Term | Definition |
PRIVATE GOOD | Goods that, when consumed by one individual, cannot be consumed by another. |
PUBLIC GOOD | Goods that can be consumed by one person without preventing the consumption of the good by another. |
EXTERNALITY | The unintended side effect of an action. |
MONOPOLY | A sole provider of a good or service. |
ANTITRUST LAW | Laws to control monopoly power and to preserve and promote competition. |
MERGER | A combination of two or more companies to form a single business. |
NATURAL MONOPOLY | A market sutuation in which the costs of production are minimized, or lessened by having a single firm produce the product. |
RECALL | A company pulls a product off the market or agrees to change it to make it safe. |
REAL GDP | Shows an economy's production after the distortions of price increases have been removed. |
BUSINESS CYCLE | Alternating periods of growth and decline that the economy goes through. |
CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE | All civilians 16 years old or older who are either working or are looking for work. |
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE | The percentage of people in the civilian labor force whos are not working but are looking for jobs. |
FISCAL POLICY | The federal government's use of spending and taxation policies to affect overall business activity. |
INFLATION | Sustained increase in the general level of prices. |
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX(CPI) | Measure of change in price over time of specific group of goods and services. |
FOOD STAMPS | Government coupons that can be used to purchase food. |
WOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC) | A program that provide help for nutrition and health care to low-income women, infants, and children up to age. |
WORKFARE | A term used to describe programs that require welfare recipients to exchange some of their labor in exchange for benefits. |
PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX | Means that the tax rate is lower at lower incomes and higher for higher incomes. |
EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT (EITC) | Gives tax credits and even cash payments to qualified workers. |