Nominal GDP

Categories: Econ

"Real" = inflation adjusted. "Nominal" = not inflation adjusted.

That's about it. Then it's just GDP. See: Gross Domestic Product - GDP.

How much did GDP grow last year? It’s just a number. It’s a percent, usually, in most quoted press. So it grew…3.2%. That’s great. But what does it mean, really? Well, what if inflation was 2%? Then GDP really only grew 1.2%. That’s its real GDP. Its nominal rate was 3.2%.

And why is this even a Thing? Because we wanna keep things...real. Huge inflation would totally obscure how well or poorly we’re really doing, hence the real and nominal triangulation in the process of...keeping’ it real.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)