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Imagine trying to figure out everything you bought in
the last year. This would be a difficult task! Now imagine trying to figure
out the total dollar value of all the goods and services that were purchased
in the United States over the past year. This includes all the money spent
in every household, government
spending, business investments,
and foreign exchange. That is a lot of
money!
Gathering such information is exactly what some economists
try to do each year. The Gross Domestic Product
(or the GDP) measures goods and services
purchased in a country in a year, but it does much more than that. The
GDP also measures the financial interactions of consumers, businesses,
governments, and foreign countries. It shows how much manufacturers produced
in a given year, and how many goods and services consumers purchased.
Explore a breakdown of the GDP in the United States,
and visit other economies of the Eastern world. Take a closer look at
China, Japan, and Russia and learn about the GDP in these countries.
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