Question

A woman marries her butler. Before they were married, she paid him $60,000 per year. He continues to wait on her as before (but as a husband rather than as a wage earner). She earns $1,000,000 per year both before and after her marriage. The marriage: a. does not change GDP. b. decreases GDP by $60,000. C. increases GDP by $60,000. d. increases GDP by more than $60,000.

Answer 1

Answer:

B) decreases GDP by $60,000.

Explanation:

The GDP includes the total production of final and legal goods and services. But in order for a service to be included in the GDP, they must be sold to someone else. The same restriction applies to a person that grows vegetables and fruits on his/her backyard for personal consumption.

If an exchange is not made, then it is not included in the GDP. The difference with manufactured products that once finished are included in inventories (increase investment) is that materials, labor and other inputs were used to produce them and someone got paid for them.