The principles of economics come from the relationship between an individual's wants and desires and the resources available. Due to the consumer society, individuals are designed to spend money to purchase the best goods and services to ensure a comfortable standard of living. However, these goods and services cannot be produced without an abundant supply of resources, such as land, raw materials, innovation and labor. Proper use of these resources allows the production of goods and services that meet the needs of individuals. Economics is defined as a social science concerned with making optimal choices under conditions of scarcity. As a subunit of economics, macroeconomics is concerned with the economy as a whole. It seeks to find an overview of the economy, measuring total production, total employment, total income and other various economic issues. Aggregate output is used as the main measure of the performance of the economy. Gross domestic product defines overall output as the value of goods and services produced each year. GDP can be determined using two approaches: the expenditure approach and the income approach. The expenditure approach is the sum of all expenditures on final goods and services during a year. Using the expenditure approach, GDP can be calculated by adding household consumption (C), business investment 〖(I〗_g), government purchases (G) and net exports (X_n). On the other hand, the income approach focuses on the addition of all income generated from the production of final goods and services. To calculate GDP with the income approach, add wages, rents, interest, profits and statistical adjustments. The desired outcome would be for GDP to grow at a healthy rate, but not... middle of paper ... since discouraged workers are not counted in the labor force, they are not included in the unemployment calculation . The effect on GDP of discouraged workers is similar to that of unemployment. Because people are not working, they are not producing the maximum amount of goods, thus creating a (discouraged) GDP gap. Countries around the world are all seeking economic growth and prosperity. Economic growth can be measured as an increase in real GDP or an increase in real GDP per capita over a period of time. An increase in production relative to population size leads to higher incomes, which promotes a higher standard of living. Ultimately, increasing GDP improves the products and services consumers demand. When economic growth is suspended, GDP will always decline due to the increased inability to employ individuals (McConnell, Brue and Flynn). 486-539).