Business Cycles

Description
Business cycles in business and it contains topics like business cycle, stages of business cycle, features of business, macro economic variables, indicators, multipliers and accelerators

BUSINESS CYCLES:
? Business cycles are the short-run fluctuations

in aggregate economic activity around its longrun growth path. ? Components of a Business Cycle: Peak, ? Contraction or Recession, ? Trough, and ? Recovery and Expansion.

Stages of the business cycle:
? Peak: ? The maximum level that aggregate economic activity reaches. ? Contractions, Recessions, or Hard Landing: ? 2 or more consecutive quarters of declining real GDP. ? period of significant decline in total output, income, employment, and trade, ? usually lasting from 6 months to a year, and ? marked by widespread contractions in many sectors of the economy

Stages – cont’d
? Actual growth rate is less than natural growth rate, resulting
? ? ?

? ? ? ?

in a rising unemployment rate. Depression: A recession that is major in both scale and duration The minimum level that aggregate economic activity reaches. Recovery : A period of significant increase in total output, income, employment, and trade, usually lasting 6 months or more, and marked by widespread expansion in many sectors of economy

Features of a business cycle:
? Main features of a business cycle:
? Pervasive in nature, ? Recurrent but not periodic, ? Persistent, ? Each cycle differs in length and severity. ? Expansions are longer than recessions. ? Business cycles are fluctuations in aggregate economic

activity, not fluctuations in a specific economic variable

? Business cycles are persistent: ? Declines in aggregate economic activity are followed by

further declines; growth in aggregate economic activity is followed by more growth. ? Business cycle are recurrent: The pattern of contraction–trough–expansion– peak occurs over and over again. ? Business cycles are not periodic: ? Business cycles do not occur at regular, predictable intervals.

Macro- economic variables and business cycles:
? The behavior of economic variables:

Direction: ? What is the direction of a variable’s movement relative to aggregate economic activity? ? – Pro-cyclical: moves in the same direction. ? – Countercyclical: moves in the opposite direction. ? – Acyclical: moves with no clear pattern.

Timing: ? • What is the timing of a variable's movements relative ? to aggregate economic activity? ? – Leading: moves in advance. ? – Coincident: moves at the same time. ? – Lagging: moves afterwards ? Leading indicators have been used to predict peaks and troughs of the business cycle. Generally, several leading variables are combined into an index of leading economic indicators. ? A decline in the index for 3 to 6 months warns of a recession

?

The cyclical behavior of key macro variables:

? Leading: residential investment, inventory

investment, average labor productivity, money growth, stock prices. ? Coincident: industrial production, consumption, business fixed investment, employment. ? Lagging: inflation, nominal interest rates. ? Timing not designated: government purchases, real wages

Indicators:
? Leading indicators include the following:
? Average workweek for production workers in ?

?
? ? ? ? ?

manufacturing. Unemployment claims. New orders for consumer goods and materials. Stock prices Residential construction Capacity utilization Interest rate spread. Changes in the money supply.

variable
production Industrial production expenditure Consumption Business investment Residential investment Inventory Investment Government purchases

Direction

timing

Pro-cyclical

coincident

Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical

coincident coincident leading leading

Labour market Employment

direction Pro-cyclical

timing Coincident

Unemployment
Average labor productivity Real wages Money market Money supply inflation Financial variables Stock Interest rates Real interest

Countercyclical
Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical (mildly)

unclassified
leading

Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical

leading lagging

Pro-cyclical Pro-cyclical acyclical

leading lagging

Multiplier & Accelerator:
? The shape of the business cycle depends on the

interaction between the accelerator and the multiplier. ? If there is an initial injection, multiplier action will start, which will cause output to increase and hence through the accelerator, the investment will increase and setoff another chain of multiplier reaction. ? If, however, the full employment level is reached and output cannot increase any further, the investment does not take place and the ceiling is reached.

ACCELERATOR & MULTIPLIER:
? The level of investment depends on rate of change of

national income ? IT = a.dy ? IT = dk ? a = dk/dy ? a: accelerator coefficient

? If there is an initial injection, multiplier action will

start, which will cause output to increase and hence through the accelerator, the investment will increase and setoff another chain of multiplier reaction. ? If, however, the full employment level is reached and output cannot increase any further, the investment does not take place and the ceiling is reached.

Multiplier & Accelerator:
Sales
machines 1000 1000 2000 3000 3500 3500 3400

10

10

20

30

35

35

34

Induced INV.
Replacement INV.

0
1 1

10
1 11

10
1 11

5
1 6

0
1 1

0
0 0

Total Inv.



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