Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)
A reform of the health care industry in the United States aimed at improving access to affordable health insurance.
Objective 1 Region
A region in the European Union with under 75% of the average EU per capita income, eligible for financial assistance.
Obsolescence
Loss of value of an asset and related concepts in economics.
Occam’s Razor
A principle in theoretical and empirical problem-solving emphasizing simplicity and parsimony.
Occupational Pension
A comprehensive guide to understanding occupational pensions, their types, funding mechanisms, and historical significance.
Off-Balance-Sheet Finance
A financial practice where businesses use lease agreements to control assets without incorporating them into the balance sheet.
Offer Curve
The locus of trading plans traced out as relative prices vary, reflecting optimal consumption or trade plans.
Office for Budget Responsibility
An independent agency created in 2010 to provide authoritative analysis of the UK’s public finances.
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
The UK government agency responsible for the collection and publication of UK economic statistics.
Office of Communications
Ofcom, established by the Office of Communications Act of 2002, regulates UK communications industries.
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was the UK government body responsible for administering competition policy from 1973 to 2014.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
An insight into the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), its role, and significance in the preparation and administration of the federal budget in the United States.
Office of Telecommunications
Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) - The regulatory body for the UK telephone industry after the privatization of British Telecom.
Official Development Assistance (ODA)
A comprehensive overview of Official Development Assistance (ODA) including its background, historical context, major analytical frameworks, and related terms.
Official Financing
The official element in the balance of payments used to address discrepancies in a country’s current and capital account balances.
Offshore Fund
A descriptive entry providing an in-depth understanding of offshore funds, their contexts, and implications
Offshoring
Relocation of business to a foreign country, typically to reduce costs or enter a new market.
Oil Crisis
A situation in which there is a sudden fall in the availability and/or a large increase in the price of oil.
Oil Embargo
A comprehensive analysis of the term 'oil embargo' in economic context, focusing on its definitions, impacts, and various economic perspectives.
Oil Price
The dynamics and implications of the price of bulk oil, typically quoted in US dollars per barrel.
Okun’s Law
The relationship between unemployment and real output in cyclical fluctuations.
Oligopoly
A comprehensive overview of the economic term 'oligopoly', exploring its definition, historical context, and major analytical frameworks.
Oligopsony
A market characterized by a small number of buyers, where each buyer's decisions affect the others.
Ombudsman
The role and significance of an ombudsman in economic and administrative contexts.
Omitted Variable Bias
Why regression estimates become biased when a relevant explanatory variable is left out.
On-the-Job Training
Training by working under the supervision of an experienced worker, contrasted with formal courses of instruction.
One-Tailed Test
A statistical test where the hypothesis is rejected only for sufficiently large or small values of the test statistic, when the direction of the effect is known beforehand.
Opaque Policy Measures
Definition and meaning of opaque policy measures in economic policy.
Open Economy
A detailed analysis of the term 'Open Economy' within economics, including major frameworks and comparative analysis.
Open Market Operations
The Purchase or Sale of Securities by the Central Bank to Influence Interest Rates and Money Supply
Open Outcry
The system of trading in commodities, securities, or currencies by traders meeting together and calling out the trades they are offering.
Open Position
A detailed exploration of what constitutes an 'Open Position' in trading and its implications.
Open-Ended Fund
A form of mutual fund with no restriction on the number of shares issued based on investor demand.
Open-Loop Equilibrium
An equilibrium in multi-stage games where players do not observe previous strategies, allowing no strategy revision.
Opening Prices
An exploration of the bid and offer prices quoted when stock or commodity markets open at the beginning of a working day.
Operational Research
The application of mathematical and statistical methods to practical business problems.
Opportunism
The tendency for one party in a bargain to attempt to change the terms in their favour once the other party has committed itself.
Opportunity Cost
The concept of opportunity cost deals with the cost of an opportunity forgone, measured by the benefits of the best alternative option.
Optimal Control
A method of solving a dynamic optimization problem formulated in continuous time using differential equations and optimization techniques.
Optimal Growth Theory
The analysis of the best growth path for an economy by balancing current utility loss and future utility gain. See also golden rule.
Optimal Level of Pollution
The concept of social welfare maximization by balancing the costs and benefits of pollution.
Optimal Taxation
An overview of optimal taxation, its theoretical underpinnings, and its applications in various economic paradigms.
