By Direction
There are also three terms that describe an economic indicator's direction relative to the direction of the general economy:
- Procyclical indicators move in the same direction as the general economy: they increase when the economy is doing well; decrease when it is doing badly. Gross domestic product (GDP) is a procyclic indicator.
- Countercyclical indicators move in the opposite direction to the general economy. The unemployment rate is countercyclic: it rises when the economy is deteriorating.
- Acyclical indicators are those with little or no correlation to the business cycle: they may rise or fall when the general economy is doing well, and may rise or fall when it is not doing well.
Read more about this topic: Economic Indicator
Famous quotes containing the word direction:
“It is wonderful how well watered this country is.... Generally, you may go any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long portages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“She saw she had fallen into the hands of one of those doctors who have strayed too far from aperients in the direction of the soul.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)