Explain briefly why a country's economic growth rate matters. What is the difference between the total percentage increase in real GDP between 2008 and 2018 and the average annual growth rate in real GDP between the same years? Explain.

1.2 Based on the data on real GDP in the table below:

a. which country experienced the highest rate of economic growth during 2013 (that is, for which country did real GDP increase the most from 2012 to 2013)?

b. which country experienced the worst economic recession during 2015? Briefly explain.

c. which country experienced the highest average annual growth rate between 2012 and 2014?

COUNTRY

2012

2013

2014

2015

Brazil

$2461

$2466

$2417

$1775

Mexico

1186

1262

1298

1144

Thailand

397

420

404

395

Note: All values are in real terms, in billions of US dollars.

1.3 Use the data in the following table to calculate:

a. the percentage increase in real GDP per capita between 2015 and 2018.

b. the average annual growth rate in real GDP per capita between 2015 and 2018.

(Remember from the previous chapter that the average annual growth rate for relatively short periods can be approximated by averaging the growth rates for each year during the period.)

Year

Real GDP Per Capita ($)

2015

61 812

2016

62 459

2017

63 523

2018

64 300