|
Free enterprise system: An economic system characterized by private ownership of property and productive resources, the profit motive to stimulate production, competition to ensure efficiency, and the forces of supply and demand to direct the production and distribution of goods and services.
Free trade: The absence of tariffs and regulations designed to curtail or prevent trade among nations.
Fringe benefit: An indirect, non-cash benefit provided to employees by employers in addition to regular wage or salary compensation, such as health insurance, life insurance, profit-sharing, and the like.
Futures: Contracts that require delivery of a commodity of specified quality and quantity, at a specified price, on a specified future date.
Gold standard: A monetary system in which currencies are defined in terms of a given weight of gold.
Gross domestic product: The total value of a nation's output, income, or expenditure produced within its physical boundaries.
Human capital: The health, strength, education, training, and skills that people bring to their jobs.
Imports: Goods or service that are produced in another country and sold domestically.
Income tax: An assessment levied by government on the net income of individuals and businesses.
Industrial Revolution: The emergence of the factory system of production, in which workers were brought together in one plant and supplied with tools, machines, and materials with which they worked in return for wages. The Industrial Revolution was spearheaded by rapid changes in the manufacture of textiles, particularly in England about 1770 and 1830. More broadly, the term applies to continuing structural economic change in the world economy.
Inflation: A rate of increase in the general price level of all goods and services. (This should not be confused with increases in the prices of specific goods relative to the prices of other goods.)
Intellectual property: Ownership, as evidenced by patents, trademarks, and copyrights, conferring the right to possess, use, or dispose of products created by human ingenuity.
Investment: The purchase of a security, such as a stock or bond.
Labor force: As measured in the United States, the total number of people employed or looking for work.
|