Resource Type Icon
Clock
30 minutes
High School
260 classes this year
Subjects: Economics AP Economics Civics/Government
Topics: Economic Fluctuations Economic Growth

GDP: What Is It? Is one of three short modules that are part of  a series GDP and Pizza: Economics for Life.  The series is designed to help students in civics, economics and other social studies classes grasp challenging economic content - and to explain why these topics are important for citizens to understand.

This first short module, GDP: What Is It? covers:

  • the definition Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
  • the components of GDP
  • per capita GDP

The module includes interactive checks for understanding, video clips explaining concepts and everyday examples that will make sense to students. In addition, students complete a pre- and post-test to assess learning.

View Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics

Content Standard 18: Economic Fluctuations

Grade 8 Benchmarks

1. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a basic measure of a nation’s economic output and income. It is the total market value, measured in dollars, of all final goods and services produced in the economy in one year.

2. GDP can be computed by summing household consumption spending, investment expenditures, purchases by federal, state, and local governments, and net exports.

3. Net exports equal the value of exports (goods and services sold to other countries) minus the value of imports (goods and services bought from other countries). Net exports can be either positive (trade surplus) or negative (trade deficit).

4. GDP per capita is GDP divided by the population of a country.

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