Making Sense of "Made in the USA"
WHAT IS GDP?
GDP, or "Gross Domestic Product" is the total measure of everything a country has produced and sold over a given period of time (usually measured at yearly or quarterly intervals). The "Product" in GDP does not refer merely to physical goods, but also services, investments, ideas, literally anything that can be bought. And that's the only catch—it has to be bought. If a painter paints a portrait solely for himself to look at, it doesn't count toward GDP since he's not trading it. If he hangs it in a gallery and lets people look at it for free, it's still not contributing to GDP, because again, the portrait is not being sold. But, if the painter sells artwork through the gallery, and the portrait is one of the items he sells, then it counts toward GDP. Simple enough, right? Every product, every service, every saleable thing a country makes, that's GDP.