macroeconomics -- the branch of economics which involves relationships between broad economic aggregates, such as national income, employment, money supply, etc. To be contrasted with microeconomics

marginal propensity to consume -- in the economic theory behind consumer spending and disposable income, this term is defined as the fraction of an extra dollar of income that goes to purchase consumer goods.

marginal utility -- the added satisfaction to be had by consuming an additional unit of a commodity. Economic theory suggests that as a person consumes increasingly more of a commodity the marginal utility eventually declines.

market economy -- a private, free-enterprise system based on independent consumer agents, a price system, and economic forces of supply and demand

means testing—an approach  to determining eligibility for some benefit, often a payment from a welfare state. It can also help gauge level of assistance offered.  Means refers to income, wealth, resources, support available, and other factors that inform answering the question, “Does this person (or family) need the assistance being considered?”

microeconomics --the branch of economics focused on individual decision making units, such as a person, household, or business. To be contrasted with macroeconomics.

monopoly -- a situation in a market economy when but a single seller exists for a commodity that has no realistic substitute

nationalization–when private property is transferred to government ownership, making it public property.  Such transfer can occur without coercion and be accompanied by full compensation, or the government can simply seize the property.  Nationalization is the opposite of privatization–where public property is sold and becomes private property

needs vs. wants--the former are something that you have to have, the latter are something you would like to have.  If you haven't guessed, needs are more basic, things like air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, shelter, and other things-- including other people and non-material things they can provide, and other intangibles.  As an example of what might be in this last category are needs that involve feelings such as  "the need to feel valued".  How do you decide if something is really a need or merely a want?  One way is to ask yourself the question, "Can I survive without this?"   

negative income tax -- a scheme by which those below a certain income level would receive money from the government, instead of an paying income tax.

non-economic variables -- things important in the human world but difficult to quantify or put a monetary value on -- including environmental, educational, health, cultural, aesthetic, sociological, political factors.

personal responsibility, accepting -- Before an individual can overcome some personal difficulty or solve a personal problem, he or she needs to acknowledge that the difficulty or problem exists, by saying something like, “This problem is mine and I must solve it”. In this context, taking personal responsibility means that you don’t ignore difficulties or problems, expect others to solve them for you, or shift the blame to others. In a family or social context, taking personal responsibility can mean voluntarily limiting your choices or restraining yourself for the good of the family, tribe, village, community or whatever. Richard Critchfield refers to this as “the freedom to choose self responsibility”. 

production, factors of--in both classical and neoclassical economics these are considered to be labor, land (including natural resources), and capital. These can be hired (labor for wages, land for rent, capital borrowed at some interest rate, etc.) or fired in a market economy.  

productivity--in economic terms, this refers to production output per unit of input.

progressive taxation—a policy by which governments tax those with higher incomes at a greater percentage rate than those with lower incomes. Ideally, this policy taxes those who can afford to pay proportionally more, benefiting those who can least afford it. It is to be distinguished from a flat tax rate, when all pay the same rate regardless of income, and from regressive taxation, where those who can least afford it pay more or are hit harder by the tax.

public education--basic education supported by governments (sometimes mandated) and paid for by government-levied taxes. In many countries (including the United States) such education is tuition-free, primary and secondary (K-12), promises equal opportunities regardless of race, religion, or ability, includes instruction in civics, and is structured to promote high standards and public accountability.   

publicly funded healthcare--provides medical services financed (to some extent) by government levied tax payments rather than payments to private health care providers or insurance companies. Most affluent countries--and even some not so rich ones like Cuba--have partially or totally publicly funded health care systems.  The United States--the only wealthy country not providing its citizens with universal health care--has programs for its elderly (Medicare) and poor (Medicaid).  

public sector /public goods--the former refers to the part of an economy that private individuals or privately owned companies don't own--meaning the remaining part owned by the government, everyone, or no one; the latter refers to goods or services that 1) aren't sold (so can't be allocated by the market system), 2)  whose consumption by one individual doesn't decrease the amount others can consume, and 3) provide no easy way to limit their consumption only to those who pay for them and exclude others who don't.  Examples include the benefits of national defense, weather forecasting services, lighthouses for coastal navigation, and clean air.  Many public goods--like the first three of our examples--exist only because of the collective decision of some group, often a government.  As for our fourth example, some consider classifying environmental things like clean air as public goods as inappropriate, preferring to think of them instead as part of "the commons."  

public housing--refers to programs and activities in which governments build / own / manage housing, help other organizations do so, or subsidize housing--all done in efforts to make housing affordable.  Subsidies, grants and concessions can be made to tenants to help them pay rent, to non profit organizations, or to private developers--sometimes in exchange for assurances that low rent units will be provided to qualified applicants.

redistribution of wealth—the transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, typically through government taxation policy, in an effort to benefit the disadvantaged and reduce the income gap between the “haves” and “have nots.” Funding welfare assistance programs would be one way that governments could use this money

regulations, public health and economic growth—Many pushing economic growth cite “red tape” /  unnecessary regulations—especially those for workplace safety, public health, and environmental  protection—as burdensome.  In the USA, in 2017 the Trump administration claimed over-regulation cut GDP growth by 0.8% / year. Critics charge that such thinking ignores the high toll that such things as increased air and water pollution, etc. would take on the American public if regulations were relaxed.  Globally, even with many affluent countries working hard to minimize its effects, outdoor air pollution annually causes 4.2 million premature deaths according to the WHO, and costs a staggering $5 trillion / year in health costs and lost productivity according to the World Bank.

