Cambridge International as and a level Economics Ebook

Figure 4 
Use of unemployment figures
8
Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics

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As you can see, some of these are macroeconomic 
forecasts. So, in order to obtain what might appear to be a 
simple future estimate, access to a mass of other statistical 
information is required. It is for this reason that forecasts 
may not always be close to what actually occurs.
Forecasting over a longer time period is even more 
problematic due to the many uncertainties that are 
involved. An example of this is the forecast made in 2006, 
which is shown in
 Figure 5
. Global recession in 2008–
2009, for example, could not have been foreseen. Revised 
forecasts would seem necessary. At best 
Figure 5 
should be 
seen as providing a very broad indication of what might be 
the case in 2026.
How to write in a clear and 
eff ective way
It is beyond the scope of this book to include a lot of 
material in this part of the toolkit. However, much of 
the work of economists is communicated in a written 
manner, in books and newspaper articles in particular. 
For students, examinations in Economics require ideas 
to be communicated in a written form. Th
e section on 
examination skills in 
Chapter 11
 gives you advice on how 
to write eff ective answers.
From a more general standpoint, you must always 
think about what you are writing and how you might 
2.7
Italy
1.6
0.
2
1.
2
9.
9
6.
1
GDP at purchasing-power parity exchange rates
% of world total
GDP at market exchange rates
% of world total
S korea
S korea
Canada
Italy
Spain
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.6
2.9
3.2
4.1
4.5
4.2
6.0
13.7
27.3
28.6
4.9
10.7
1.9
6.5
5.1
1.9
2.0
2.5
3.9
2.6
1.8
1.6
3.2
2.8
2.7
3.3
4.1
6.7
6.4
21.1
15.2
18.0
21.8
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.9
4.0
Indonesia
France
4.9
France
Brazil
Russia
Russia
UK
UK
Germany
Germany
Japan
Japan
India
India
United States
United States
China
China
2006
2026