Real economic activity refers to any actual production, consumption or exchange of goods and services that takes place within an economy. It is a measure of how much money is being spent on buying and selling products and providing services, as opposed to speculative activities such as investing in financial instruments like stocks, bonds or derivatives which do not directly contribute to the production of real wealth. Real economic activity is typically tracked by government agencies and other organizations through data collection methods such as retail sales reports, employment statistics, and GDP calculations.