Macroeconomics

If you want to learn the essentials of macroeconomics, you can bank on this vocabulary list. Tax your brain by reviewing words related to fiscal policy, markets, trade, the labor force, and more. This list is a great investment.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aggregate
    the whole amount
  2. budget deficit
    an excess of expenditures over revenues
  3. business cycle
    recurring fluctuations in economic activity consisting of recession and recovery and growth and decline
  4. capital
    assets available for use in the production of further assets
  5. central bank
    a government monetary authority that issues currency and regulates the supply of credit and holds the reserves of other banks and sells new issues of securities for the government
  6. ceteris paribus
    all other things being equal
  7. collective bargaining
    negotiation between an employer and a trade union
  8. communism
    a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership
  9. consumer price index
    an index of the cost of all goods and services to a typical consumer
  10. consumption
    the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs
  11. currency
    the metal or paper medium of exchange that is presently used
  12. deflation
    reduction of economic activity that results in lower prices
  13. depreciation
    a decrease in price or value
  14. depression
    a long-term economic state with unemployment and low prices
  15. discount rate
    the rate of interest set by the Federal Reserve that member banks are charged when they borrow money through the Federal Reserve System
  16. disposable income
    income that is available to you for saving or spending
  17. easy money
    the economic condition in which credit is easy to secure
  18. economic growth
    steady growth in the productive capacity of the economy
  19. economics
    science dealing with the circulation of goods and services
  20. efficiency
    skillfulness in avoiding wasted time and effort
  21. embargo
    a government order imposing a trade barrier
  22. equality
    the quality of being the same in quantity, value, or status
  23. equilibrium
    a stable situation in which forces cancel one another
  24. exchange rate
    the charge for exchanging currency of one country for currency of another
  25. expansion
    the act of increasing in size or volume or quantity or scope
  26. export
    sell or transfer abroad
  27. Federal Reserve Bank
    one of 12 regional banks that monitor and act as depositories for banks in their region
  28. Federal Reserve System
    the central bank of the United States
  29. fiat money
    money that the government declares to be legal tender although it cannot be converted into standard specie
  30. fiscal policy
    a government policy for dealing with the budget
  31. full employment
    the economic condition when everyone who wishes to work at the going wage rate for their type of labor is employed
  32. gross domestic product
    the value of all things made and sold by a country in a year
  33. import
    bring in from abroad
  34. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
  35. indexation
    a system of economic regulation: wages and interest are tied to the cost-of-living index in order to reduce the effects of inflation
  36. inflation
    a general and progressive increase in prices
  37. interest rate
    the percentage of a sum of money charged for its use
  38. intermediary
    a negotiator who acts as a link between parties
  39. investment
    laying out money or capital in an enterprise
  40. isolationism
    a policy of nonparticipation in international relations
  41. labor force
    the source of trained people from which workers can be hired
  42. Laffer curve
    a graph purporting to show the relation between tax rates and government income; income increases as tax rates increase up to an optimum beyond which income declines
  43. laissez faire
    a doctrine that government should not interfere in commerce
  44. law of diminishing returns
    a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness
  45. liability
    an obligation to pay money to another party
  46. liquidity
    being in cash or easily convertible to cash
  47. macroeconomics
    the branch of economics that studies the overall working of a national economy
  48. marginal
    just barely adequate or within a lower limit
  49. marginal cost
    the increase or decrease in costs as a result of one more or one less unit of output
  50. market
    world of commercial activity where goods are bought and sold
  51. market economy
    an economy that relies on market forces to determine prices
  52. medium of exchange
    anything that is generally accepted as a standard of value and a measure of wealth in a particular country or region
  53. mixed economy
    an economic system that combines private and state enterprises
  54. money supply
    the total stock of money in the economy
  55. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  56. opportunity cost
    the benefits lost by choosing one option over another
  57. peak
    the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
  58. price floor
    floor below which prices are not allowed to fall
  59. price index
    an index that traces the relative changes in the price of an individual good (or a market basket of goods) over time
  60. producer price index
    an index of changes in wholesale prices
  61. productivity
    the amount of work each worker can complete in a set time
  62. progressive tax
    any tax in which the rate increases as the amount subject to taxation increases
  63. property right
    the legal right of ownership
  64. proportional tax
    any tax in which the rate is constant as the amount subject to taxation increases
  65. protective tariff
    a tariff imposed to protect domestic firms from import competition
  66. quota
    a limitation on imports
  67. recession
    a situation in which the state of the economy declines
  68. renewable resource
    any natural resource (as wood or solar energy) that can be replenished naturally with the passage of time
  69. reserve
    something kept back or saved for future use
  70. resource
    a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed
  71. revenue tariff
    a tariff imposed to raise revenue
  72. savings
    a fund of money put aside as a reserve
  73. scarcity
    a small and inadequate amount
  74. shortage
    an acute insufficiency
  75. socialism
    an economic system based on state ownership of capital
  76. specialization
    making something suitable for a particular purpose
  77. spillover
    (economics) any indirect effect of public expenditure
  78. stagflation
    slow economic growth with high prices and unemployment
  79. strike
    refusal to work in protest against low pay or bad conditions
  80. substitute
    a person or thing that can take the place of another
  81. supply-side economics
    the theory that lower taxes leads to financial prosperity
  82. surplus
    a quantity much larger than is needed
  83. tariff
    a government tax on imports or exports
  84. tax bracket
    a category of taxpayers based on the amount of their income
  85. technology
    the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  86. tight money
    the economic condition in which credit is difficult to secure and interest rates are high
  87. trade
    the commercial exchange of goods and services
  88. trade balance
    the difference in value over a period of time of a country's imports and exports of merchandise
  89. trade deficit
    an excess of imports over exports
  90. trade-off
    an exchange that occurs as a compromise
  91. unemployment
    the state of not having a job
  92. unemployment rate
    the percentage of the work force that is unemployed at any given date
  93. union
    an employee organization that bargains with an employer
Created on March 1, 2017 (updated March 31, 2017)

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