Gross domestic product (GDP)

AP US Government and Politics

Prediction

1. What do you think gross domestic product (GDP) means?

2. Use GDP in a sentence.

3. Think of an example of GDP in current events:

4. Find an image of GDP:

Fun Fact

Definition

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): one of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period; you can think of it as the size of the economy. If your teacher is over 33 years old, under 54, and slightly hip, ask them this, "You down with GDP?" And about they will say, "Yeah, you know me!" Here's a great video from Planet Money about how to calculate GDP.

Sentence

The current US GDP is approximately $18.9 trillion, which is equal to 18,900,000,000,000. That's 18.9 thousand billion dollars. That's a lot!

Example

A Day Without a Woman Could Cost the Country Nearly $21 Billion in GDP

Image

View fullsize

Question

1. What does GDP measure?

2. Why does the US have the world's biggest GDP?

3. The US has the world's biggest GDP, when you divide our GDP by the number of people in America, how well do you think the US ranks?

4. What parts of the US government are most responsible for growing GDP?