shareholders vs. stakeholders-- shareholders are those who own shares in a publicly traded company;  stakeholders are all those with some stake in the company, whether it be as investor, worker, manager, member of surrounding community where company operates, consumer of products or services the company provides—and all others significantly affected by the corporate operations

social contract--its most important meaning refers to an agreement between the people and their rulers in which the  duties and rights of each are defined and constrained.  While rulers would say it serves to maintain order, the people point to it as establishing the principle that rulers have legitimacy only if they have the consent of those they govern.

social justice—refers to 1) a relationship between individuals and society in which people have what is just, defined in various ways as being reasonable, proper, lawful, right, fair, deserved, merited, etc; 2) if the condition described above does not exist, then taking steps to make it so. In practice, in affluent Western societies, seeking social justice is concerned with seeking a fairer distribution of wealth and privilege, equal opportunity for all, ending unfair discrimination or exclusion, and providing a safety net for the especially vulnerable. It can also involve recognizing / rewarding those who contribute to the common good more than those who behave in more self-serving fashion.

social safety net—just as a circus would provide a high wire performer with a safety net for protection should he or she fall, a government might provide social services to rescue / support vulnerable families and individuals during times of crisis. See publicly funded health care for example. 

socialism vs. social welfare statism—While idealistically pure socialist states don’t exist,  various non-market based centralized national control based economies functioned in many countries in the 1917-1991 era. Today such systems have either collapsed completely or have evolved into hybrids that can be called market socialism—most notably in China.  Measured by the extent that free markets operate, in between the extremes of the world’s two largest economies, China with rather limited market participation, and the much more market-based USA economy, are the modern social welfare states (in the UK and Western Europe,  perhaps operating most completely in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.)  Here the governments value protecting and promoting the well being of its citizens by running or heavily subsidizing health, education, and various social safety services.  To pay for it, citizens are often more heavily taxed than they would otherwise be.

statism–refers to belief in accepting the political authority of a central state government and its legitimacy with respect to governing, taxing,  regulating—even owning—various sectors of the economy.  Its opposite is anarchism.  Statists value individual freedom in personal matters far less than left wing types who are today called liberals; they value individual freedom in economic matters far less than right wing types who are today called conservatives. Statists generally prefer a society where a heavily centralized state (national) government has a great deal of control over individuals and communities in terms of personal and economic matters. States where the control is total are said to be totalitarian.    

state owned enterprise—a business / corporate enterprise where the state or government has a significant stake in the ownership. They can be 100% state or government owned.  Given their financial objectives—which may include making a profit—they are to be distinguished from state or government agencies—although both share pursuit of public policies.

subsidy–a government payment or incentive to businesses or individuals given in an effort to support a sector of the economy or encourage some type of production / consumption activity.  Two transportation related examples: 1) at one time USA subsidies to oil and gasoline  producers / refiners were such that consumers paid less for a gallon of gasoline than for a gallon of water; 2) electric cars in many countries are more affordable given government rebates of some % of the purchase price.  Subsidies can have many effects: subsidies benefiting consumers  effectively lower prices; some can lead industries to hiring more labor, exporting more products, expanding, etc. Products not getting subsidies often can’t compete with those which are. From a free market perspective, critics charge that by offering subsidies governments are effectively interfering and “picking winners”-- rather than letting the market do this. Many are not bothered by this charge at all, indeed they instead see subsidies as a tool planners can use to steer an economy in a direction they want it to move.                                 

top down vs. bottom up–contrasting approaches to bringing change, solving problems, structuring interaction (compare centrally planned economies, market based ones).

wage and price controls -- regulations on wages and prices (typically limiting their rate of increase) which a government can impose to help combat inflation

wage and wealth inequality --a gap in pay between the sexes or those of different ethnic groups exists in many parts of the world  For example, in the U.S., despite passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which makes it illegal for employers to pay men more than women doing the same work, by the start of the 21st century, women made only 76% as much money as men.  The inequality is even worse when white and black income and wealth are considered. In 2020, USA black males on average earned only 51% of what white males were paid for the same work. And USA white family net wealth exceed that of  black families by 41 times! 

wealth inequality and capitalism—while history suggests the market-based capitalist economic system does a far better job at creating wealth than centralized socialist state non-market systems, it also suggests it promotes wealth inequality. In his 1867 book Capital, Karl Marx argued that in such a system capital would accumulate and wealth become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.  Analyzing whether this has occurred based on economic history and data is a key focus of Thomas Piketty’s nearly 700 page 2014 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. There he concludes, 1) “the history of distribution of wealth has always been deeply political, and it cannot be reduced to purely economic mechanisms, and 2)  “there is no natural, spontaneous process to prevent destabilizing, inegalitarian forces from prevailing permanently.”  

welfare assistance—government provided monetary or other assistance designed to provide an economic or social safety net for those disadvantaged members of society who are unable to support themselves.  Eligibility is determined by income below the poverty level and other “means tests.” Recipients are typically required to demonstrate that they are seeking employment or have enrolled in job training.   See also means testing.

utilitarianism -- belief that the moral value of actions and associated outcomes should be judged according to the degree to which they are useful and benefit those affected. Utilitarianism has two aspects: 1) it links evaluating consequences of actions to human welfare, and accordingly, 2) how it ranks values (value theory) to tied to human welfare. The latter involves all the complexities of arguments over what gives individuals pleasure or happiness, conflicts between individual choice and societal preference, what benefits society in the long run, etc. And it recognizes that assigning value is not merely done by adding benefits, since what is beneficial to some may be detrimental to others, and both the benefits and risks of possible actions must be weighed.

utility -- in economic theory, this refers to the amount of use and satisfaction that a consumer gets from a particular purchase