Economic indicators and the business cycle

This course is a part of AP®︎ Macroeconomics, a 9-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

In this unit, you'll learn to identify and examine key measures of economic performance: gross domestic product, unemployment, and inflation. The concept of the business cycle also gives you an overview of economic fluctuations in the short run.

This course contains 7 segments:

The Circular Flow and GDP

Focus content: circular flow model, GDP

Limitations of GDP

Focus content: limitations of GDP

Unemployment

Focus content: unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, limitations of the unemployment rate, types of unemployment (cyclical, frictional, structural), natural rate of unemployment

Price Indices and inflation

Focus content: inflation, CPI, real v. nominal values, shortcomings of CPI. Distinguish between inflation, deflation, and disinflation

Costs of Inflation

Focus content: costs of inflation

Real vs. nominal GDP

Focus content: nominal GDP, real GDP, GDP deflator

Business cycles

Focus content: business cycle phases and turning points, full-employment (potential) output, output gap