Question

Find the 2016 Economic Report of the President on the Internet. Find the values of GDP personal consumption expenditures and gross private domestic investment. Now find the value for fixed investment. If we assume that all inventory changes are unintended, fixed investment is the same as intended investment. Note that the Change in Private inventories is equal to the difference between total and fixed investment. Calculate personal consumption expenditures C and intended investment I as percentage of GDP Y. Calculate a simple measure of Aggregate Demand.

Answer 1

Type "Economic Report of the President 2016" in Google search to find a page with the report and individual chapters. Go to Appendices and clik on PDG file or Excel file of Table B2 to find figures for year 2015 are as follows (GDP is in the first column --- look at column headings on top):

GDP = 17,937.8 billions

Personal consumption expenditure = $12,267.9 billions

Gross Private Domestic Investment = $3,017.8 billions

Fixed Investment = $2,911.3 billions

Personal Consumption Expenditures as Percentage of GDP = (12,267.9/17,937.8)x100 = 68.4%

Intended Investment as percentage of GDP = (2,911.3/17,937.8)x100 = 16.2%

Without including government expenditures a simple measure of Aggregate Demand is C+I which is $12,267.9 + $2,911.3 = $15,179.2 billion.