Question
Consider an economy with a coconut producer, a restaurant, and a govern- ment. The coconut producer produces 10 million coconuts, which are sold for $2
Consider an economy with a coconut producer, a restaurant, and a govern- ment. The coconut producer produces 10 million coconuts, which are sold for $2 each, generating a revenue of $20 million. The coconut producer pays wages of $5 million to its workers, $0.5 million interest on a loan to some consumers, and $ 1.5 million in taxes to the government. The restaurant buys 6 million coconuts, and the remaining 4 million coconuts are directly bought and consumed by consumers. The restaurant uses coconuts to produce meals that generate a revenue of $30 million. The restaurant pays its workers $4 million in wages, and the government $3 million in taxes. Consumers work for the coconuts producer, restaurant and the government, earning a total of $14.5 million in labour income ($9 million in wages from the private sector, and $5.5 million from the government). They also earn $24 million in after-tax profits (dividends) from the producers, in addition to the interest income of $0.5 million dollars from the coconut producer. Consumers pay the government $1 million in taxes. The government collects a total of $5.5 million dollars in taxes ($4.5 million from the producers, and $1 million from the consumers). All of the tax revenues are used to pay wages to the Armed Forces for National Defense.
- (a)Calculate the GDP in this economy using the income approach.
- (b)The government is more generous to its Armed Forces even though the threat by foreign invaders is the same as before. In particular, it pays $6.5m instead of $5.5m to its soldiers. In order to balance its budget, the government taxes the coconut producers by $2m (instead of $1.5m), and taxes the restaurant by $3.5m (instead of $3m). Calculate the GDP using the income approach. Compare the GDP in this case to that in (5a). Do you see a problem with the GDP calculation? Explain.
- (c)What can you say about the welfare of the consumers in (5b) relative to that in (5a)?
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