Optimism Index
A measure of economic confidence based on survey responses about economic and personal financial conditions.
Optimization
In economics, the choice from all possible uses of resources of that which gives the best result.
Optimum Currency Area
A group of countries that maximizes the benefits of using a single currency.
Optimum Tariff
Understanding the concept of an optimum tariff and its implications in international trade economics.
Option
A contract permitting the holder the right, but not the obligation, to trade a specific asset at a predetermined price on or before a future date.
Option Value
An examination of the concept of option value in economics, including its implications for investment decisions and financial instruments.
Order Book
The value of orders received but not yet carried out by firms, usually in construction and engineering sectors.
Order of Integration
The minimum number of times it is necessary to difference a non-stationary time series to produce a stationary series.
Order-Driven Market
An examination of the order-driven market system where intermediaries match buy and sell orders.
Ordinal Utility
A detailed examination of ordinal utility, meaning and its representation in economic theory.
Ordinary Least Squares
A method of estimation of the coefficients in a linear regression by minimizing the sum of squared residuals.
Ordinary Share
The UK term for a share in the equity of a company, equivalent to common stock in the US.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization established to aid member states in developing economic and social policies that promote sustained economic growth with financial stability.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
An organization of oil-producing countries established to coordinate policies and manage the negotiate of oil prices through a cartel arrangement.
Organizational Slack
The excess resources within an organization that can be utilized in times of need without impacting performance.
Organized Labour
A comprehensive examination of organized labour, its role, function, historical context, and impact on economic systems and policies.
Organized Sector
An analysis and understanding of the organized sector within an economy.
Origin Principle of Taxation
An international trade policy framework in which goods and services are taxed in their country of production.
Outlier
A statistical term referring to an observation that significantly deviates from the rest of the data.
Output
Definition and meaning of output in economic processes
Output Effect
Definition and meaning of output effect in economics
Output Gap
Understanding the Output Gap in Economics
Output Method
The method of calculating domestic product using information on the net outputs of various sectors of the economy.
Output per Hour Worked
A measure of output per unit of labour input, used in comparing productivity.
Outside Money
An asset in the economy that is not a liability for anyone else, commonly applied to gold coinage rather than bank balances.
Outsourcing
The practice of buying goods and services from outside suppliers rather than producing them within a firm.
Outworker
A worker employed by an enterprise for a task or delivery of goods and services under contract, but working externally
Over-Capacity Working
Production levels in a firm or an industry that exceed its conventionally calculated capacity.
Over-Stimulation
Overview and analysis of the economic concept of over-stimulation
Over-subscription
The situation when the number of shares applied for in a new issue exceeds the number on offer.
Over-the-Counter Market
A securities market not regulated by an exchange.
Over-valued Currency
Over-valued currency - a currency whose exchange rate is too high for a sustainable equilibrium in the balance of payments
Overdraft
A negative balance in a bank account, often allowed by prior arrangement but incurs interest and extra service charges.
Overfull Employment
Understanding the concept of overfull employment and its implications in economics
Overhead Costs
A look into the definition and meaning of overhead costs within economic frameworks.
Overheating
An examination of overheating in economic terms, primarily from a Keynesian perspective.
Overlapping Generations Economy
An analysis of the overlapping generations economy, a discrete-time dynamic economic model where individual agents have finite lives but exist across multiple periods.
Overmanning
Definition and exploration of the term 'overmanning' in an economic context
Overnight Money
A financial term referring to funds loaned for a short duration, typically from one business day to the next.
Overseas Bank
A foreign bank with a branch or subsidiary operating in the UK.
Overseas Investment
Insights into the concept of overseas investment and its implications in economics.
Overshooting
Analysis of the concept of overshooting in economic contexts.
Overtime
A comprehensive dictionary entry on the term 'overtime' in an economic context, including its definition, historical background, and analytical frameworks.
Overtime Ban
An overview and examination of the concept of an overtime ban in labor relations.
Overtrading
Understanding the phenomenon of overtrading in business and financial contexts, its risks and implications.
Owner-Occupied Housing
The system by which a house or flat is owned by its occupants.
Ownership
The right to exclusive use of an asset
Ozone Layer
A comprehensive overview of the ozone layer, its significance, risks from depletion, and global regulatory measures like the Montreal Protocol.