Understanding GDP: The Economic Scorecard

GDP is literally the report card for an entire country's economy. It stands for Gross

Domestic Product, which is the total value of everything a country produces in a year.

Imagine a small country called Econoland that makes one million dollars worth of cars,

food, clothes, and haircuts in one year. That million dollars

is their GDP. When GDP goes up, it means the economy is growing. People are working,

businesses are thriving, and incomes are rising. When GDP goes down, jobs get lost and

people spend less money. Countries actually compare their GDPs to measure how big

or wealthy their economies are. The U.S., China, and Japan consistently