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Resource Maintenance
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The management of capital stocks so that their productivity is sustained.
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Capitol stock
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A quantity of any resource that is valued for its potential economic contributions.
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Natural Capital
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Physical assets provided by nature.
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Manufactured Capital
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Physical assets generated by applying human productive activities natural capital.
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Human Capital
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People's capacity for labor and their individual knowledge and skills.
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Social Capital
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The stock of trust, mutual understanding, shared values, and socially held knowledge and skills.
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Production
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The conversion of resources to goods and services
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Inputs
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Resources that go into production
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Outputs
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The results of production
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Waste Products
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Outputs that are not used either for consumption or in a further production process.
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Distribution
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The allocation of products and resources among people.
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Exchange
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Trading one thing for another.
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Transfer
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The giving of something with nothing specific expected in return
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In-kind Transfers
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Transfers of goods or services.
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Consumption
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the final use of a good or service to satisfy current wants.
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Saving
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Refraining from consuming in the current period.
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Stock
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Something whose quantity can be measured at a point in time
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Flow
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Something whose quantity can be measured over a period of time.
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Stock-flow diagram
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An illustration of how stocks can be changed, over time, by flows.
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Depreciation
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Decreases in the quantity or quality of a stock of capital
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Gross investment
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All flows into capital stock over a period of time.
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Net Investment
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Gross investment minus adjustment for depreciation of the capital stock.
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Renewable Resource
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A resource that regenerates itself through short-term processes.
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Nonrenewable Resource
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A resource that cannot be reproduced on a human time-scale so that its stock diminishes with use over time.
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Substitutability
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The possibility of using one resource instead of another.
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Sustainable Socioeconomic System
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A system in which the overall quality and quantity of the resource base required for sustaining life and well being do not erode.
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Labor Income
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Payments to workers, including wages, salaries, and fringe benefits.
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Capital Income
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Rents, profits and interest.
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Dependency needs
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The need to have others provide one with care, shelter, food, etc. When one is unable to provide these for oneself.
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Means-tested programs
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Programs designed to transfer income to those most in need.
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Progressive Income Tax
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A tax which collects a larger share of the income from those most able to pay.
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Proportional Income Tax
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A tax which collects the same share of income from households, no matter what their income level.
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Regressive Income Tax
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A tax which collects a larger share of income from poorer households.
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Lorenz Curve
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A line to portray an income distribution, drawn on a graph which percentiles of households on the horizontal axis and the cumulative percentage of income on the vertical axis.
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Gini Ratio
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A measure of inequality based on the lorenz curve, that goes from 0 (perfect equality up to 1 (complete inequality)
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Capital Gain
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An increase in the value of an asset over time.
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Core sphere
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Households, families, and communities.
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Public-purpose sphere
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Governments and other local, national, and international organizations established for some public purpose beyond individual or family self-interest, and not operating with the goal of making a profit.
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Regulation
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Setting standards or laws to govern behavior.
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Business sphere
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Firms that produce goods and services for profitable sale.
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Informal sphere
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made up of businesses operating outside of government oversight and regulation in less industrialized countries it may constitute the majority of economic activity.
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Perfectly competitive
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In a perfectly competitive market, there many buyers and sellers of a good, all units of the good are identical, anyone can enter or leave the market at will, and everyone has perfect information.
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Spot
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A spot market is a market for immediate delivery of a good or service.
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Double auction
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An auction market is a market where an item is sold to the highest bidder. In a Double auction, both buyers and sellers state prices at which they are willing to make transactions.
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Perfectly competitive market
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A market in which there are many buyers and sellers, all units of the good are identical, and there is free entry and exit and perfect information.
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Spot Market
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A market for immediate delivery
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Double-auction market
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A market in which both buyers and sellers state prices at which they are willing to make transactions, and the item is sold to the highest bidder.
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Supply Curve
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A curve indicating the quantities that sellers are willing to supply at various prices.
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Change in quantity supplied
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Movement along a supply curve in response to a price change.
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Change in Supply
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A shift of the supply curve in response to some determinant other than the item's price.
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Demand Curve
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A curve indication the quantities that buyers are ready to purchase at various prices.
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Change in quantity demanded
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Movement along a demand curve in response to a price change.
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Change in demand
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A shift of the demand curve in response to some determinant other than the item's price.
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Substitute goods
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A good that can be used in a place of another.
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Complementary good
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A good that is used along with another good.
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Surplus
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A situation in which the quantity that sellers wish to sell at the stated price is greater than the quantity that buyers will buy at that price.
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Equilibrium
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A situation of rest, in which there are no forces that create change.
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Market-clearing Equilibrium
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A situation in which quantity supplied equals quantity demanded.
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Shortage
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A situation in which the quantity that buyers wish to buy at the stated price is greater than the quantity that sellers are willing to sell at that price.
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Theory of market adjustment
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The theory that market forces will tend to make shortages and surpluses disappear.
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Market disequilibrium
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A situation of either shortage or surplus.
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Price elasticity of demand
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A measure of the responsiveness of quantity demanded to changes in price.
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Price elasticity of supply
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A measure of the responsiveness of quantity supplied to changes in price.
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Quantity adjustments
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A response by suppliers in which they react to unexpectedly low sales of their good primarily by reducing production levels rather than by reducing the price, and to unexpectedly high sales by increasing production rather than raising the price.
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Speculation
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Buying and selling assets with the expectation of profiting from appreciation or depreciation in asset values.