Macroeconomic Analysis Economically, recession is described as a significant drop in economic activity over a short period of time usually a few months (bbc news, 2008). Gross Domestic Product (GDP), household income and other macro-economic indicators drop while others such as unemployment and bankruptcy rises. Recession can be caused by many factors e.g an external trade shock or the burst of an economic bubble such as the United States housing bubble.

Economy Based on the information provided by the St. Louis Fed, the GDP indicators for the U.S. are as follows. The real GDP growth is at 3%. The trend for this indicator is upward, as it has increased steadily over the past four quarters. Real GDP growth was on a downward slide for all of 2010, however, bringing it to a very low level at the end of the year, which

However, the recovery has not, as some might expect, included improvements to the unemployment figures or an increase in inflation. The unemployment figures can be explained partially in that unemployment is considered to be a lagging indicator. Inflation, however, is not a lagging indicator. As such, it would be expected to increase if the economy was increasing strongly, given that interest rates are very low. Not only is inflation

With Iraq opened up, companies from the U.S. could benefit from an expanding market, with natural resources and qualified, cheap labor. The result is, however, that the current security environment is unstable, which means that the U.S. companies are only benefiting in a limited manner from the potential advantages of the market. As a conclusion and result of the cost-benefit analysis, it seems that the war in Iraq had, in

Note: current prices values are expressed in AUD billion. Australia's Trade Situation In the June quarter 2007, Australia's exports of goods and services increased by 0.5%, reaching the value of $54.6 billion. This increase follows a series of increases, as for the 2006-2007 financial year, exports increased by 10%, reaching $216 billion. Regarding the volume of Australia's exports of goods and services, it increased by 0.8% in the June quarter of 2007,

Likewise this cycle of purchases can be broken with a tightening of the money supply, having a negative impact on the GDP. Unemployment is affected as well. As money supply is loosened, businesses are encouraged to expand. Capital is more readily available to finance expansion, and a growing GDP further encourages this expansion by providing more money in the market to purchase the new goods or services that the expansion