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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Saturday, June 07, 2008

The Pearson Foundation Announces Spanish-Language Literacy Programs at Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair

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LOS ANGELES, June 7, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----At today's Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair, the Pearson Foundation announced its launch of Spanish language versions of the popular literacy programs Jumpstart's Read for the Record and the Pearson Family Book Nights.

Jumpstart's third Read for the Record event takes place on Oct. 2, 2008. By encouraging hundreds of thousands of children and adults to read, Jumpstart aims to break the world record for the number of people reading the same book on the same day, and to make early education a national priority. This year, children, parents, educators, and school and political leaders in communities around the world will read the Penguin classic Corduroy to highlight the importance of early literacy. Read for the Record events are already being planned within the Los Angeles area, and the Pearson Foundation will provide Spanish versions of Corduroy for each of them. As Founding Partner and National Sponsor of Read for the Record, Pearson has raised more than $2 million to support Jumpstart's work in early childhood education.

Pearson Family Book Night brings families together in early childhood centers to share in the joy of reading and learn first-hand about the long-term importance that active, repeated family reading can have in their child's personal and cognitive development. During the two-hour event, children and their families share books and read together, and parents learn simple reading techniques they can employ to help their children. Across Los Angeles, Family Book Nights resume this Fall, and the Pearson Foundation will offer special Spanish-speaking activities and supports for children and their families in select locations.

"The Pearson Foundation has shown over the years how committed Pearson is to fighting word poverty in California. Adding Spanish language support to their literacy programs, especially those elements that schools use to reach out to parents and care-givers, shows how well Pearson understands the need to create an extended community for literacy that reaches across all cultural divides," said Darline Robles, Superintendent, Los Angeles County Office of Education.

A community-wide event hosted this year at Los Angeles City Hall, Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair makes quality, culturally relevant books available to children of all ages and their families. The fair is the culmination of the Million Word Challenge, a literacy campaign promoting a culture of literacy at home and academic achievement at school.

"By increasing the Spanish-language support within our literacy programs, we hope to make it possible for more parents and care-givers to help young people develop key skills that lay the foundation for a lifetime of reading," said Mark Nieker, President of the Pearson Foundation. "Studies have proven that one of best foundations is the ability to recognize, read, and add words to a growing vocabulary. Providing increased Spanish language support for Jumpstart's Read for the Record and Pearson Family Book Night programs will help extend Pearson's commitment to addressing word poverty for all groups in California and across the country."

For the second consecutive year, Pearson Education and the Pearson Foundation are co-sponsors of the Feria del Libro. At Feria del Libro, the Pearson Foundation is also donating popular children's books from the Penguin Young Readers series and Longman English-Spanish dictionaries for students and for adults.

The Pearson Foundation also sponsors and takes part in other initiatives for California families, students, and teachers, including the Foundation's own Digital Arts Alliance programs and the Pearson Teacher Fellowship. For more information, visit www.pearsonfoundation.org.

About Pearson in California

Pearson, the world's leading education publisher, has been providing education materials to California schools as far back as the 1880s. You may know us individually as Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Longman, SuccessMaker, NovaNet, AGS, PowerSchool, Pearson Benchmark, Learning Teams, Achievement Solutions, and so many more -- names in the world of education that are recognized and respected across the State and the globe. In fact, most teachers in California have learned their profession by studying with Pearson's Merrill or Allyn & Bacon textbooks, and many have benefited from our professional development programs. Today, nearly a thousand Pearson people are living and working in the state, providing educational materials that cover the gamut from birth through professional learning, testing and assessment, and teacher professional development, as well as the products that help schools manage their student information systems. In addition to Education, Pearson's other major businesses include The Financial Times Group and The Penguin Group. For more information, go to: http://www.pearsonschool.com.

About the Pearson Foundation

The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson's commitment to education by partnering with leading nonprofit, civic, and business organizations to provide financial, organizational, and publishing assistance across the globe. The Foundation aims to make a difference by sponsoring innovative educational programs and extending its educational expertise to help in classrooms and in local communities. More information on the Pearson Foundation can be found at www.pearsonfoundation.org.

SOURCE Pearson Foundation

http://www.pearsonfoundation.org

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