Abstract

This paper attempts to study the characteristics and usages of terms observable in gross domestic product (GDP) statistics in English language journalism. The research has been conducted by scrutinizing GDP articles for the January-March, April-June and September-December quarters of 2001 of Jiji Press, a major Japanese news agency, the Japan Times, the Wall Street Journal of the United States and the Financial Times of Britain.
These articles show distinctive differences in how they are written, but a high degree of convergence is seen in the usage of words, especially those showing numerical changes. This paper also analyzes how these articles are written.
It is hoped that the study of GDP articles will pave the way for a better understanding of the mechanism of other vital economic statistics written in English.