Business Economics BUECO5903
Semester 1, 2019
Assignment B - Macroeconomics
Prepared by Paul McPhee
(Course Coordinator)
Checked by David Spiers
Instructions for Candidates:
1. Choose any five (5) of the following eight (8) questions;
2. Each question is worth ten (10) marks;
3. This assignment comprises 15 per cent of total assessment;
4. Please type your assignment;
5. All diagrams and direct quotations must be referenced as per the course description specified method;
6. Please use the numbering system provided.
Part B – Macroeconomics – Worth 10% of total assessment:
Answer any five (5) of the following eight (8) questions. Each question is worth 10 marks.
Question 1:
Important Note: [Parts (a) to (g), ½ mark each; parts (h) and (i), 1 mark each; parts (j), (k) and (L), 1.5 marks each)
Suppose the following are national accounts data for a given year for a fictitious country:
$B AUD
Consumption of fixed capital ………………………………………………. 320
Gross private fixed capital formation……………………………………….. 785
Government consumption expenditure………………………………………. 585
Government investment expenditure………………………………………… 210
Imports of goods and services………………………………………………...565
Exports of goods and services………………………………………………...690 Household consumption expenditure………………………………………..3115
Net property and other income paid overseas………………………………….34
Returns to labour…………………………………………………………….2651
Firm profits………………………………………………………………….1687 Other factor rentals……………………………………………………………482
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(a) Calculate GDP using the income method;
(b) Calculate GDP using the expenditure method at market prices;
(c) Calculate Gross National Expenditure (GNE);
(d) Calculate Net Domestic Product (NDP);
(e) Why might NDP be a better measure of economic performance than GDP?
(f) Calculate Gross National Product (GNP);
(g) Calculate Net National Product (NNP);
(h) Calculate Current Account Balance (CAB);
(i) Calculate Gross National Savings (GNS)
(j) Suppose that tax revenues are $17 billion for the fiscal year, then what is the value of national savings?
(k) If MPCd remains at 0.63 and GDP changes to $4873 billion; then what will the new level of domestic consumption (i.e. Cdf) be?
(l) If exports then increase by $4 billion, private sector investment decreases by $3 billion; and government consumption and investment decrease and increase by $3 billion and $4 billion respectively: by how much will GDP change and what will be its new value?
Question 2:
(a) Which of the following are final goods and services and which are intermediate goods and services? Please explain why in your answer. (4 marks – 1 mark each)
(i) A windscreen purchased by a motor vehicle spare parts supplier;
(ii) A new bulldozer to be used by a construction company;
(iii) A household cleaning service purchased by a family from a domestic cleaning service company;
(iv) Coking coal
(b) An economy produces final goods and services with a market value of $800 billion in a given year, but only $750 billion worth of goods and services is sold to domestic or foreign buyers.
Is this nation’s GDP $800 billion or $750 billion? Explain your answer. (2 marks)
(c) Explain why a new truck sold for use by a transport company is a final good, even though it is a fixed investment (capital) used to produce other goods. (2 marks)
Should the value of this truck then be added to GDP or should only the goods it transports be included in GDP? (2 marks)
Question 3:
(10 marks total - 2.5 marks each part)
(a) Illustrate and explain with diagrams the difference between demand-pull and cost-push inflation; (2.5 marks for the diagram and 2.5 marks for the explanation);
(b) Provide (describe) two (2) causes of each type of inflation
(2.5 marks for 2 demand-pull causes and 2.5 marks for 2 cost-push causes)
Question 4:
(a) Do you think that macroeconomic policy should be designed to achieve a measured unemployment rate of zero? Why or why not should this be the case? (5 marks)
(b) How did the classical economists interpret long-run unemployment? (2.5 marks)
(c) How does structural and cyclical unemployment differ and how concerned should policymakers be about these types of unemployment? (2.5 marks)
Question 5:
(2.5 marks each part)
Using the aggregate demand – aggregate supply (AD-AS) diagram, show how the four economic events would affect economic activity and the price level. (Note: use a separate AD-AS diagram for each event)
(a) An improvement in the marketing and selling skills of firm managers;
(b) An increase in personal income tax;
(c) An increase in exports;
(d) A significant destruction in an economy’s capital stock because of war;
Question 6:
(a) The consumer price index (i.e. CPI) is the most commonly used measure of changes in the general level of prices in Australia. Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of using this measure. (4 marks)
(b) Explain why some people ‘lose’ from inflation and why do some people ‘win’ from inflation? (6 marks)
Question 7:
Which of the following would cause a growth in the money supply? Answer yes, no, or possibly and explain your answer (i.e. please provide reasons). (2 marks each)
(a) The selling of government securities to banks;
(b) A fall in interest rates;
(c) An increase in government expenditure, financed by borrowing from the banking sector;
(d) The purchase of government securities by the Central Bank from the banking sector;
(e) It is agreed by the Treasurer and the Governor of the Central Bank to reduce the target rate of inflation
Question 8:
The following are the various elements within a nation’s balance of payments account:
(i) Imports of goods (-)
(ii) Exports of goods (+) (iii) Imports of services (-)
(iv) Exports of services (+) (v) Other income outflows (-)
(vi) Other income inflows (+)
(vii) Capital transfers sent overseas from the nation (–)
(viii) Capital transfers to the nation from overseas (+)
(ix) The nation’s investments overseas (-)
(x) Investment in the nation from overseas (+)
(xi) Short-term financial outflows (-)
(xii) Short-term financial inflows (+)
(xiii) Adding to reserves (-)
(xiv) Drawing on reserves (+)
Into which of the above categories would you put the following? (total 10 marks – 1 mark each)
(a) DVD recorders imported into the nation from Japan;
(b) Insurance cover purchased in the nation by overseas residents;
(c) The nation gives overseas aid to a developing country;
(d) A US car company sets up a factory in the nation;
(e) Some of the nation’s residents take a holiday in Bali;
(f) Interest earned by the nation’s residents on overseas assets;
(g) Running down the stock of foreign exchange in the Central Bank of the nation;
(h) Migrants to the nation transferring property to the nation; (i) New deposits made in banks in the nation by overseas residents;
(j) The nation’s palm oil is sold in the United Kingdom.
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