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72 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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austerity |
cutting government expenditures in order to balance the budget |
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bailout |
Emergency loan to a country or company in difficulty |
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Common Market |
Early and informal name for European Economic Community, now EU |
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comparative advantage |
Theory that countries should make only what they can produce efficiently and trade for other products |
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confederation |
Political union looser than a federation |
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default |
Country announces it cannot repay its debts |
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devalue |
A currency's worth declines in relation to other currencies. (opposite:revalue) |
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ECB |
European Central Bank, the EU's Fed |
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EMU |
European Monetary Union devised at Maastricht in 1991; set up new euro currency |
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euro |
common EU currency; fluctuates but usually worth more than a dollar |
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Eurodollars |
US dollars circulating in Europe |
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European Union |
Confederation of most of Europe; began as Common Market in 1957 |
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fiscal |
Balance between taxes and government spending |
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IFOR |
The 1995 Implementation Force, mostly NATO |
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NATO |
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, defensive alliance formed in 1949 |
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North Atlantic Treaty |
The 1949 treaty of alliance that formed NATO |
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quota |
Numerical limit on imports |
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reverse currency |
Stable, trusted money of a major country that is used for international trade |
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soft power |
Influence through cultural legal, and moral example |
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sovereign debt crisis |
A national government owes so much that it could default |
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subsidy |
government payment to prop up an industry |
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Tariff |
Tax on imports |
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Technocrat |
Unelected governing official, usually a finance expert |
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Trade blocs |
Geographic regions that trade mostly among themselves and keep out non-bloc goods |
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UNPROFOR |
The 1992-195 UN Protection Force supposed to keep peace in Croatia and Bosnia |
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archipelago |
a group of islands |
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attache |
Military officer serving in an embassy, a legal spy |
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authoritarian |
Dictatorial regime but milder than totalitarian |
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cadres |
(from the French "framework"; Chinese gan bu) communist members in official positions; backbone of China's system |
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deflation |
Overall, long-term fall of prices |
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dumping |
Selling goods abroad for less than it costs to produce them |
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embargo |
Ban on shipping goods to certain countries |
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float |
to let market forces cause a currency to rise or fall in relation to others |
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inflation |
overall, long-term rise of prices |
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Manchukuo |
Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, 1931-1945 |
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Meiji |
Japan's period of rapid modernization starting in 1868 |
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MITI |
Ministry of Int'l Trade and Industry, guiding hand of Japan's economy; now called METI |
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nonrecognition |
Refusal to grant diplomatic recognition |
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Open Door |
1900 US policy of China trade open to all and keeping China intact |
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outsourcing |
Moving production to lower-wage countries |
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peg |
To fix one currency in relation to another, the opposite of float |
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protectionism |
Policy of keeping out foreign goods |
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rapprochement |
an establishment or resumption of harmonious relations |
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RMB |
Renminbi "peoples money," China's currency also known as yuan |
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S-curve |
Typical pattern of economic growth |
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second-order consequence |
The later impact of a policy choice |
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standing committee |
top governing body of China's communist party |
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totalitarian |
Dictatorship that attempts total control |
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trade deficit |
buying more from other countries than you sell to them |
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trade surplus |
selling more to countries than you buy from them |
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yuan |
China's currency another name for RMB |
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Zhongnhai |
Beijing compound of China's top officials, just west of Forbidden City |
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blog |
short for "web log"; free online magazine, often partisan |
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Bretton Woods |
1944 agreement to fix exchange rates to the dollar backed by gold |
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bubble |
Market that has gone too high |
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conventional wisdom |
unexamined but widely believed assumptions |
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depression |
major, long-term economic downturn; when capitalized, the 1930s |
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exchange rate |
how much one currency buys of another |
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fixed exchange rate |
one currency buys a set number of other currencies, depending on the market for them |
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floating exchange rate |
one currency buys a varying number of other currencies, depending on the market for them |
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International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
Makes loans to stabilize currencies |
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Keynesian economics |
Government spending to boost consumption and fight recessions |
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mercantilism |
Pre-Adam Smith economic theory that large gold holdings make a nation rich |
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neo-mercantilism |
Theory of some nations that big trade surpluses make them rich |
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purchasing power parity |
True worth of a currency; what it can actually buy |
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recession |
transient, short-term economic downturn |
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Special Drawing Rights |
Artificial currency the IMF uses to make loans |
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Subprime mortgage |
Risky home loan, one with no money down |
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Victorian |
Related to reign of Britain's Queen Victoria, 1837-1901 |
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World Bank |
Makes loans to lift up poor countries |
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World Trade Organization (WTO) |
URN-related body, successor to GATT, promotes free trade |
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aquifer |
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