{"id":273459,"date":"2020-10-29T23:48:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T03:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=273459"},"modified":"2020-10-29T23:48:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T03:48:38","slug":"the-us-economys-record-swings-4-essential-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/29\/the-us-economys-record-swings-4-essential-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"The US economy’s record swings: 4 essential reads"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Still, U.S. GDP remains 3.5% below its pre-COVID-19 level. (File photo: Sean Pollock\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. economy rebounded<\/a> from its unprecedented coronavirus plunge in the spring with a record surge over the summer, giving the president some good news just days before Election Day.<\/p>\n

Gross domestic product climbed 33% in the third quarter, from July through September, according to the Commerce Department\u2019s initial Oct. 29 estimate, as companies and individuals returned to work following the spring lockdown. Still, U.S. GDP remains 3.5% below its pre-COVID-19 level.<\/p>\n

But why do we care about GDP in the first place? We plumbed our archive to provide a bit of context for a piece of data that is already a bit old.<\/p>\n

1. What is GDP?<\/h2>\n

GDP, dubbed one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, is followed very closely by policymakers, businesses and financial markets to make critical decisions about hiring, spending, investment and economic policy, writes Dan Sichel, an economist at Wellesley College.<\/p>\n

But what is it really?<\/p>\n

Sichel takes a dive inside the economic indicator<\/a> to show what goes into it (products and services) \u2013 and what\u2019s left out (well-being).<\/p>\n

2. Before the coronavirus<\/h2>\n

Just a few months before the pandemic hit and forced lockdowns across the country \u2013 and world \u2013 the U.S. economy had just entered its longest expansion in history, lasting over a decade.<\/p>\n

With the economy now in recession, it\u2019s worth asking who benefited or didn\u2019t from all those gains. In other words, who was best and least prepared for the economic catastrophe Americans are now experiencing?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly who you\u2019d expect<\/a>, writes Colorado State University economist Steven Pressman, who points to three charts that show who gained the most from America\u2019s record economy.<\/p>\n

3. That old yarn about GDP<\/h2>\n

President Donald Trump is wasting no time in claiming credit for \u201cthe great American comeback\u201d as a reason he deserves re-election. Whether he deserves it or not, ultimately he\u2019s just telling a story about the numbers, presumably one that paints him in the best light possible. His rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, will have his own version of the story.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s really all economists themselves are doing: telling stories about the data<\/a>, argues Carolin Benack, a literary scholar who researches economics and its history at Duke University. The next time you hear an economist \u2013 or a politician \u2013 tell you what the numbers supposedly mean, remember they\u2019re just storytellers, not scientists, she says.<\/p>\n

4. GDP and well-being<\/h2>\n

Investors, policymakers and politicians follow changes in GDP very closely, whether it\u2019s to help them decide how to invest money, adjust policies or keep score for the electorate.<\/p>\n

[Deep knowledge, daily.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is convenient to focus on one number, it turns out GDP alone is inadequate<\/a> to measure the economic performance of a country,\u201d writes Sophie Mitra, a professor of economics at Fordham University. She explains the problems with GDP and points to better ways to measure economic well-being of a country\u2019s citizens.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation\u2019s archives.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

Bryan Keogh<\/a>, Senior Editor, Economy + Business, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. economy rebounded from its unprecedented coronavirus plunge in the spring with a record surge over the summer, giving …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":273460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-bryan-keogh","mauthors-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273461,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273459\/revisions\/273461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}