If you throw all the products we buy and the services we use in one basket, then add up the price tag, that's the Gross Domestic Product, which is the primary metric economists use to assess the economic health of a country or region.

The easy part of calculating GDP is the calculation itself: C+I+G+(X-M)=GDP. Got it? No? Well, add Consumption, Investment by companies, Government purchases, and then take the product of eXports (calling it 'E' would lack sexiness) minus iMports ('I' was taken). Viola! GDP.

Still don't get it? Well, knowing the components helps. Consumption is the biggest component, and it's a tally of the cost of all the goods and services we buy. Investment is what companies spend on the real assets they own, plus the value of the inventory that we haven't gobbled up through consumption. Government purchases are what the Feds pay money for (whether it be highways or fighter jets, though big social programs, like welfare, aren't counted). And then we calculate the difference between the goods and services we¿re sending to other countries and the stuff we're bringing in.

Good. That explains it, except there's a catch. Inflation has a habit of distorting the numbers, so economists talk about either Nominal GDP or Real GDP. In fact, Real GDP isn't necessarily "real" for most folks, since it takes any inflation out. Nominal GDP includes the effects of inflation. (There's something called the implicit price deflator which is a calculation using the two, but we'll spare you the details.)

So, now that we know GDP, why do we want to? Well, it's good to compare different markets. And watching the trend shows whether a given economy is growing (good), stagnating (not so good), or shrinking (very not so good). When GDP goes down two quarters in a row, we're officially in a recession.

For the record, GDP is released at the end of each month, with most reporting ¿preliminary¿ data for the previous month. But you won't get final GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of a year until the very end of the first quarter of the next year. After all, it's not an easy number to calculate.

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Monday, July 21, 2008

Head of McGraw-Hill Education's K-12 Supplemental and Unique Core Publishing Unit Elected as Vice President of the Association of Educational Publishers

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NEW YORK, July 21, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Dan Caton, president of McGraw-Hill Learning Group, McGraw-Hill Education's K-12 supplemental and unique core publishing unit, was recently elected vice president of the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Board of Directors. The action was announced during AEP's annual Summit June 4-6 in Washington, D.C. Mr. Caton will serve as vice president for one year when he will advance to president-elect. He will assume the presidency of the board in June of 2010.

"The recent Summit showed how successful AEP can be at bringing together providers of educational content who are both large and small and who represent all types of educational solutions," Mr. Caton said. "In the next few years we're looking to expand the influence of AEP in policy-making arenas, while helping member organizations improve their understanding of important educational issues."

Mr. Caton has been involved with AEP for five years. He began his career as a middle school teacher in Huntington Beach, Calif. He served at several publishing houses in a variety of capacities, including editorial, marketing, and sales before being named to his current position in April of 2007. He holds a degree in literature from Claremont McKenna College and a master's degree in education from Claremont Graduate School. He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio.

About AEP

The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is the professional association for publishers of supplemental educational materials. Its membership represents the breadth of educational content developers and service providers delivering progressive products in both print and electronic formats to today's schools and colleges. Founded in 1895, AEP now assists its members in navigating the global realities of publishing in the 21st Century through its professional development programming, government relations efforts, and opportunities for collaboration and partnership. For more information, please visit AEPweb.org.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at mheducation.com.

 Contacts: Tom Stanton Melina Metzger McGraw-Hill Education Paul Werth Associates (212) 904-3214 (614) 224-8114 Ext.
   236 tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com mmetzger@paulwerth.com

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education

http://www.mheducation.com

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