Measuring the Health of the Economy

Read this section to understand more about economic growth. Looking at GDP alone does not give much of an indication of the health of an economy. It is the change in GDP that is relevant. If GDP goes up, the economy is growing. This positive movement is what we want as we leave behind the most recent recession. Complete the exercises at the end of the section.

Economic Goals

All the world's economies share three main goals:

  1. Growth
  2. High employment
  3. Price stability

Let's take a closer look at each of these goals, both to find out what they mean and to show how we determine whether they're being met.