use January 1960 to date as the period of observation for all analysis, unless otherwise stated.

This week's lesson will examine how economists define and measure Real GDP, the price level and the inflation rate - both of which constitute key variables that describe macroeconomic performance. As such, the overall quantity of production and the overall price level are used to monitor developments in the economy as a whole.

1. Plot the level of real GDP (FRED code: gdpc96). Then, plot the rate of economic growth as the percent change from a year ago of the GDPC1 index.

Describe how real GDP behaves in recessions, which are denoted in the FRED graph by vertical gray bars. If you registered on FRED (as suggested above), save the graph so that you can recall and update it easily when new observations become available.