Economics: Business Cycles Flashcards
Activity Ratios
Ratios that measure how efficiently a company performs day-to-day take, such as the collection of receivables and management of inventory
Boom
An expansionary phase characterized by economic growth “testing the limits” of the economy.
Coincident economic indicators
Turning points are usually close to those of the overall economy; they are believed to have value for identifying the economy’s present state
Contraction
The period of a business cycle after the peak and before the trough; often called a recession or, if exceptionally severe, called a depression
Core inflation
The inflation rate calculated based on a price index of goods and services except food and energy.
Cost-Push
Type of inflation in which rising costs, usually wages, compel businesses to raise prices generally.
Deflation
Negative Inflation
Demand-Pull
Type of inflation in which increasing demand raises prices generally, which then are reflected in a business’s cost as workers demand wage hikes to catch up with the rising cost of living.
Depression
The period of a business cycle after the peak and before the trough; often called a recession or, if exceptionally severe, called a depression
Diffusion Index
Reflects the of the index’s components that are moving in a pattern consistent with the overall index
Discouraged Worker
A person who has stopped looking for a job or has given up seeking employment.
Economic Indicator
A variable that provides information on the state of the overall economy.
Employed
The number of people with a job.
Expansion
The period of a business cycle after its lowest point and before its highest point.
Fisher Index
The geometric mean of the laspeyres index
Headline Inflation
The inflation rate calculated based on the price index that includes all goods and services in an economy
Index of Leading Economic Indicators
A composite of economic variables used by analysts to predict future economic conditions.
Inflation
The percentage increase in the general price level from one period to the next; a sustained rise in the overall level of prices in an economy.
Inflation Rate
The percentage change in a price index, that is, the speed of overall price level movements.
Labor Force
The portion of the working age population (over the age of 16) that is employed or is available for work but not working (unemployed)
Lagging economic indicators
Turning points that take place later than those of the overall economy; they are believed to have value in identifying the economies past condition.
Laspeyres index
A price index created by holding the composition of the consumption basket constant
Leading Economic Indicators
Turning points that usually precede those of the overall economy; they are believed to have value for predicting the economies future state, usually near term.
Minsky Moment
Named for Hyman Minsky: A point in a business cycle when, after individuals become overextended in borrowing to finance speculative investments, people start realizing that something is likely to go wrong and a panic ensues leading to asset sell-offs
Natural Rate of Unemployment
Effective unemployment rate, below which pressures emerges in labor markets.
Neo-Keynesian
A group of dynamic general equilibrium models that assume slow-to-adjust prices and wages
New classical macroeconomics
An approach to macroeconomics that seeks the macroeconomic conclusions of individuals maximizing utility on the basis of rational expectations and companies maximizing profits
New Keynesians
A group of dynamic general equilibrium models that assume slow-to-adjust prices and wages