Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Software Requirements and Opening a Macro-Enhanced Workbook
- Introduction:Why Simulation and Excel?
- 1 Charting in Excel
- 2 Economic Growth Literacy
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Setting the Scene
- 2.3 Attaining Economic Growth Literacy: MaddisonData.xls
- 2.4 Summary
- 3 The Solow Model
- 4 Macro Data with FRED in Excel
- 5 The Keynesian Model
- References
2.3 - Attaining Economic Growth Literacy: MaddisonData.xls
from 2 - Economic Growth Literacy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2016
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Software Requirements and Opening a Macro-Enhanced Workbook
- Introduction:Why Simulation and Excel?
- 1 Charting in Excel
- 2 Economic Growth Literacy
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 Setting the Scene
- 2.3 Attaining Economic Growth Literacy: MaddisonData.xls
- 2.4 Summary
- 3 The Solow Model
- 4 Macro Data with FRED in Excel
- 5 The Keynesian Model
- References
Summary
Another [major innovation] had its origin in the need for rapid computation with theoretical consequences which no one could have foreseen when Napier, a Scotsman, and Bürgi, a Swiss, respectively and independently published in 1614 and 1620 the first account of what the former called logarithms.
– Lancelot HogbenQuick Summary
To access MaddisonData.xls, visit
http://www.depauw.edu/learn/macroexcel/excelworkbooks/MaddisonData.xls
MaddisonData.xls includes data on population, real GDP (1990 international Gheary-Khamis dollars), and real GDP per capita on many countries stretching back to the year 1 ce. The Compare sheet in the workbook offers a simple yet powerful interface to compare countries, which provides a strong visual presentation to stimulate meaningful questions.
Screencasts
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/maddisondataintro: how to use the workbook, highlighting growth as the most important open problem in economics
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/measuringgrowth: computing growth via annual percentage change and compound annual growth rate for U.S. real GDP per person; demos Data Vertical button and Equation Editor
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/logscale: showing how a log scale reveals if something is growing at a constant rate
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/ruleof70: explaining the Rule of 70 and applying it to U.S. real GDP per person
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/percentagechangeapprox: simple numerical example and concept applied to Australian real GDP, population, and real GDP per person
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/seeminglysmalldiffgrowthrates: seemingly small differences in growth rates create huge gaps over time
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/tremendousvariability: large variation in real GDP per person; sorting data
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/growthnotgiven: sorting and Excel's RANK function used to show that early fast growers are not guaranteed to continue growing fast
• http://vimeo.com/econexcel/worldshares: charting shares of world output for the United Kingdom, the United States, and China
Introduction
Economic growth literacy requires numeracy. There are fundamental concepts such as percentage changes and knowledge of what is fast and slow growth that can only be developed through example and practice. Working with Maddison's data should relieve some of the tedium.
The screencasts have a sequential order. The first is a general overview, the next four cover mathematical tools, and the rest review the historical record. Skipping one or two from the last group is reasonable, but the others are core material that should be a part of even the most spartan coverage of economic growth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Teaching Macroeconomics with Microsoft Excel® , pp. 42 - 49Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016