DataPost

DataPost is a series providing visual explanations of key economic concepts and conditions. View "Core Presentations" for more in-depth tutorials, or browse additional DataPost presentations by subject: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and International.

Core Presentations

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Measuring the Nation's Output
Updated May 6, 2013
GDP is one of the key measures of a nation’s economic performance. This DataPost outlines the components of GDP and places these components within the context of recent values published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Also available: a video learning guide to help you interpret DataPost GDP charts.

Inflation: Measuring Price Changes
Updated May 6, 2013
This DataPost tutorial looks at the Fed’s key measure of inflation—the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index—including how it relates to the concepts of "core" and "total" inflation in the U.S. economy.

Unemployment Rate: Measuring the Workforce
Updated May 6, 2013
Learn about how the unemployment rate is measured, broader measures of unemployment, and three types of unemployment: structural, cyclical, and frictional.

The Money Supply: Measuring M1 & M2
Updated May 6, 2013
"Money" actually includes various forms of payment—not just coins, bills, credit, and checks. This DataPost tutorial walks through the various types of payment that contribute to our notion of "money" in the United States.

Government Spending: Measuring Federal Expenditures
Updated October 5, 2012
See how government spending has expanded in recent years and how spending dollars have compared across various functions, like education, national defense, and income security.

Personal Saving Rate: Delayed Consumption
Updated May 6, 2013
What happens to income that households do not spend? This DataPost entry considers savings and how deferred spending relates to interest rates and inflation.