Player
The term 'player' in economics refers to any participant in a strategic situation being modeled, particularly within the context of game theory.
Plaza Accord
An international agreement on economic policies aimed at depreciating the US dollar.
Plough-back
The system of financing investment in firms by retaining profits
Point Elasticity
The ratio of a proportional change in one variable to that of another, measured at a specific point.
Points (Change in Index)
Understanding the concept of points as a measure of change in economic indices.
Polarization
An economic term referring to the process where middle-class jobs requiring moderate levels of skill decrease relative to low-paid and well-paid jobs.
Policy Coordination
An exploration of the collaborative effort of policy-making among multiple entities, primarily countries, to achieve better economic outcomes by addressing externality effects.
Policy Instrument
A policy measure under the control of the monetary or fiscal authorities.
Political Business Cycle
An analysis of the theory that governments manipulate the economy for political advantage, leading to specific economic fluctuations.
Political Economy
An exploration of political economy, its historical context, and major analytical frameworks.
Poll Tax
A lump-sum tax levied on every citizen at the same rate regardless of income or wealth, inherently regressive in nature.
Polluter Pays Principle
The principle that requires the polluting party to bear the costs associated with mitigating pollution, in line with the damage caused to society or the level of pollution exceeding acceptable standards.
Pollution
Damage to the environment by the emission of noxious substances, impacting air, water, and land surfaces.
Pollution Control
Methods and policies to reduce pollution including taxation, quantitative restrictions, and alternative technologies.
Pollution Rights
A government-issued permit that entitles a firm to emit a specified quantity of pollution.
Pollution Standards
An examination of pollution standards—regulated limits on pollutants as imposed by governments.
Ponzi scheme
An extensive analysis of Ponzi schemes, including historical context, definitions, major analytical frameworks, and case studies.
Pooled Least Squares
Least squares regression analysis that ignores possible group structure of the data
Pooling Equilibrium
An equilibrium where agents with differing characteristics choose the same action, common in markets such as insurance.
Population Census
A comprehensive enumeration of all individuals in a given population at a specific point in time.
Population Trap
A scenario where rapid population growth hinders any improvement in living standards due to the necessity of all available savings to maintain the current capital–labour ratio.
Portable Pension
A detailed overview of a pension system that retains pension rights across different employers.
Portfolio
A collection of different assets owned by an individual or a firm, designed for risk reduction and optimizing liquidity.
Portfolio Selection
The choice of proportions in different assets to maximize expected benefit from a given stock of wealth.
Portfolio Theory
Analysis of asset selection for portfolios to balance risk and return
Position
Understanding the various types of positions in financial markets, including long, open, and short positions
Positional Good
A good whose value to consumers depends on its desirability ranking or relative consumption by others.
Positive Economics
A branch of economics that describes and explains economic processes and predicts the outcomes of institutional or policy changes, without making value judgements.
Post Office Savings
A financial saving system provided by post offices, offering secure saving options for the public.
Posterior
The revised belief or distribution of a parameter in Bayesian econometrics obtained through Bayesian updating.
Potential Competition
Understanding potential competition and its implications in economics
Potential Output
A measure of the productive capacity of an economy considering stable inflation and the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment.
Pound
Definition and meaning of the term 'Pound' in economics, including its uses and contexts.
Poverty
Inability to afford an adequate standard of consumption. Variations in definition over countries and time.
Poverty Line
An income level supposed to be just enough to avoid less-than-adequate consumption.
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
A division within the International Monetary Fund focused on concessional lending and debt relief for the world's poorest countries.
Poverty Trap
A situation in which poverty outcomes reinforce themselves, acting as causes of poverty.
Power
Strength in arranging the terms of one’s dealing with other firms or people.
Power of a Test
In statistical inference, the probability that a test will reject the false null hypothesis.
Pre-Commitment
An exploration of the concept of pre-commitment in economics and its various theoretical and practical implications.
Pre-tax profits
The profits of a company or unincorporated business before deduction of relevant income or corporation taxes.
Prebisch Thesis
A claim that the terms of trade between primary products and manufactured goods deteriorate over time, suggesting that countries exporting primary commodities should establish manufacturing industry to counteract adverse effects.
Precautionary Motive
The motive to hold money to provide for the unexpected. See also demand for money.
Predatory Pricing
An economic strategy where pricing is set very low to eliminate competition or deter market entry.
Predetermined Variable
An entry defining the concept of a predetermined variable in econometric models, its significance, and its use in solving the endogeneity problem.
predictor
An estimator of the value of the dependent variable given by the estimated regression equation
Preference Revelation
A detailed overview of the economic concept of preference revelation and its implications.
Preference Share
A company share which carries no vote, but ranks before ordinary shares for dividends.
Preferences
A detailed exploration of preferences in the context of economics, including different schools of thought and related terms.
Premium
The price paid for an insurance policy, which may be monthly, annual, or a lump-sum payment.
