doing so; if resources are used to produce capital goods, fewer goods and services are produced for current consumption.B. Diminishing Returns and the Catch-Up Effect1. Definition of diminishing returns: the property whereby the benefit from an extra unit of an input declines as the quantity of the input increases .a. As the capital stock rises, the extra output produced from an additional unit of capital will fall.b. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows how the amount of capital per workerdetermines the amount of output per worker, holding constant all other determinants of output.c. Thus, if workers already have a large amount of capital to work with, giving them an additional unit of capital will not increase their productivity by much.d. In the long run, a higher saving rate leads to a higher level of productivity and income,but not to higher growth rates in these variables.2. An important implication of diminishing returns is the catch-up effect.a. Definition of catch-up effect: the property whereby countries that start off poor tend to grow more rapidly than countries that start off rich .b. When workers have very little capital to begin with, an additional unit of capital willincrease their productivity by a great deal.C. Investment from Abroad1. Saving by domestic residents is not the only way for a country to invest in new capital.2. Investment in the country by foreigners can also occur.a. Foreign direct investment occurs when a capital investment is owned and operated by a foreign entity.214 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthb. Foreign portfolio investment occurs when a capital investment is financed with foreignmoney but operated by domestic residents.3. Some of the benefits of foreign investment flow back to foreign owners. But the economy stillexperiences an increase in the capital stock, which leads to higher productivity and higherwages.4. The World Bank is an organization that tries to encourage the flow of investment to poorcountries.a. The World Bank obtains funds from developed countries such as the United States andmakes loans to less-developed countries so that they can invest in roads, sewer systems,schools, and other types of capital.b. The World Bank also offers these countries advice on how best to use these funds.D. Education1. Investment in human capital also has an opportunity cost.a. When students are in class, they cannot be producing goods and services forconsumption.b. In less-developed countries, this opportunity cost is considered to be high; as a result,children often drop out of school at a young age.2. Because there are positive externalities in education, the effect of lower education on theeconomic growth rate of a country can be large.3. Many poor count ries also face a “brain drain”—the best educated often leave to go to othercountries where they can enjoy a higher standard of living.E. Health and Nutrition1. Human capital can also be used to describe another type of investment in people:expenditures that lead to a healthier population.2. Other things being equal, healthier workers are more productive.3. Making the right investments in the health of the population is one way for a nation toincrease productivity.F. Property Rights and Political Stability1. Protection of property rights and promotion of political stability are two other important waysthat policymakers can improve economic growth.2. There is little incentive to produce products if there is no guarantee that they cannot betaken. Contracts must also be enforced.3. Countries with questionable enforcement of property rights or an unstable political climatewill also have difficulty in attracting foreign (or even domestic) investment.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖2154. In the News: Does Food Aid Help or Hurt?a. Economic policies designed to improve productivity sometimes have adverse unintendedeffects.b. This article from The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog discusses economicresearch on the effects of food aid to poor countries on armed conflict in a recipientcountry.G. Free Trade1. Some countries have tried to achieve faster economic growth by avoiding transacting withthe rest of the world.2. However, trade allows a country to specialize in what it does best and thus consume beyondits production possibilities.3. When a country trades wheat for steel, it is as well off as it would be if it had developed anew technology for turning wheat into steel.4. The amount a nation trades is determined not only by government policy but also bygeography.a. Countries with good, natural seaports find trade easier than countries without thisresource.b. Countries with more than 80 percent of their population living within 100 kilometers of acoast have an average GDP per person that is four times as large as countries with lessthan 20 percent of their population living near a coast.H. Research and Development1. The primary reason why living standards have improved over time has been due to largeincreases in technological knowledge.2. Knowledge can be considered a public good.3. The U.S. government promotes the creation of new technological information by providingresearch grants and providing tax incentives for firms engaged in research.4. The patent system also encourages research by granting an inventor the exclusive right toproduce the product for a specified number of years.I. Population Growth1. Stretching Natural Resourcesa. Thomas Malthus (an English minister and early economic thinker) argued that an ever-increasing population meant that the world was doomed to live in poverty forever.b. However, he failed to understand that new ideas would be developed to increase theproduction of food and other goods, including pesticides, fertilizers, mechanizedequipment, and new crop varieties.216 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growth2. Diluting the Capital Stocka. High population growth reduces GDP per worker because rapid growth in the number ofworkers forces the capital stock to be spread more thinly.b. Countries with a high population growth have large numbers of school-age children,placing a burden on the education system.3. Some countries have already instituted measures to reduce population growth rates.4. Policies that foster equal treatment for women should raise economic opportunities forwomen leading to lower rates of population.5. Promoting Technological Progressa. Some economists have suggested that population growth has driven technologicalprogress and economic prosperity.b. In a 1993 journal article, economist Michael Kremer provided evidence that increases inpopulation lead to technological progress.J. In the News: One Economist’s Answer1. Why do some nations thrive while others do not?2. This article by economist Daron Acemoglu provides his ideas on the answers to this question. SOLUTIONS TO TEXT PROBLEMS:Quick Quizzes1. The approximate growth rate of real GDP per person in the United States is 1.77 percent(based on Table 1) from 1870 to 2010. Countries that have had faster growth include Japan,Brazil, Mexico, China, Germany, and Canada; countries that have had slower growth includeArgentina, India, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.2. The four determinants of a country’s productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stockof equipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which is the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training, andexperience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature, such as land, rivers, and mineral deposits; and (4) technological knowledge, which issociety’s understanding of the best ways to produce goods and services.3. Ways in which a government policymaker