Economic Curves and Indicators : A Guide to Prepare for UPSC Prelims

Economics is among  those subjects that create a lot of confusion in the aspirants of UPSC. Unlike other subjects of UPSC this subject is more dynamic in  nature due to continuous addition of policies and programs.This subject has profound and more direct  impact on general masses in comparison to other subjects.Owing to this Economy is regarded as the most basic and difficult subject.Economy as a subject is having a huge importance in UPSC Prelims as well as mains. However, it is an interesting subject and for the interested aspirant can be quite an engaging one to study as it is constantly connected to real life and the things happening around us.

Economic Graphs and Indicators is a vital segment of Economy and there is 1-2 questions asked from this section every year in UPSC Prelims Exam. The present article discusses the way to prepare this section along with a cursory glance at the resources to prepare this section . But before doing so we need to have a look at the meaning and definition of the terms Economic Graphs and Indicators.

Economic Graphs or curves :

The economic curves or Graphs is a two dimensional relationship between two economic variables.One variable is plotted on X axis and the other variable which is dependent on the first variable is plotted on Y Axis. The curve obtained from this is known as Economic Curve.There are various examples of such curves like Engel Curve that represent relationship between household expenditure and household income or KUZNETS CURVE that

shows the relationship between economic  growth  and inequality. It is of inverted U shape.The other examples of such curves are Laffer, Philips and Rahn curve.

Economic Indicators:

Economic indicators are key stats about the economy that can help you better understand where the economy is headed. Here are several of the different types of economic indicators and how they may be used to understand the state of the economy. The most frequently used economic indicators are- GDP, The Stock Market, Unemployment, Consumer Price Index, Balance of Trade, Interest rate, Currency strength, Income and Wages etc.

Resources to cover Economic curves and Indicators:

NCERT book of Macro and Microeconomy should be referred to have a basic idea about these terms .The topics can be understood fairly from NCERTs however to have more advanced knowledge one should have a keep vigile over daily newspapers and current affairs sites. The curves are more or less static in nature and over time there is a rare possibility of changes in them however Economic Indicators are more of dynamic nature and they keep on changing time to time.So a good news paper or magazine could be referred to cover them.

Previous Year Papers:

Through the previous year papers of UPSC Prelims one can have an assessment of the questions asked in previous years papers. The nature and level of difficulty both can be ascertained from these papers.

Sampoorna Fact File for Economic Curves and Indicators:

It is a compilation by GS Score, one of the Best IAS Coachings In India. This compilation has been prepared keeping the prelims exam in mind.This fact file has detailed description of curves and indicators of Economy that can have the potential to get asked in Prelims Exam.This compilation has been prepared by a team of scholars that have plenty of experience in designing content for UPSC Exam