Royal+wedding+will+hit+growth+this+quarter,+says+investec-+Wendy+S


 * Royal wedding will hit growth this quarter, says Investec**

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 * Title**: Royal wedding will hit growth this quarter, says Investec
 * Source**: Telegraph News
 * Date**: April 4, 2011

Explanation: According to the economists at Investec, the royal wedding on April 29 is said to most likely decrease a quarter of a percentage point off growth for the UK this quarter. The wedding is similar to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in June 2002, where the Royal celebration let the nation a day off from work. Even though the increase number of tourists may increase the UK’s GDP, the two consecutive four-day weekends (11 day breaks) in April will cause businesses to lose productivity and money just like it did during the Golden Jubilee. This article states that ultimately, the UK’s GDP and economic growth will decrease due to the royal wedding.

Vocabulary: - Macroeconomics- A wider view of economics, and considers such things as measuring all the economic activity in the whole economy - GDP- Gross Domestic Product- The total value of all final goods and services produced in an economy in a year - Economic Growth- steady growth in the productive capacity of the economy (and so a growth of national income) - Revenue- Income especially when of a company or organization and of a substantial nature - Expenditure- the action of spending funds, the amount of money spent

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Explanation: As an economist, I would disagree with this article. The author states that the GDP will decrease due to the number of holidays and also due to industries or businesses losing output because their workers are not working. However, GDP is not just the amount of how much goods are produced by the firms, it also includes consumption, investment, government, income, and exports. There are many factors that the article did not consider. In my opinion, the royal wedding will not only bring tourists to the country, it will also cause mass consumption within the local people. People who will not be working will all be celebrating this event; they will spend their money buying drinks, food, spending electricity for watching the wedding on TV, and etc. These people who are spending money are helping the GDP increase. Therefore, other factors should be taken into thought before making a judgment about GDP. Also GDP doesn’t determine the growth of the country since it does not take considerations of the population’s wellbeing or the country’s social progress. So the country’s “growth” cannot be determined by GDP.