Premium Bond
A UK government security with a unique structure involving a lottery-based reward system.
Prescriptive Statement
A formal description and analysis of prescriptive statements, their implications in economics, and comparison with other economic statements.
Present Discounted Value
Definition and explanation of present discounted value (PDV), a core concept in economics used to determine the current value of future payments or cash flows.
Pressure Group
An organization that aims to bring about changes in laws or policies, possibly in the interest of its members or a wider cause like the environment.
Price
An explanation and analysis of the term 'price' and its significance in economic theory and practice.
Price Control
The setting of maximum or minimum prices by law to regulate markets.
Price Discrimination
An overview of price discrimination, its types, and its impact on economics.
Price Effect
A comprehensive exploration of the 'price effect' in consumer theory understanding consumption variations due to changes in commodity prices.
Price Elasticity
The proportional change in quantity supplied or demanded relative to a proportional change in price.
Price Fixing
An agreement between two or more firms about the prices they will charge, which is considered anti-competitive and is forbidden by legislation in many countries.
Price Floor
A comprehensive entry on the concept of price floors in economics, covering its definitions, historical context, major analytical frameworks, and more.
Price Index
An index number representing the average of prices of goods in a given category.
Price Leader
A firm whose price changes tend to be followed by other sellers in its markets.
Price Level
The general level of prices in an economy, measured by retail price index or GDP deflator.
Price Mechanism
An analysis of how prices function in a market economy to convey information, provide incentives, make choices, and allocate resources.
Price Reform
A comprehensive overview of price reform in transition economies, its impacts, frameworks, and historical significance.
Price Squeeze
An anti-competitive practice wherein a monopolistic firm increases wholesale prices to eliminate competition at the retail level.
Price Stability
An objective of economic policy aimed at maintaining steady prices by avoiding prolonged inflation and deflation.
Price Stickiness
An exploration of the concept of price stickiness, examining its causes and implications in various economic frameworks.
Price Support
Government policies to maintain the producer prices of commodities above a minimum level, primarily in agriculture, through market intervention or subsidies.
Price Volatility
The extent and frequency of price fluctuations over time, quantified as the standard deviation of log returns.
Price War
Charging low prices to harm competitors’ profits in a competitive market scenario.
Price-Maker
A comprehensive look at the term Price-Maker and its implications in economics.
price-sensitive information
Information about a company that, if publicly known, could affect its share price.
price-setter
A firm that sets the price of a good or security, typically possessing some degree of monopoly power.
Price-Taker
An individual or firm trading on a market where they do not believe that their own transactions will affect the market price.
Price–Earnings Ratio
An in-depth exploration of the price–earnings ratio, its significance, and its application in evaluating company stocks.
Price–Wage Spiral
An economic concept where rising wages lead to higher prices, and higher prices lead to further wage increases.
Prices and Incomes Policy
Overview and analysis of government attempts to control prices and incomes directly.
Pricing
How prices are set in markets and by firms, and how costs, demand, and market structure shape the result.
Primary Commodity
Exploration of the definition, historical context, and economic frameworks of primary commodities
Primary Market
Definition and detailed analysis of the primary market in financial economics.
Primary Sector
The sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources including agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and extraction of oil and gas.
Prime Rate
A reference interest rate used by banks to determine the lending rates for their most creditworthy borrowers.
Principal
An explanation of the term 'principal' in economic and business contexts, including the principal-agent relationship.
Principal Components Analysis
An analytical technique for dimensionality reduction in multivariable datasets through identifying principal components.
Principal–Agent Problem
The dilemma of motivating an agent to act on behalf of a principal when both parties follow their own self-interests.
Prior
The initial value or probability distribution attached to a parameter in Bayesian econometrics.
Prisoners’ Dilemma
A two-player game illustrating the conflict between private and social incentives, and the importance of binding commitments.
Private Benefit
The benefit arising to a single individual from an economic activity.
Private Company
An explanation of the concept of a private company, focusing on its nature, structure, and restrictions as defined primarily in the UK context.
Private Cost
The cost incurred by individuals or firms to provide goods or services, excluding external harms unless legally obligated.
Private Enterprise
Definition and exploration of the term 'private enterprise' and its implications in the economic and political spheres.
Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
An overview of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and its relation to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
Private Good
Definition and meaning of the term 'private good' in economics
Private Internal Rate of Return
The discount rate that equalizes the net present value of future real gains from private activities to their real private costs.
Private Network
A network accessible only to the members of the entity that owns this network
Private Property
Things which the law recognizes as belonging exclusively to particular individuals or organizations, contrasted with government-owned and public things.
Private Sector
The parts of the economy not run by the government, encompassing households, sole traders and partnerships, companies, and non-profit organizations.
Private Sector Balance
Private sector balance is the excess of savings over investment spending by the private sector, forming a crucial part of national income accounting identities.