Definitions and Glossary

Aristocracy: the highest class in certain societies, especially those holding hereditary titles or offices. In Marxist circles, referred to as the bourgeoises.

Assets: a useful or valuable aspect, regarded as having value and available to meet debts, commitments, or legacies.

Bureaucracy: a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

Capital Investment: a sum of cash acquired by a company to pursue its objectives, such as continuing or growing operations.

Capitalism: an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Cold War: the state of political hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the US-led Western powers from 1945 to 1990.

Commonwealth: an independent country or community, especially a democratic republic.

Corporatocracy: a society or system that is governed or controlled by corporations.

Crony Capitalism: an economic system characterized by close, mutually advantageous relationships between business leaders and government officials.

Debt Burden: a large amount of money that one country or organization owes to another and which they find very difficult to repay.

Default: failure to fulfill an obligation, especially to repay a loan or appear in a court of law.

Diversification: the process of a business enlarging or varying its range of products or field of operation.

Economics: the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

Economy: the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services.

Egalitarianism: a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality.

Ethos: the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.

Fiscal Responsibility: the ability to balance between government spending and tax.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period.

Hyperinflation: a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase.

Interdisciplinarity: The inherent ability to take knowledge from many areas and augment them toward solving complex problems.

Interest: money paid regularly at a particular rate for the use of money lent, or for delaying the repayment of a debt.

Jeffersonianism: a strict interpretation of the federal constitution, confidence in the political capacity or wisdom of common people.

Keynesian Economics: the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand strongly influences economic output and inflation.

Lockean Liberalism: a distinct tradition, based on the social contract that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property and governments must not violate these rights.

Macroeconomics: a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole.

Market Determinants: refer to all the factors that determine the quantity demanded of an individual or household for the particular commodity.

Marxism: a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism.

Mercantilism: belief in the benefits of profitable trading; commercialism. Trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances.

Microeconomics: a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources.

Monopoly: the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.

Natural Law: a body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct.

Neoliberalism: refers to market-oriented reform policies such as “eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers”.

Polis: the administrative city

Politics: the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

Populism: a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

Purchasing Power: the financial ability to buy products and services. The amount of goods and services that can be purchased with a unit of currency.

Return on Investment (ROI): a return on costs is a ratio between net income and investment.

Scarcity: an economic concept refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources.

Socialism: a political and economic philosophy covering a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and democratic control.

Speculation Tax: commonly referred to as a property tax levied on ownership and assets both actualized and forecasted.

Stakeholder: a person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business.

The Austrian School: a heterodox school of economic thought that is based on methodological individualism and opportunity cost.

Utilitarianism: the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority.