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These are the best new articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources we have found to teach GDP and economic fluctuations. They bring economics to life by showing students real-life examples and current events.
 

News Articles

(Listed from most recent to oldest)


US sausage sales rise as consumers seek budget-friendly alternatives | Wealth Professional (Aug. 27, 2024)
Demand for dinner sausages is up as consumers try to stretch their budgets, shifting away from higher priced meats. Is it an indicator of a recession? (Hat tip: Theresa Fischer)

That soft landing is suddenly looking rocky | Morning Brew (April 26, 2024)
US GDP grew only 1.6% in the first quarter, far below expectations, and inflation rose above expectations to 3.7%.

Weight-loss drugs could boost US GDP by 1% in coming years, Goldman says | Reuters (Feb. 22, 2024)
The widespread use of weight loss drugs could increase GDP by 1% by reducing obesity-related complications and improving workplace productivity according to projections from Goldman Sachs analysts.

Israel's GDP contracts nearly 20% in fourth quarter amid Gaza war | CNBC (Feb. 20, 2024)
Shrinking private consumption and investment in wartime have resulted in a 20% drop in Israel's GDP.

Recession Outlook: Japan and UK Economies Contract As US Booms | Business Insider (Feb. 15, 2024)
The UK and Japan both had 2 consecutive quarters of declining GDP but for different reasons.

How the UK’s radical data revisions shattered its economic narrative | Financial Times (Sept. 2, 2023)
Accurate measurements matter. The UK just revised its GDP numbers and found that rather than contracting 1.2% compared to pre-pandemic, the economy grew 0.6%. Did you know? Teachers can get free access to the Financial Times by signing up here.

Ozempic and Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s Weight Loss Drugs, Reshape Denmark’s Economy | The New York Times (Aug. 28, 2023)
Almost all of Denmark’s recent economic growth is attributable to one pharma company–Novo Nordisk. It’s prompting economists to consider publishing a separate set of statistics that strip out pharma. A similar CNN article is here.

This MIT economist helps decide when recessions officially begin and end. Here's why those dates matter | CNBC (May 9, 2023)
Dating downturns helps economists understand what precipitates recessions.

Four reasons why GDP is a useful number | Noahpinion (August 21, 2022)
Although GDP has been criticized as an imperfect measure of living standards because it leaves out some factors that are important to human well-being, may it still be useful? Why?

Where are the World’s Fastest Roads? | IMF (June 15, 2022)
One of the benefits of higher GDP is usually it is correlated with better public goods provision. This article has a great map showing the best roads in the world.

How Nigeria’s economy grew by 89% overnight | The Economist (April 8, 2014)
Oldie, but goodie. This huge overnight increase in Nigeria’s GDP all because they updated their base year is a perfect way to discuss the mechanics of calculating GDP, as well as its strengths and weaknesses as an economic indicator.

Graphics

Economic Growth Forecasts for G7 and BRICS Countries in 2024 | Visual Capitalist
BRICS countries are forecasted to grow at much higher rates than G7 countries, but are generally starting from smaller GDP numbers. The graphic makes a nice visual contrast, and is a great opportunity to ask students where GDP will be at the end of the year for each country if it hits projected growth rates.

Visualizing U.S. GDP by Industry in 2023 | Visual Capitalist
Professional services tops the chart of GDP contribution by industry. Collectively, private industry GDP totaled $23.5 trillion, with government spending totalling $3.1 T in 2023.

Mapped: GDP Growth Forecasts by Country, in 2023 | Visual Capitalist
Compare predicted growth rates globally with this map.

Mapped: Global Happiness Levels in 2022 | Visual Capitalist
What makes us happy? GDP per capita is correlated with happiness, but are there any more important factors? Which countries are the happiest? You can also see the full World Happiness Report 2024 here.

Mapped: GDP per capita worldwide | Visual Capitalist (July 26, 2021)
If you’re looking to show variations in GDP per capita across the world, this is a really nice visual.

Videos

What is Gross Domestic Product? | MRU
Picture the economy as a giant supermarket, with billions of goods and services inside. At the checkout line, you watch as the cashier rings up the price for each finished good or service sold.

Game of Theories: The Great Recession | MRU
What drives business cycle fluctuations? Gain a better understanding of The Great Recession by seeing the perspectives of four different schools of economic thought.

Sticky Wages | MRU
Would you take a 15,000 pay cut during a recession? Even if it would be a better solution rather than firing some employees, we rarely see this happen. Wages are sticky.

Circular Flow | Econ Lowdown
Watch a dollar move through the economy to make the connection between consumer, producer, resources, and final goods/services more concrete.

GDP Growth: Why America's 3.1% Is Much Better Than China's 6.2% | WSJ 
Compare GDP growth rates and GDP per capita in two of the world’s largest economies.

What Does ‘GDP’ Mean? | NBC News
Where do GDP numbers come from and why are they revised so frequently? This short explainer video gives students a glimpse at what goes into calculating GDP.

Podcasts

Consumers are spending up a storm, dipping into savings | Marketplace
Consumers have been spending more than they earn. They have been using savings left from the Covid lockdown. However, savings are starting to dry down, inflation goes up, interest rates rise, and there is a threat of a recession. As a result, consumers are starting to get stressed.

Moving beyond GDP | Planet Money
While the measure of GDP is helpful for measuring the prosperity of a country, there’s a lot it still misses. The Bureau of Economic Analysis, along with a bunch of economists, are trying to come up with some alternative metrics.

What is consumer confidence, anyway? | Marketplace
Consumer confidence has been slipping. What does the way people FEEL about the economy tell us about what’s happening in the actual economy? Quite a lot actually.

Additional Resources

GDP: A Measure of Economic Health Unit Plan | MRU
Check out our unit plan on GDP! It’s full of fun interactives, videos, news and graphs to keep your students engaged and appreciative of the importance of economic growth.

GDP Assessment Questions | MRU

What’s Included in U.S. GDP? Interactive Practice | MRU

Holiday Edition: What’s Included in U.S. GDP? Interactive Practice | MRU

The Economic Value of Household Production: 1965-2017 | Conversable economist
Resource: Worksheet

Dollar Street - photos as data to kill country stereotypes | Gapminder.com
Can you imagine the world as a street: the poorest live to the left, and the richest to the right? This incredible website shows homes from all over the world. This is one of the coolest things we have ever seen.

Analyzing the Elements of Real GDP in FRED Using Stacking | FRED
This is just one of FRED’s awesome lesson plans that teach students economic concepts by getting them to interact with real-world data.

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