Economic Information about Australia (GDP and its components)

March 3, 2009 8:43 PM

I'm taking a introductory level macroeconomics course in college. In it, you need to collect a whole bunch of data about a single country (I chose Australia). I got almost all the information I need, but I'm stumped on one small part of it.

I need to find Australia's "real GDP" or "GNP" if "Real GDP" is not available. I also need to find the values of its main components: C, I, G, X, M

C = private consumption
I = private investment
G = government expenditure
X = exports of goods and services
M = imports of goods and services

Any help pointing me to the correct site with this information on it would be appreciated!

-Thanks!

posted by AZNsupermarket to Work & Money (13 answers total)

This has most of your components fairly obviously listed . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Australia
posted by eggman at 8:50 PM on March 3, 2009

ok... i don't think anybody here wants to do your homework for you... but if you go look at the article egghead posted.... try finding the link to the sources it references (hint *** fact****) ... I followed that link and it had all of the economic components you were looking for spelled out pretty clear (you may have to convert a couple numbers from percentages... but it's all there)
posted by eli_d at 8:57 PM on March 3, 2009

Response by poster: Well, I really need a website that contains all of the components. I had already looked through the wikipedia article and not found all the components. Since they need to add up as part of a formula to get the GDP, if the information is all from different places it won't add up right.
posted by AZNsupermarket at 9:01 PM on March 3, 2009

Look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, such as this page.
posted by AnnaRat at 9:01 PM on March 3, 2009

http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/australia/
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2009

The Bureau will probably have the other info you need too.
posted by AnnaRat at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2009

2nd the ABS. This is their job.
posted by pompomtom at 9:17 PM on March 3, 2009

Response by poster: Well to be honest, ABS is probably a really good resource, but I'm just having a hard time figuring out what all of it means and sifting out the important stuff.
posted by AZNsupermarket at 9:32 PM on March 3, 2009

The link I left a hint for contains everything you're looking for. It's only one of the sources listed in the wikipedia article... c'mon... you can do it.
posted by eli_d at 9:46 PM on March 3, 2009

Response by poster: o... I get the hint, but I still can't find private consumption.
posted by AZNsupermarket at 9:55 PM on March 3, 2009

I'm just having a hard time figuring out what all of it means and sifting out the important stuff.

I really don't mean to snark but seriously, this is the whole purpose of research.
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:57 PM on March 3, 2009

Ok... good work.

I'm pretty sure you can use "household income or consumption by percentage share" to get "private consumption" ... I don't really know though, because I never did too well in economics ;-)

check your econ book or run through google to see how you'd get and exact number...

according to this, GDP = private consumption + government + investment + net exports

or .... replaced with variables ... GDP = C + G + I + NX

reading futher into the "C" variable on the site linked to above has much more information that should be useful to you.
posted by eli_d at 10:11 PM on March 3, 2009

cia world factbook would usually have this
posted by clanger at 12:38 PM on March 4, 2009