Economics

Economics was famously described, by the 19th century Scottish–born philosopher Thomas Carlyle, as "the dismal science". This strikes me as quite droll, although to my mind it's not really a science at all – and I am qualified to give that opinion, as I have a degree in it.

That degree, by the way, is of very little use in quizzes – there seems to be very little overlap between what little economics ever comes up in quizzes and the economics that I learnt about in the 1970s!

Economists

English philosopher, 1748–1832: the initial advocate of utilitarianism			Jeremy Bentham
First proposed a macroeconomic theory called monetarism, in the 1960s, as an alternative to the Keynesian model – controversially won the Nobel Prize in 1976			Milton Friedman
The Affluent Society (1958): author			John Kenneth Galbraith
English merchant and financier, 1519–79: founded the Royal Exchange, London (1571) and gave his name to the law of economics which states that "Bad money drives out good"			Thomas Gresham
General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936): author			John Maynard Keynes
Argued in Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) that population increases geometrically, food supply arithmetically			Thomas Malthus
Italian engineer and economist (1848–1923): made important contributions to the study of income distribution, and gave his name to what's commonly known as 'the 80/20 rule'			Vilfredo Pareto
Author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776): born Kirkcaldy, Fife (1723), he developed the concept of division of labour and expounded upon how rational self–interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity; regarded as the Father of Economics, and Father of Capitalism			Adam Smith

The Nobel Prize for Economics was first awarded in

1969

Economic theory

Difference between an economy's foreign income and expenditure		Balance of payments
Colloquial term for the business cycle, particularly when the periods of growth and decline are short–lived and/or extreme – as has often been the case in the world economy since the 1940s		Boom and bust
Collective association of independent enterprises, formed to control a market		Cartel or trust
Suspension of trade with another economy by authority		Embargo
System effective in the early 20th century, whereby each country fixed the price of gold in terms of its own currency; partly blamed for the Great Depression; abandoned by Britain in 1931, USA 1933; effectively replaced by Bretton Woods in 1946, but that was abandoned by Nixon in 1971		Gold Standard
"Bad money drives out good"		Gresham's Law
Economic activity that is legal but unofficial (e.g. manufactured goods that are not imported by or on behalf of the manufacturer)		Grey economy (market)
Doctrine where the government avoids controls		Laissez–faire
A market in which there is one buyer and many sellers		Monopsony
A market with competition between only a few suppliers		Oligopoly
Term used in the 2008 banking crisis for the creation of new money in order to increase the money supply and so encourage spending (often described as "printing money")		Quantitative easing
Word coined in the 1970s to describe an economy in which there is no growth but where inflation continues to rise		Stagflation
Philosophy advocating policies designed to maximise good (or happiness) for a population		Utilitarianism

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23