Economics

Economics

basics of economics

Contributors in Economics

Economics

Somewhere between perfect competition and monopoly, also known as imperfect competition. It describes many real-world markets. Perfectly competitive markets are extremely rare, and few firms enjoy a ...

Money supply

Economy; Economics

The amount of money available in an economy. In the heyday of monetarism in the early 1980s, economists pounced upon the monthly (in some countries, even weekly) money-supply numbers for clues about ...

Money markets

Economy; Economics

Any market where money and other liquid assets (such as treasury bills) can be lent and borrowed for between a few hours and a few months. Contrast with capital markets, where longer-term capital ...

Money illusion

Economy; Economics

When people are misled by inflation into thinking that they are getting richer, when in fact the value of money is declining. Whether, and how much, people are fooled by inflation is much debated by ...

Money

Economy; Economics

Makes the world go round and comes in many forms, from shells and beads to gold coins to plastic or paper. It is better than barter in enabling an economy's scarce resources to be allocated ...

Monetary policy

Economy; Economics

What a central bank does to control the money supply, and thereby manage demand. Monetary policy involves open-market operations, reserve requirements and changing the short-term rate of interest ...

Invisible hand

Economy; Economics

Adam Smith's shorthand for the ability of the free market to allocate factors of production, goods and services to their most valuable use. If everybody acts from self-interest, spurred on by the ...