The document provides an overview of key economic principles including microeconomics, macroeconomics, the main decision makers in the economy, demand and supply, measuring economic growth, inflation, interest rates, the business cycle, unemployment, and international trade. It discusses concepts such as GDP, GNP, the consumer price index, money supply, output gaps, types of unemployment, current accounts, and exchange rates. The document is intended to introduce students to foundational economic concepts.

1. The Economy
CHAPTER 4: Economic Principles
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2. Economics in General
The performance of the securities markets is strongly tied to the
overall performance of the economy.
• A growing and stable economy over time has a positive impact
on the equity markets.
• Bond market activity is strongly tied to the level and uncertainty
of inflation and interest rates.
• The economy has an impact on how many people work, how
much they spend, how much product companies sell, and how
high inflation and interest rates will be.
• These are the factors that determine investment returns.
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3. Overview
Microeconomics versus macroeconomics
Microeconomics:
• The market behaviour of individual consumers and firms.
• How the price levels creates or leads to market equilibrium.
• The impact of minimum wage laws on the supply of labour and
company profit margins.
• Taxes on imports and the impact on industry profitability.
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4. Overview
Microeconomics versus macroeconomics
Macroeconomics:
• The performance of the overall economy – the ‘big picture’.
• Measuring output through GDP and GNP.
• How changes in unemployment or inflation impact economic
performance.
• How a nation’s standard of living has changed over the last
business cycle.
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5. Overview
The main decision makers in the economy:
• Consumers
• Firms
• Government
What role do each play and how do they interact?
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6. Overview
Goods Markets:
• firms decide what to produce
• sell their output of goods and services
Factor Markets:
• consumers sell their ‘factors of production’ labour
• earn wages used to buy goods & services
Where are these decisions coordinated?
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7. Demand & Supply
The interaction between demand and supply leads to market
equilibrium in the economy.
Market Demand
• consumers, all purchasers of goods and services
Market Supply
• suppliers of goods and services
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8. Demand & Supply - Discussion
What role do price and quantity play for the:
- Law of Demand
- Law of Supply
Explain each using a real world example.
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9. Demand & Supply
Law of Demand
• as the price of a product rises, quantity demand falls
• as the price of a product falls, quantity demand rises
Law of Supply
• as the price of a product rises, quantity supplied rises
• as the price of a product falls, quantity supplied falls
What is the main trigger for market equilibrium to occur?
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10. Measuring Economic Growth
Measuring the Economy
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
Value of all goods and services produced within Canada’s
borders
• Gross National Product (GNP):
Value of all goods and services produced by Canadians
anywhere in the world
What was Canada’s GDP for the most current year?
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11. Measuring Economic Growth
GDP versus GNP
ABC, a Canadian company, manufactured $70m of output last
year in the following way:
• $50m was manufactured in Canada
• $20m was manufactured in Sweden
What amount will be recorded as part of Canada’s GDP? GNP?
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12. Measuring Economic Growth
GDP versus GNP
What amount will be recorded as part of Canada’s GDP? GNP?
Canada
GDP = $50m produced within Canada’s borders
GNP = $50m + $20m
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13. Measuring Economic Growth
Components of the expenditure approach:
• Consumption
• Investment
• Government Spending
• Net Exports
GDP = C + I + G + (X – M)
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14. Measuring Economic Growth
How does an economy grow?
Causes of GDP Growth:
• Population growth
• Rising productivity
• Technological innovation
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15. Real GDP versus Nominal GDP
• What does nominal GDP represent?
• How does Nominal GDP differ from Real GDP?
• Is an increase in Nominal GDP always good for the economy?
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16. Real GDP versus Nominal GDP
• Nominal GDP is based on current prices, or the prices that
prevailed in the same year
- reflects the change in the size of GDP and the impact of price
changes
• Real GDP corrects for the effects of inflation
- a better measure of the overall performance
- a purer measure of changes in the amount of output produced
during the year
- isolates the change in output attributed to price changes (or
inflation)
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17. A Typical Business Cycle
GDP
Rising Trend in GDP
Expansion
Peak Contraction Recovery
Expansion
Trough
Time
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18. The Business Cycle
Describe the key features of each phase of the cycle:
• Expansion
• Peak
• Contraction
• Trough
• Recovery
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19. The Business Cycle
Expansion
– Stable inflation, and the economy steadily expands
– Adequate inventory levels to meet consumer demand
– Rising corporate profits and stronger stock market activity
– Steady or falling unemployment rate
Peak
– Demand begins to outstrip capacity and inflation increases
– Rising wages and interest rates
– Business sales decline, and inventory levels rise
– Stock prices fall and general market activity declines
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20. The Business Cycle
Recession
– Level of economic activity declines
– Businesses postpone capital investments and profits fall
– Consumers spend less and increase saving
Trough
– Bond market rallies as rates begin to fall
– Consumers start spending again
Recovery
– GDP returns to its previous peak, & business investment rises
– Unemployment may remain high, but inflation is set to fall further
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21. Economic Indicators
Leading Indicator: Peak and trough before the overall
economy – anticipate emerging trends
Example: housing starts
Coincident Indicator: Change at same time and in same direction
as the economy – info on the current
position of the economy
Example: GDP, retail sales
Lagging Indicator: Change after the economy changes – used
to confirm a business cycle pattern
Example: Unemployment rate
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22. Interest Rates
Interest is:
• Economic rent for a scarce resource (money)
• For business owners it is a component in the cost of capital
for production
• For consumers it is the “price” of credit for consumption
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23. Interest Rates
Interest rates vary by:
• Duration/term of loan
• Conditions of the loan
• Creditworthiness
How do higher rates impact the economy?
