Barriers to Entry
Economic, regulatory, or structural obstacles that make it difficult or costly for new competitors to enter an established market.
Business Cycle
The recurring pattern of expansion, peak, contraction, and trough in economic activity.
Central Bank
A national institution that manages the money supply, sets interest rates, and oversees financial stability.
Cost-Push Inflation
Inflation caused by rising production costs that force prices higher while reducing economic output.
Creative Destruction
The process by which new innovations continuously replace existing industries, driving long-run economic progress.
Deflation
A sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services.
Economies of Scale
Cost advantages a firm gains as it increases production, reducing average cost per unit at larger output volumes.
Economies of Scope
Cost savings that arise when a firm produces multiple products jointly more cheaply than separately.
Exchange Rate
The price at which one country's currency can be exchanged for another's.
GDP
The total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period.
Marginal Cost
The increase in total production cost from producing one additional unit of output.
Market Power
The ability of a firm to profitably set prices above competitive levels without losing all of its customers.
Monetary Policy
Central bank actions to control money supply and interest rates to achieve economic goals.
Monopoly
A market structure where a single seller controls the entire supply, enabling above-competitive pricing.
Network Effects
The phenomenon whereby a product or service becomes more valuable to each user as more people use it.
Oligopoly
A market structure dominated by a small number of large firms, each of which must account for the actions of its rivals when making decisions.
Opportunity Cost
The value of the best alternative foregone when a choice is made.
Price Elasticity
A measure of how sensitive demand or supply is to a change in price.
Quantitative Easing
A central bank policy of purchasing assets to inject money into the economy.
Recession
A significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months, typically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
Stagflation
The coexistence of high inflation, high unemployment, and slow economic growth.
Supply Shock
A sudden unexpected event that significantly disrupts the supply of a key commodity or input.
Tariff
A tax imposed by a government on imported or exported goods.
Trade War
A conflict in which countries impose escalating tariffs or trade barriers on each other.
Yield Curve
A graph plotting bond yields across different maturities, used to gauge economic and interest rate expectations.