| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Capitalism | An economic system in which individuals and corporations, not the government, own the principal means of production and seek profits |
| mixed economy | An economic system in which the government is deeply involved in economic desicions through its role as regulator, consumer, subsidizer, taxer, employer, and borrower |
| unemployment rate | As measure by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the proportion of the labor force actively seeking work but inable to find jobs |
| inflation | the rise in prices for consumer goods |
| consumer price index | the key measure of inflation that relates the rise in prices over time |
| laissez-faire | the prinicple that government should not meddle in the economy |
| monetary policy | Based on monetarism, monetary policy is th manipulation of the supply of money in private hands by which the government can control economy |
| monetarism | An economic theory holding that the supply of money is the key to a nation's economic helath. Monetarists believe that too much cash and credit in circulation produces inflation |
| Federal Reserve System | The main instrument fr making monetary policy in thte United States It was created by Congress in 1913 to regulate the lending practices of banks and thus the money supply |
| Fiscal policy | The policy that describes the impact of the federal budget- taxes, spending, and borrowing- on the economy. Fiscal policy is almost entirely determined by Congress and the president, who are the budget makers |
| Keynesian economic theory | the theory emphasizing that government spending and deficits can help the economy weather its normal ups and downs. Proponents of this theory advocate using the power of government to stimulate the economy when its lagging |
| supply-side economics | An economic theory advocated by President Regan holding that too much income goes to taxes so too little money is aailable for purchasing, and the solution is to cut taxes and return purchasing power to consumers |
| multinational corporations | Businesses with vast holdings in many countries- such as Microsoft, Coca-cola, and McDonald's- amny o which have annual budgets exceeding that of many foregin governments |
| antitrust policy | A policy desinged to ensure competiton and prevent monopoly, which is the control of a market by one company |
| Securities and Exchange Commission | The federal agency created duirng the New Deal that regulates stock fraud |
| Food and Drug Administration | The federal agency formed in 1913 and assigned the task of approving all food products and drugs sold in the United States. All drugs, with the exception of tobacco, must have FDA authorization |
| National Labor Relations Act | A 1935 law, also known as the Wagner Act, that guarantees workers the right of collective bargaining sets down rules to protect unions and organizers, and created the National Labor Relations Board to regulate labor-managment relations. |
| Collective bargaining | Negotiations between representatives of labor unions and managment to determine pay and acceptable working conditions |
| Taft-Hartley Act | A 1947 law giving the president power to halt major strikes by seeking a court injunction and permitting states to forbid requirements in labor contracts that force workers to join a union |
| right-to-work law | A state law forbiding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs. The Taft Hartley Act of 1947 specifically permitted state right-to-work laws |
| social welfare policies | Poicies that provide benefits to individuals, either through entitlements or means-testing |
| entitlement programs | Government benefits that certain qualified individuals are entitles to by law, regardless of need |
| means-tested programs | Government programs available only to individuals below a poverty line |
| income distributions | the "shares" of the national income earned by various groups |
| income | The amount of funds collected between any two points in time |
| wealth | the value of assets owned |
| poverty line | A method used to count the number of poor people, it considers what a family must spend for an "austere" standard of living |
| feminization of poverty | The increasing concentration of poverty among women, especially unmarried women and their children |
| progressive tax | A tax by which which the government takes a greater share of the income of the rich than of the poor |
| proportional tax | A tax by which the government takes the same share of income from everyone, rich and poor alike |
| regressive tax | A tax in which the burden falls relativley more heavily upon low-income groups than upon wealthy taxpayers. Teh opposite of a progressive tax, in which tax rates increase as income increases |
| Earned Income Tax Credit | A "negative income tax" that provides incomes to very poor individuals in lieu of charging them federal income taxes |
| transfer payments | Benefits given by the government directly to individuals. transfer payments may be either cash transfers, such as Social Security payments to former and retirement payments to former government employees, or in-kind transfersm, such as food stamps and low-interest loans for college education |
| Social Security Act of 1935 | Created both the Social Security program and a national assistance programs for poor children, usually called "AFDC" |
| Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act | The official name of the "welfare reform" law of 1996 |
| Temporary Assistance for Needy Families | Once called "Aid to Families With Dependent Children"the new name for public assistance to needy families |
