Rates and Ratios Tell a Story

Abstract

For a variety of reasons, economic performance varies both across economies around the world in any given year and over time for any given economy. The level of economic development, political and economic institutions, government policies, political stability, and other social and perhaps cultural factors may all contribute to these variations. These differences in economic performance and their underlying causes are often reflected in published economic statistics and can be highlighted through the use of rates and ratios. This case sets up an exercise for students to examine economic statistics by (1) analyzing some key rates and ratios and (2) matching the data to country profiles published in the CIA World Factbook. The countries included in this case are the United States, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, and China.