What Does Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Mean?
The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific period; GDP usually is calculated on an annual basis and includes all private and public consumption, government outlays, investments, and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory. GDP = C + G + I + NX (where C = all private consumption, or consumer spending, in a nation’s economy; G = the sum of government spending; I = the sum of all the country’s business spending on capital; NX = the nation’s total net exports, calculated as total exports minus total imports). Investopedia explains Gross Domestic Product (GDP) GDP is used commonly as an indicator of the economic health of a country as well as to gauge a country’s standard of living. Critics of GDP contend that the statistic does not take into account the underground economy: transactions that for whatever reason are not reported to the government. Others say that GDP is not intended to gauge material well-be
