Question

1. Calculate GDP per capita growth rate. Is there a big difference between GDP growth rate and GDP per capita growth rate? Can you offer some explanations why they stay approximately the same and why they change from the information you have? (hint: check the difference in terms of real GDP vs real GDP per capita)

2. Identify whether the country has experienced business cycle changes in the past 10 years combined your information from GDP or GDP per capita growth rate, unemployment rate, and inflation rate). Identify the periods of expansion and the recession. Justify your answer with the data you have found. (COUNTRY IS FRANCE)   

	Data source	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Real GDP	World bank US $ Bn
Real GDP growth rate	IMF (%)	N/A
Population	IMF (Mn)
GDP per capita
GDP per capita growth rate		N/A
Unemployment rate	IMF (%)
Inflation rate	IMF (%)

Answer 1

	Data Source	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Real GDP	World bank US $ Bn	2592	2643	2701	2709	2725	2751	2781	2812	2875	2925
Real GDP growth rate	IMF (%)	-2.9%	1.9%	2.2%	0.3%	0.6%	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%	2.3%	1.7%
Population	IMF (Mn)	62	63	63	63	64	64	64	64	65	65
GDP per capita	IMF GDP per capita, current prices (US $)	43191	42179	45420	42372	44145	44616	37938	38349	40109	42953
GDP per capita Growth rate	%	NA	-2%	8%	-7%	4%	1%	-15%	1%	5%	7%
Unemployment rate	IMF (%)	9.1	9.3	9.2	9.8	10.3	10.3	10.4	10.1	9.4	9.1
Inflation rate	IMF (%)	0.1	1.7	2.3	2.2	1	0.6	0.1	0.3	1.2	2.1

As can be seen from the data, there is a huge difference in the growth rates of Real GDP and per capita income, Except in 2014 and 2016, there is a huge divergence in the growth rates.

It is not always the case that as GDP grows, the per capita income will also rise as it might be unequally distributed, which reduces the per capita income. It might also be the case that inflation has increased which doesn't reflect in the real GDP growth but reflects in the per capita growth rate, which can be higher due to inflation.

In 2009 the country was clearly in recession zone as can be seen from the negative GDP growth rate and lower inflation rate as there was no demand.

2017 was a good year in terms of expansion as GDP growth was highest in this time duration, per capita growth grew because of low base, inflation was stable and unemployment rate was also in the medium range.