Economics/Glossary

Main Article

Discussion

A

Adverse selection [r]: a partial market failure that occurs when there are traders who take advantage of asymmetric information, raising uncertainty and leading to a reduction in the value of its products. ^[e]
Agency cost [r]: Add brief definition or description
Applied statistics [r]: the practice of collecting and interpreting numerical observations for the purpose of generating information. ^[e]
Arbitrage [r]: transactions to take advantage of a price differences of a product in different markets by buying where it is cheap and selling where it is dear. The possibility of arbitrage often prevents the occurrence of price differences. ^[e]
Asset price bubble [r]: The condition of an asset market in which price is governed by speculators' expectations that it will increase. ^[e]
Asymmetric information [r]: a situation in which a seller has information that is not available to potential buyers - or vice-versa. ^[e]
Austrian School of economics [r]: A school of economists who reject the tenets of macroeconomics and oppose the practice of collective economic management; and whose methodology concentrates upon the decisions of individuals and the operation of the market mechanism. ^[e]
Automatic stabilisers [r]: the tendency in times of falling economic activity for the government spending to rise, and for tax receipts to fall - and the reverse tendency in times of rising economic activity ^[e]

B

Banking [r]: the system of financial intermediation that provides the principle source of credit to individuals and companies. ^[e]
Bankruptcy [r]: Legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. ^[e]
Balance sheet [r]: An annual statement of a company's assets and its liabilities that is a component of its annual accounts. ^[e]
Base money [r]: currency in circulation plus bank vault cash plus deposits held by banks at the central bank (termed "high-powered money" in the US, and referred to as M0 in the UK). ^[e]
Basis point [r]: (bp) one hundredth of a percentage point . ^[e]
Beveridge curve [r]: A curve (convex when viewed from the origin) showing a relationship between vacancies and unemployment. ^[e]
BRIC [r]: Add brief definition or description
Broad money [r]: cash, current account deposits in banks and other financial institutions, savings deposits and time-restricted deposits (see also high-powered money). ^[e]
Bubble (economics) [r]: A surge in prices that raises expectations of further increases, so generating further increases: a process that continues until confidence falters, the bubble "bursts" and prices rapidly revert to an objectively-based level. ^[e]
Budget balance [r]: the difference between a central government's revenue and its expenditure in a given financial year. Conventions differ concerning the items that are included, and various cyclical adjustments can be made to identify its discretionary element.. ^[e]
Budget deficit [r]: the excess of a government's expenditures over its receipts. See also cyclically-adjusted budget deficit ^[e]