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24. Interest Rates
How do higher rates impact the economy?
• Increases the cost of capital for businesses and leads to lower
business investment.
• Discourages consumer spending on durable goods and other
commodities.
• May lead to a general economic slowdown.
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25. Determinants of Interest Rates
• Demand and Supply of Capital
• Default Risk
• Central Bank Activities/Credibility
• Foreign Developments – Interest Rates/Exchange Rate
• Inflation
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26. Inflation
A generalized, sustained trend of rising prices.
- usually an indication of growth in the money supply
- economic expansion
- increase in demand without corresponding change in supply
Can lead to:
- investors demand a rate of return that protects them from the
erosion of their purchasing power
- pressure on wages and other variables
…Why are rising prices considered ‘bad’ for the economy?
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27. Inflation & the Consumer Price Index
Using the CPI to measure inflation:
• Tracks the retail price of a basket of goods to reflect typical
consumer spending
• Measures the ‘average’ price level for a consumption bundle
• Compares the CPI in the current period relative to a base year to
arrive at the inflation rate for the year
• If CPI is currently 130 and the base year was 120, what does this
imply?
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28. Inflation
Costs of Inflation
• Erodes standard of living for those on a fixed income
• Erodes purchasing power or forces investors to demand higher
returns
• Higher interest rates slows growth
• Increases the cost of debt servicing to individuals, corporations
and governments
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29. Growth in the Money Supply
• In the short-run, higher money growth lowers interest rates, and
increases economic activity
• In the long-run, money growth is fully reflected in changes in
inflation
• If money grows 10% and the supply of goods and services grows
5%, inflation will be 5%.
• There is evidence that unemployment can be reduced in the
short-run by increasing inflation at a faster rate (Phillips curve).
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30. Growth in the Money Supply
The Output Gap
• The difference between real GDP and potential GDP
• Potential GDP = what the economy is capable of producing when
its existing inputs of labour, capital, and technology are fully
employed at their normal levels of use.
- (the BoC does estimate potential output levels)
Negative Output Gap:
• When actual output is below potential output - spare or excess
capacity.
• Increased demand does not result in inflation.
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31. Growth in the Money Supply
Positive Output Gap:
• Economy is operating above its potential:
- actual output (GDP) > potential output
• Strong consumer demand for goods and services.
• When companies continue to operate above capacity, they can
raise prices in response to this demand.
• leads to demand-pull inflation.
• A scarcity of resources can lead to cost-push inflation.
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32. Disinflation vs. Deflation
Disinflation Deflation
A decline in the rate at which A sustained fall in prices - the
prices rise – is a decrease in the annual change in the CPI is
rate of inflation. negative year after year.
Prices are still rising, but at a Deflation is just the opposite of
slower rate. inflation.
Captured through the Phillips Problem: sustained falling prices
Curve and the sacrifice ratio. could lead to a decline in
corporate profits.
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33. Labour Markets
Economic performance directly affects the labour market.
Indicators:
• Labour Force: sum of the working age population who are
employed or unemployed.
• Participation rate: the % of the working age population in the
labour force.
• Unemployment rate: the % of the labour force unemployed
but looking.
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34. Types of Unemployment
Cyclical
• fluctuates with the business cycle
Frictional
• result of normal labour turnover
• have the proper skills to find a new job
Structural
• when individuals can’t find jobs due to outdated skills
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35. Labour Markets
• Is an unemployment rate of 0% possible? Why or why not?
• What stops the economy from moving to such a position?
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36. The External Sector
• Exports accounted for just over 44% of GDP in 2006.
• Interestingly:
– Canada exported about 80% of its goods to the U.S. and
imported about 70% of its goods from the U.S.
• What this means: the performance of the Canadian economy is
strongly tied to the performance of the U.S. economy.
• The balance of payments is used to track the economic
transactions with the rest of the world over a given time period.
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37. Current Account
• Records the exchanges of goods and services between
Canadians and foreigners, the earnings from investment income,
interest, and dividends and net transfers such as for foreign aid.
• Deficit implies Canadians are spending more on foreign goods
than they are selling – imports are higher than exports.
• Surplus implies Canadians are selling more to foreigners than
buying abroad – exports are higher than imports.
• There is a link with the capital account.
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38. Capital Account
• Records the financial flows between Canadians and foreigners
related to investments by foreigners in Canada and investments
by Canadians abroad.
When a country runs a current account deficit, the shortfall
financed from foreign sources by:
• Selling assets
• Borrowing funds
Both of these activities are captured through the capital account.
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39. The Exchange Rate
Why it’s important:
• The external value of a nation’s currency impacts the volume of
trade.
• As the C$ rises in value against a trading partner the volume of
exports falls and the volume of imports rises.
• As the C$ falls in value against a trading partner, the volume of
exports rises and the volume of imports falls.
– Can we explain these relationships using the current
behaviour of the C$ vs. the US$?
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40. The Exchange Rate
Determinants of the Exchange Rate:
• Inflation differentials
• Interest rate differentials
• Current account
• Economic performance
• Public debt and deficits
• Political stability
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