Data for the Classroom from
Ed Dolan’s Econ Bloghttp://dolanecon.blogspot.com/Strong Exports Lead SlightImprovement in Estimated US GDP Growth Posted Sept. 3, 2012 Terms of Use: These slides are made available under Creative Commons License Attribution— Share Alike 3.0 . You are free to use these slides as a resource for your economics classes together with whatever textbook you are using. If you like the slides, you may also want to take a look at my textbook, Introduction to Economics, from BVT Publishers.

Q2 Real GDP Growth Estimated
at 1.7 Percent The second estimate of US real GDP growth for Q2 2012 showed output increasing at an annual rate of 1.7% Growth had previously been reported at 1.5% in the advance estimate released at the end of July month A further revision of the Q2 estimate will be released at the end of September Posted Sept. 3, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Expansion Continues Q2 2012 was
the 12th consecutive quarter of GDP growth According to standard business cycle terminology, the recession phase of the business cycle is the downward movement of GDP from its previous peak The recovery phase is the upward movement from the trough (low point) of the recession and continues until GDP again reaches its previous peak. Once GDP moves above its previous peak, the expansion phase begins. Q2 2012 GDP was solidly above pre- recession peak, continuing the expansion that the economy entered in Q3 2011 Posted Sept. 3, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Sources of US GDP Growth
in Q2 2012 Consumption contributed 1.2 percentage Table shows the contribution points to Q2 growth of each sector to the 1.7% total GDP growth in Q2 2012 Investment contributed .4 percentage points to growth. Most was fixed investment; inventory investment was less than previously estimated Government spending continued its steady decline, led by state and local government, but the rate of decrease slowed compared to -0.8 percentage points in Q1 Export growth contributed .32 percentage points, more than previously estimated, based on stronger exports and lower imports Posted Sept. 3, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Growth of NGDP Slows Nominal
GDP (NGDP) growth slowed sharply to 3.3 percent in Q2 from 4.2 percent in Q1 An increasing number of economists focus on NGDP growth as a key policy target Long term NGDP growth of 4.5 percent (2 percent inflation and 2.5 percent real growth) would represent good performance for the US economy The slowing growth of NGDP puts additional pressure on the Fed for more expansionary policy Posted Sept. 3, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

Corporate Profits Remain Strong Corporate
profits, both before and after tax, remained strong in Q2 2012 Both profit measures reached all- time highs in the last quarter of 2011 and have remained above year-earlier levels since then Posted Sept. 3, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com