It is often said that the most popular topic of conversation among the British is the weather. Personally, I think this is an exaggeration. We also like to talk about sport, music, fashion, television shows and all sorts of other stuff. And we also like to talk about the economy — especially when the outlook for the future appears to be gloomy, with an impending double- or triple-dip recession, soaring unemployment, rampant inflation, or whatever indicator has recently given the opposition an opportunity to criticise the government’s handling of the economy.
But what does all this mean? How as economists do we set out to evaluate how well (or how poorly) an economy is performing? Let’s look at some of the ways in which we can try to do this, and why this matters.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
