You Are Given the U

question 8

Essay

You are given the U.S. employment data in Figure 9.3 below by your uncle, and he is curious to know what was happening to the economy in 1996-2000 and 2007-2009. You might not remember, but you tell him you can explain what happened to the employment rate, the output gap, and inflation. What do you tell him? Your uncle likes economics, so some mathematical relationships would probably help your argument.Figure 9.3: Percent Change in U.S. Employment: 1980-2015

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Definitions:

Herfindahl Index

The Herfindahl Index is a measure of market concentration used to determine the intensity of competition within an industry, calculated by summing the squares of the market shares of all firms within the market.

Import Competition

The pressure on domestic companies from foreign producers offering goods or services in the same market.

Herfindahl Index

A measure of market concentration that squares and then sums the market share percentages of all firms within the industry.

Market Shares

The proportion of a market controlled by a particular company, product, or service in relation to total sales in the market.