GDP

Around the world, governments are pouring money into national security. This can take many forms. Governments, for instance, might spend their tax revenues on militaries, cyber security, or defense against terrorism.

At the core of economic growth are two main factors: population growth and productivity.  All else equal, a larger population enables more production and consumption, but the quality and skills of the workforce are equally important.  When output per hour rises due to higher productivity, the cost per unit tends to fall, potentially driving down prices and increasing consumption, espe

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one way to measure the output of our economy.   It considers how money is spent in America by consumers, businesses, and the government.  Recently, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released the advance report on first quarter 2025 GDP, and it was negative for the first time since declining for two consecutive quarters in 2022. 

Economies are large (especially the largest in the world) which makes them difficult to measure.  Any measurements which are conducted are also subject to revisions.  These revisions bring in more complete data, helping to improve the accuracy of the measurement. 

Employment data have been rather consistent during the past year or so and could be setting up the Federal Reserve for a period of difficulty.  Growing payrolls have been the trend every month since December 2020.  The year-over-year statistic has been above zero since April 2021.  Although, it has also been decelerating since then (see the chart above), partly due to the law of

It kind of makes sense that income and spending are linked.  Think of your own household.

As far as economic indicators go, gross domestic product (GDP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is probably one of the most popular.  Despite the attention this comprehensive look at American output receives, it offers some of the oldest data available in a new release when it is published because it includes information as old as the first month from the previous quarter. 

Output growth in America during the first quarter of 2019 was downwardly revised by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in their second estimate of the period’s Gross Domestic Product.  After more data were collected, output is estimated to have grown 3.1 percent on an annualized basis, down from 3.2 percent in the first iteration.