In: Economics
GDP is typically calculated by tallying all final expenditures in an economy, but it can also be calculated by adding income. Pick a product and give an example of how that product's contribution to GDP could be calculated using income
GDP can be calculated by three methods: Production method, Income Method and Expenditure method
GDP by income method is the sum total of income of all the people residing in the geographical boundaries of a country. Let us take the example of a cookie.
A baker has to make some cookies. For that he will require some raw materials like milk, flour, sugar etc. He gets the raw materials from a farmer and pays his $10. Now, after making these, he sells these to a wholesaler for $50. Wholesaler sells these to retailer for $80 and finally a consumer pays $100 for the cookies. Now if from the perspective of income for everyone, let's start adding everybody's income. Farmer earns $10, baker earns (50-10) $40. Wholesaler earns $(80-50) = $30. And the retailer earns $20. The total of all these incomes is $(10 + 40 + 30 +20) = $100 which is also equal to the expenditure of the final consumer. Hence, we get equal GDP by every method.