Conceptually, GDP is significant because it allows us to put a number on our well-being. It is as if we can pick a number between 1 to 100 to indicate how healthy we are as individuals, except that GDP does this for the economy as a whole. The idea is that the higher the GDP, the more we produce, and the more we produce, the more we can consume. At the micro level, an analogy would be that the more a company produces, the more products they have available to sell. And the more they sell, the higher the revenues they earn.

For this discussion, find information relating to recessions that have happened in the past 100 years (in any country), and discuss what led to one particular recession of your choice. How does GDP change during a recession? How might a recession affect you as an individual?