can try to raise the growth in living standards in asociety include: (1) investing more current resources in the production of capital, which hasChapter 12/Production and Growth ❖217the drawback of reducing the resources used for producing current consumption; (2)encouraging investment from abroad, which has the drawback that some of the benefits ofinvestment flow to foreigners; (3) increasing education, which has an opportunity cost in thatstudents are not engaged in current production; (4) protecting property rights and promotingpolitical stability, which has the drawback of enforcement costs; (5) pursuing outward-oriented policies to encourage free trade, which may have the drawback of making a countrymore dependent on its trading partners; (6) reducing the rate of population growth, whichmay have the drawbacks of reducing individual freedom and lowering the rate oftechnological progress; and (7) encouraging research and development, which (likeinvestment) may have the drawback of reducing current consumption.Questions for Review1. The level of a nation’s GDP measure s both the total income earned in the economy and thetotal expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of real GDP is agood gauge of economic prosperity, and the growth rate of real GDP is a good gauge ofeconomic progress. You would rather live in a nation with a high level of GDP, even though ithad a low growth rate, than in a nation with a low level of GDP and a high growth rate,because the level of GDP is a measure of prosperity.2. The four determinants of productivity are: (1) physical capital, which is the stock ofequipment and structures that are used to produce goods and services; (2) human capital,which consists of the knowledge and skills that workers acquire through education, training,and experience; (3) natural resources, which are inputs into production that are provided bynature; and (4) technological knowledge, which is society’s understanding of the best waysto produce goods and services.3. A college degree is a form of human capital. The skills learned in earning a college degreeincrease a worker's productivity.4. Higher saving means fewer resources are devoted to consumption and more to producingcapital goods. The rise in the capital stock leads to rising productivity and more rapid growthin GDP for a while. In the long run, the higher saving rate leads to a higher standard of living.A policymaker might be deterred from trying to raise the rate of saving because doing sorequires that people reduce their consumption today and it can take a long time to get to ahigher standard of living.5. A higher rate of saving leads to a higher growth rate temporarily, not permanently. In theshort run, increased saving leads to a larger capital stock and faster growth. But as growthcontinues, diminishing returns to capital mean growth slows down and eventually settlesdown to its initial rate, though this may take several decades.6. Removing a trade restriction, such as a tariff, would lead to more rapid economic growthbecause the removal of the trade restriction acts like an improvement in technology. Freetrade allows all countries to consume more goods and services.7. The higher the rate of population growth, the lower is the level of GDP per person becausethere's less capital per person, hence lower productivity.8. The U.S. government tries to encourage advances in technological knowledge by providingresearch grants through the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health,218 ❖Chapter 12/Production and Growthwith tax breaks for firms engaging in research and development, and through the patentsystem.Quick Check Multiple Choice1. b2. c3. d4. c5. c6. aProblems and Applications1. The facts that countries import many goods and services yet must produce a large quantityof goods and services themselves to enjoy a high standard of living are reconciled by notingthat there are substantial gains from trade. To be able to afford to purchase goods fromother countries, an economy must generate income. By producing many goods and services,then trading them for goods and services produced in other countries, a nation maximizes itsstandard of living.2. a. More investment would lead to faster economic growth in the short run.b. The change would benefit many people in society who would have higher incomes as theresult of faster economic growth. However, there might be a transition period in whichworkers and owners in consumption-good industries would get lower incomes, andworkers and owners in investment-good industries would get higher incomes. In addition,some group would have to reduce their spending for some time so that investment couldrise.3. a. Private consumption spending includes buying food and buying clothes; privateinvestment spending includes people buying houses and firms buying computers. Manyother examples are possible. Education can be considered as both consumption andinvestment.b. Government consumption spending includes paying workers to administer governmentprograms; government investment spending includes buying military equipment andbuilding roads. Many other examples are possible.4. The opportunity cost of investing in capital is the loss of consumption that results fromredirecting resources toward investment. Over-investment in capital is possible because ofdiminishing marginal returns. A country can "over-invest" in capital if people would prefer tohave higher consumption spending and less future growth. The opportunity cost of investingin human capital is also the loss of consumption that is needed to provide the resources forinvestment. A country could "over-invest" in human capital if people were too highlyeducated for the jobs they could get for example, if the best job a Ph.D. in philosophy couldfind is managing a restaurant.5. a. The United States benefited from the Chinese and Japanese investment because it madeour capital stock larger, increasing our economic growth.Chapter 12/Production and Growth ❖ 219© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. b. It would have been better for Americans to make the investments because then theywould have received all of the returns on the investments, instead of the returns going to China and Japan.6. Greater educational opportunities for women could lead to faster economic growth in these developing countries because increased human capital would increase productivity and therewould be external effects from greater knowledge in the country. Second, increased educational opportunities for young women may lower the population growth rate because such opportunities raise the opportunity cost of having a child.7. a. Individuals with higher incomes have better access to clean water, medical care, andgood nutrition.b. Healthier individuals are likely to be more productive.c. Understanding the direction of causation will help policymakers place proper emphasis on the programs that will achieve both greater health and higher incomes.8. Peace would promote economic growth because it is an indication that property rights will be respected in the future. Armed conflict and the threat of a revolutionary government reducedomestic residents' incentive to save, invest, and start new businesses. Moreover, foreigners have less incentive to invest in the country.Easy taxes would promote economic growth because they result in citizens and businesses retaining a greater share of the income they earn and, thus, being able to save and invest a greater portion of that income.A tolerable administration of justice would promote economic growth because it would ensure the maintenance of property rights, which encourages domestic saving and investment from abroad.。

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