Glossary Terms:

A financial institution that provides various products and services to its customers, including checking and savings accounts, loans and currency exchange.

Any activity or organization that produces or exchanges goods or services for a profit.

Spending by households on goods and services. The process of buying and using goods and services.

The process of improving the quality of human lives through raising living standards. Economic development is broader than economic growth, which is concerned with year-to-year increases in production. Economic development deals with the economic, social and political institutions that govern the way the economy and society function.

The freedoms of the marketplace--the freedom of consumers to decide how they wish to allocate their spending among various goods and services; the freedom of workers to choose to change jobs, join unions and go on strike; the freedom of individuals to establish businesses and to decide what to produce and when to change their pattern of production; and the freedom of savers to decide when and where to invest their savings.

An increase in real output as measured by real GDP or per capita real GDP.

Something a person or organization plans to achieve in the future; an aim or desired result.

Compulsory payments to governments by households and businesses.

The exchange of goods and services for money or other goods and services.

The number of people without jobs who are actively seeking work.

Payments for labor services that are directly tied to time worked, or to the number of units of output produced.

An international organization that makes loans and provides technical expertise to developing nations.