Define the prices and price level, Macroeconomics

Assignment Help:

Q. Define the Prices and price level?

Prices are of great significance in macroeconomics as undeniably they are in microeconomics. Though in microeconomics we are more interested in prices of individual services and goods and such prices are hardly important for the economy as a whole however there are exceptions (for instance, price of oil). In macroeconomics we are more interested in how prices change on average. We define the pricelevel like a weighted average of many different prices. 

If p1 is price of gasoline and p2 the price of oil then 10p1 + p2 is a price level. It's a weighted average of two prices with weights 10 and 1. Generally price level is defined using many more prices.

The reason for employing different weights is that some prices are more significant than others for the economy. Price of gasoline, for instance, is much more significant than price of paper clips. By using different weights we enable changes in some prices to have a larger effect on the price level than changes in other prices.

Exactly the prices which are included in the price level and weights which they carry may vary. Different choices give rise to different measures of price level. To visualize the prices and weights which are included, we use concept 'basket' of services andgoods.

We may, for instance, create a basket that contains all the goods sold by a particular store on a particular day. Price of this basket is then a price level - it would be a weighted average of the prices of goods sold that day and weights would be equal to the number of every good sold. Perhaps the basket comprises 100 litres of regular milk though only one frozen cake. Price of regular milk will then have a weight of 100 whereas the price of frozen cake will have a weight of 1. Changes in the price of milk will then have a larger influence on the price level than changes in price of frozen cake.

Note: in macroeconomics, it's common to use the term 'prices' or 'price' as short for price level. The expression 'prices rise'must be interpreted as 'the price level rises' - it doesn't mean that all prices rise.


Related Discussions:- Define the prices and price level

Explain the economic functions of money - a unit of account, Explain the Ec...

Explain the Economic functions of money - A unit of account In a monetary economy, all prices may be expressed in monetary units which everyone may relate to. Without money,

Various control variables in the data set, From stock and Watson 3rd editio...

From stock and Watson 3rd edition introduction to econometrics Using the data set Teaching Ratings described, carry out the following exercises. a) Run a regression of Course

Information technology department at wpu, A study by the Information Techno...

A study by the Information Technology department at WPU revealed company employees receive an average of four e-mails per hour. Assume the arrival of these e-mails is approximated

Pros and cons of commercial transactions, Examine the pros and cons of comm...

Examine the pros and cons of commercial transactions in blood from the egoistic, the utilitarian, and the Kantian perspectives

Determine what would be lowest bid of sfi , Snake Farm Inc. (SFI) has been ...

Snake Farm Inc. (SFI) has been offered to submit a competitive bid for building 31 and 22, 18, and 11offshore pits per year for Athletic Inc. over the next four years.  If the bid

Marginal product of labor and capital, We define marginal product of labor,...

We define marginal product of labor, MP L as the derivative of f with respect to the L - which is, as (approximately) how much Y will increase when L increases by one unit. We als

Chartered a bus to atlanta, A group has chartered a bus to Atlanta. The dri...

A group has chartered a bus to Atlanta. The driver costs $200, the bus costs $500, and parking in Atlanta will be $90. You have already paid $700 to reserve the bus and a driver. T

Relationship with 8 variants of national product aggregates, RELATIONSHIP W...

RELATIONSHIP WITH 8 VARIANTS OF NATIONAL PRODUCT AGGREGATES  We have shown the distinction between national product at market prices and national product at factor cost, based

What are the two main costs of economic growth, What are the two main costs...

What are the two main costs of economic growth The two main costs of economic growth are resource depletion and environmental damage. Economic activity needs factor inp

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd