National Metrics

National metrics are the economic and social health indicators tracked for each country. They aggregate from state-level data each turn and are the primary scorecard for how well a country is performing. Bills, policies, corporate activity, and player actions all feed into these numbers.

The Core National Metrics

GDP Growth

GDP growth measures the percentage change in total economic output. It is computed as a revenue-weighted average of corporate sector growth rates across all states:

Unowned sectors contribute a 2% default background growth rate — the baseline for an economy with no active corporate sector. Owned sectors contribute their CEO-set growth rate weighted by revenue.

National GDP growth uses a GDP-weighted average of state growth rates, with 40% inertia (smoothing) to prevent jarring single-turn swings.

Unemployment

Unemployment follows a simplified Okun's Law relationship with GDP growth:

• Neutral GDP (2%): No unemployment pressure
• Above neutral: Unemployment falls at 0.2% per 1% excess growth
• Below neutral: Unemployment rises at 0.25% per 1% shortfall in growth

Unemployment has an 85% inertia (very slow-moving) and hard bounds of 2%–15%. A recession that drops GDP growth to 0% for one turn barely moves unemployment — sustained slow growth over many turns does.

Inflation

Inflation is recalculated every turn (not just annually), incorporating:

• Central bank prime rate (higher rates dampen inflation)
• GDP growth (higher growth adds demand-pull pressure)
• Unemployment (lower unemployment adds wage-push pressure)
• Commodity prices (commodity cost-push effect)
• Fiscal stance (deficit spending adds inflationary pressure)
• Exchange rates (weaker currency makes imports more expensive)
• Savings flow (deposits dampen, withdrawals stimulate)

The target rate is 2.0%. Deviations trigger Chair infamy accumulation and affect all corporate margins.

State-Level Metrics

GDP growth and unemployment are national aggregates. States also track many more granular metrics organized by category:

Economic Metrics

• Unemployment rate
• Median income
• GDP growth (state-level)
• Poverty rate
• Cost of living
• Small business formation

Education Metrics

• Test performance
• Literacy rate
• Workforce skill
• Education spending
• College enrollment / graduation rates

Healthcare Metrics

• Physician rate
• Health outcomes
• Insurance/access metrics

Infrastructure Metrics

• Power grid reliability
• Road condition
• Broadband access

Public Safety Metrics

• Crime rate

Environment Metrics

• Carbon emissions
• Renewable energy percentage

Governance Metrics

• Corruption index

Each metric has a value and a baseline. Policy effects push values away from baseline; natural decay (0.25% per turn toward baseline) slowly pulls them back.

How Metrics Change

Policy Effects

Bills that pass into law apply ongoing effects to state metrics. For example:

• A bill funding public education raises the educationSpending and literacyRate metrics in targeted states
• An environmental regulation lowers carbonEmissions for affected industries
• Infrastructure spending improves roadCondition or broadbandAccess

Policy effects are applied each turn as long as the law remains enacted.

Corporate Effects

Corporations drive several metrics directly:

• GDP growth: Your sector growth rates feed directly into state and national GDP calculations
• Unemployment: High GDP growth reduces unemployment via the Okun relationship
• Workforce skill: Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Defense sectors have higher margins in states with higher workforce skill — and can be affected by skills mismatch (matchingFriction metric)

Additionally, per-sector margin modifiers mean that state conditions feed back into corporate decisions:

Natural Decay

All state metrics decay slowly toward their baseline at 0.25% of the current deviation per turn (proportional, not flat). A metric displaced 10 points from baseline returns to within 1 point after ~920 turns — roughly 19 game years. Sustained policy and corporate effects are needed to hold metrics away from baseline.

National Aggregation Turn

Each turn, after state-level updates complete:

1. State GDP growth rates are GDP-weighted into a national GDP growth figure
2. Unemployment is updated via the Okun relationship
3. Inflation is recalculated using current macro indicators
4. National metric history snapshots are saved

What Players Can Do

As a legislator: Pass bills targeting specific state metrics. Subsidies for specific sectors, infrastructure spending, education funding — each enacted law leaves a permanent trace in the budget and the metrics it affects.

As a CEO: Grow your corporation's sectors to drive state GDP growth. High-growth sectors in a state improve the employment situation over time.

As a Central Bank Chair: Adjust the prime rate to manage inflation and indirectly support or constrain GDP growth. The Chair's effectiveness is measured against the 2.0% inflation and 2.0% GDP growth targets.

As Governor/President: Your approval rating is partly driven by economic conditions in your country or state. Strong GDP growth and low unemployment improve your standing; high inflation and unemployment hurt it.

See also: Government Approval, Central Banks, National Budget, Corporations