How you ever wondered how the economy is affecting us? For many people, it’s an irrelevant issue, since they are neither bankers nor economists. However, do you know that the economy is affecting our daily lives starting from fuel prices, properties value, hire purchase loan interest rate, food inflation to even job security!
Recently, the much-discussed euro zone crisis also has some far-reaching effects on us, even though we are not part of the euro zone. We may feel the term in terms of slowing export, gloomy job outlook and volatile investment return. If you would like to keep an eye on developments in the euro zone and know more about the economy, Kopitiam Ekonomi is your primer to everything you’ve ever wanted to know about our economy and how it affects you and the ones you love. It is brought to us by the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). Don’t worry, it’s nothing like Einstein principle, just simple terms relating to our daily lives.
I went through some Kopitiam Ekonomi episodes and these are my favourites:
GDP vs GNI. We hear about GDP all the time. When China’s GDP slows to three year low of 7.6% in 2Q12, everyone gets jittery as they are the world’s second largest economy. In other words, we measure a country’s growth via GDP. GNI looks at a different perspective; it takes into account outflows and income obtained from other nations. Now we know…
Well, if you are still confused about GDP and GNI, maybe you can check out this infographic:
I’ve never know that these economy terms could be so straightforward and easy to understand. I spent some time browsing thru Kopitiam Ekonomi site and thought this video interpretation of inflation is quite interesting too. Afterall, inflation is what we are most concerned about.
Is the price of a teh-tarik inflated? What causes inflation and why is RM1 today not equivalent to RM1 ten years ago? Why does one feel poorer even with 5% pay adjustment every year? That’s because inflation affects our real income and buying power.
Understanding why the global economic problems occurred, and what issues are currently relevant, isn’t easy. But with Kopitiam Ekonomi has a way of explaining economic topics in a way that everyone can understand. As an avid traveler, I’m also very curious about the currency movements, and what are the major factors that cause a country’s currency to appreciate or depreciate relative to another’s. Hope Kopitiam Ekonomi will cover this topic in the future.
Check out www.kopitiamekonomi.com+ follow @kopitiamekonomi+ like the FB page “Kopitiam Ekonomi” to find out more.
haha that’s a cool way of explaining GDP and GNI! If only our textbooks in school and uni looked like that I might have been a bit more motivated to study…maybe. =P
Simple and understandable !
Thanks for putting up this article!