- Industry: Economy; Printing & publishing
- Number of terms: 15233
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
Products of economic activity that you can’t drop on your foot, ranging from hairdressing to websites. In most countries, the share of economic activity accounted for by services rose steadily during the 20th century at the expense of agriculture and manufacturing. More than two-thirds of output in OECD countries, and up to four-fifths of employment, is now in the services sector.
Industry:Economy
The amount of community spirit or trust that an economy has gluing it together. The more social capital there is, the more productive the economy will be. Yet, curiously, one of the best-known books to address the role of social capital, "Bowling Alone", by Robert Putnam of Harvard University, pointed out that Americans were far less likely to be members of community organizations, clubs or associations in the 1990s than they were in the 1950s. He illustrated his thesis by charting the decline of bowling leagues. Yet the American economy has gone from strength to strength. This has led some economists to question whether social capital is really as important as the theory suggests, and others to argue that membership of bowling leagues and other community organizations is simply not a good indicator of the amount of social capital in a country.
Industry:Economy
The name given to the economic arrangements devised in Germany after the second world war. This blended market capitalism, strong labor protection and union influence, and a generous welfare state. The phrase has also been used to describe attempts to make capitalism more caring, and to the use of market mechanisms to increase the efficiency of the social functions of the state, such as the education system or prisons. More broadly, it refers to the study of the different social institutions underpinning every market economy.
Industry:Economy
The exact meaning of socialism is much debated, but in theory it includes some collective ownership of the means of production and a strong emphasis on equality, of some sort.
Industry:Economy
An attitude to investment that is often criticized. According to critics, speculation involves buying or selling a financial asset with the aim of making a quick profit. This is contrasted with long-term investment, in which an asset is retained despite short-term fluctuations in its value. Speculators actually play a valuable role in financial markets as their appetite for frequent buying and selling provides liquidity to the markets. This benefits longer-term investors, too, as it enables them to get a good price when they do eventually sell.
Industry:Economy
The price quoted for a transaction that is to be made on the spot, that is, paid for now for delivery now. Contrast spot markets with forward contracts and futures markets, where payment and/or delivery will be made at some future date. Also contrast with long-term contracts, in which a price is agreed for repeated transactions over an extended time period and which may not involve immediate payment in full.
Industry:Economy
Government policies intended to smooth the economic cycle, expanding demand when unemployment is high and reducing it when inflation threatens to increase. Doing this by fine tuning has mostly proved harder than Keynesian policymakers expected, and it has become unfashionable. However, the use of automatic stabilizers remains widespread. For instance, social handouts from the state usually increase during tough times, and taxes increase (fiscal drag), boosting government revenue, when the economy is growing.
Industry:Economy
A measure of how far a variable moves over time away from its average (mean) value.
Industry:Economy
Goods for which an increase (or fall) in demand for one leads to a fall (or increase) in demand for the other – Coca-Cola and Pepsi, perhaps.
Industry:Economy