| Social Securtiy Trust Fund | The "bank account" into which Social Security contributions are "deposited" and used to pay out eligible recipients |
| health maintenace organization | organization contracted by individuals or insurance companies to provide health care for a yearly fee. Such network health plans limit the choice of doctors and treatments. |
| patients bill of rights | a controversial proposal before congress that would give patients certain rights against meidical providers, particularly HMO's including the right to sue them. |
| national health insurance | A compulsort insurance program for all Americans that would have the government fianance citizens medical care. First proposed by President Harry S. Truman, the plan was soundly opposed by the American Medical Association. |
| Medicaid | a public assistance program designed to provide health care for poor Americans. Medicaid is funded by both the states and the government. |
| Medicare | a program added to the social security system in 1965 that provides hospitilization insurance for the elderly and permits older americans to purchase inexpensice coverage for doctor fees and other medical expenses. |
| Environmental Protection Agency | an agency of teh federal government created in 1970 and charged with administering all the governments environmental legislation. It also administers policies dearling with toxic wastes. |
| National Environmental Policy Act | the law passed in 1969 that is teh centeriece of federal environmental policy in the United States. THe MEPA established the requirements for environmental impact statements. |
| Environmental impact statement | a report required by the National Environmental Policy Act that specifies the likely environmental impact of a proposed action. NEPA requires that whenever any agenzy propses to undertake a policy that impacts the environment, the agency must file a statement with EPA. |
| clean air act of 1970 | the law that changed the department of Transportation with the responsibility to reduce autmobile emissions. |
| water pollution control act of 1972 | A law intended to clean up the nations rivers and lakes. It requires municipal, industrial, and other polluters to use pollution control technology and secure permits from the EPA for discharging waste products into waters. |
| Engangered Species act of 1973 | this law requires that federal government to protect actively each of the hundreds of species listed as engangered regardless of the economic effect on the surronding towns or region. |
| superfund | a fund created by congress in 1980 to clean up hazardous waste sites. |
| United nations | created in 1945 an organization whose members agree to renounce war and to respect certain human and economic freedoms. |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization | created in 1949 organization whose members include the US, Canada, most western european nations and turkey all of whom agreedd to combine military forces and to treat a war against one as a war against one as a war against all. |
| European Union | an alliance of the major Western European Nations that coordinates monetary, trade, immigration adn labor policies making its members one econmonic unit. |
| secratary of state | the head of the Department of state and traditionally a key adviser to the president on foreign policy |
| secretary of defense | The head of the department of defense and the presidents key adviser on military policy; a key foreign policy actor. |
| Joint Chiefs of staff | the commanding officers of the armed services who services who advise the president on military policy. |
| Central Intelligence Agency | an agency created after World War 2 to coordinate American intelligence activities abroad, conspiracy, and meddling as well. |
| containment doctrine | a foreign policy strategy advocated by George Kennan that called for the United States to isolate the Soviet Union, "contain" its advances, and resist its enroachments by peaceful means if possible, but by force if neccesary. |
| cold war | war by other than military means usually emphasizing ideological conflict, such as that between the US and the Soviet Union from the end of WW2 until the 1990's. |
| McCarthyism | The fear, prevelant in the 1950's, that international communism was conspiratol, insidious, bent on world domination adn infiltration american government and cultural institutions. |
| arms race | a tense relationship beginning in the 1950's between the soviet union and US wherby one sides goad to procure more weaponry and so on. |
| detente | a slow transformation from conflict thinking to cooperative thinking in foreign policy strategy and policymaking. It sought a relaxation of tensions between the superpowers, coupled with firm guarantees of mutual security. |
| strategic degense initiative | renamed "star wars" by critics, a plan for defense against the soviet union unveiled by President Reagan in 1983. SDI would create a global umbrella in space, using computers to scan the skies and high-tech devices to destroy invading missiles. |
| interdependancy | mutual dependancy in which the actions of nations reverberate and affect one anothers economic lifelines. |
| balance of trade | the ratio of what is paid for imports to what is earned from exports. When more is imported than exported, there is a balance-of-trade defecit. |
| organization of Petroleum exporting countries | an economic organization consisting primarily of Arab nations that controls the price of oil and the amount of oil its members produce and sell to other nations. |
| isolationism | a foreign policy course followed throughout most of our nations history; whereby the US has tried to stay out of other nations' conflicts, particualrly european wars. |
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