How Do Imports Affect GDP?

Scott Wolla

Page One Economics Newsletter, 2018, 1-6

Abstract: Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total market value, expressed in dollars, of all final goods and services produced in an economy in a given year. When compared with previous periods, GDP tells whether an economy is producing more output (expanding) or less output (contracting). As such, it is a useful measure of the health of the economy and among the most important and widely reported economic data. A variety of people, from business owners to policymakers, consider GDP when making decisions. Additionally, international trade is measured as part of GDP and is a large and growing component of our nation's economy. It's also an important, but controversial, political issue. However, the current textbook and classroom treatment of how international trade is measured as part of GDP can lead to misconceptions if not properly explained. This essay intends to correct misconceptions and provide clear instruction.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1 ... o-imports-affect-gdp Full text (text/html)
https://files.stlouisfed.org/research/publications ... ts-affect-gdp_SE.pdf Full text PDF (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedlpo:00037

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Page One Economics Newsletter from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Scott St. Louis ().