Earned income comes from involvement in a business or a trade. It is comprised of salary, wages, commissions, tips, and bonuses. Earned income proves to be the opposite of unearned income. Any money given to you for work that you have done is termed earned income. As an example of money that is not considered to be earned income, if [...]

The Earned Income Tax Credit, also known by its acronym EITC or EIC (for Earned Income Credit), is a benefit offered by the Internal Revenue Service to working people who only have lower to moderate levels of income. In order to qualify for it, prospective taxpayers have to measure up to specific requirements in a year in which they file [...]

Earnings per share refer to the given total of earnings that a company has for every share of the firm’s stock that is outstanding. There are several formulas for calculating earnings per share. These depend on which segment of earnings are being considered. The FASB, or Financial Accounting Standards Board, makes corporations report such earnings per share on their income [...]

Econometrics refers to the utilization of math and statistics in the discipline of economics. Economists include these branches of study in order to test their hypotheses and theories. They attempt to predict future trends by employing it. The idea is to consider economic models and test and re-test them by using statistical trials. They finally contrast and compare the ultimate [...]

Economic Collapse refers to the total breaking down of an economy in a territory, region, or nation. Such an end result is the most possibly serious rendition of an economic depression. When this type of collapse occurs, it often requires years or even decades for an economy to escape from distress. When a true and complete collapse of an economy [...]

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is a key United Nations body which is referred to by its various acronyms of UNECLAC, ECLAC, and the Spanish acronym CEPAL. This regional commission of the U.N. has a mandate to foster economic cooperation between the various member states. There are 45 member nations in total. This includes 13 in [...]

An Economic Embargo is a type of government-mandated order. They limit the exchange of goods and commerce to a country which they specify. Sometimes they affect only particular goods which represent a threat to the importing nation’s vital economic or security interests. Such embargoes are typically established because two nations find themselves in a political spat or economic disagreement or [...]

Economic globalization turns out to be an either hated or praised global phenomenon. It means that the economic picture and scenario for any given nation is dependent significantly upon the involvement of other often-time competing nations. A great number of countries who are friends supply resources to one another which the other countries simply lack. Such resources can include imported [...]

Economic growth represents a boost in an economy’s ability to create and produce services and goods. This is compared from one period of time against another. There are two ways to measure this phenomenon. It may be quantified either in real or nominal terms. When real terms are used, economists have to adjust them for the effects of inflation. Historically [...]

Economic indicators are bits of economic data generally pertaining to the macroeconomic larger picture economy. Investors utilize them to decide on the investing climate as they consider the all around state of the economy. There are many different economic indicators which the government usually releases. Five of the most important are gross domestic product, consumer price index, employment indicators, PMI [...]

Economic Inequality concerns disparity financially between various groups of individuals. There are no societies in the world where all people fall into precisely the identical class economically. In other words, all individuals do not have the same amount of material or financial resources. Unfortunately, just the opposite is more common. In many nations, some people have such vast income and [...]

Economic Occupancy refers to the rate of paying tenants for an apartment building or some other rented out space like an office building. The managers and owners of apartment buildings and complexes commonly measure their success with both physical and economic occupancy rates. While these two concepts are related, they are not exactly the same. With physical occupancy, this pertains [...]

Economic output refers to the amount of goods and services which a nation, industry, or company creates over a set time period. These might be utilized in later stages of production, traded, or otherwise consumed. The idea surrounding national economic output is a critical one in the world of economics. This is because economists opine that it is not enormous [...]

Economic Participation refers to the labor rate of participation. This means that it measures the total active population participating in the labor force. Another way of saying this is that it pertains to the numbers of individuals which are actively seeking out work or who are already employed. The two categories are important to consider, as in economic recessions a [...]

Economic sanctions turn out to be both financial and commercial penalties which a nation or several nations level against a targeted nation, organization, or individual. Such sanctions can cover different types of punishments. Among these are tariffs, trade barriers, or financial transacting restrictions. What is interesting about these is that they are not always applied thanks to an economic dispute. [...]

Economic surplus relates to supply and demand. They are also referred to as total welfare. There can be two different types of such economic surplus, consumer surplus and producer surplus. A consumer surplus happens when a given product or service’s price proves to be less than the greatest price level consumers would be willing to pay. This is something like [...]

The efficient market hypothesis is also known by its acronym EMH. It refers to an investment theory which claims that investors can not outperform the stock markets practically on a consistent basis. This is because the efficiencies created by the inner workings of the stock market mean present day share prices will always reflect and incorporate all relevant and practical [...]

Egalitarianism refers to a philosophy that believes in some type of equality. The main idea behind it is that all individuals should be regarded and dealt with as equals, at least pertaining to political, religious, social, economic, or cultural equality. The tenets of egalitarianism hold that every human being has an equal moral value or basic worth. It can be [...]

Elastic Demand refers to a factor of demand which is affected by the price. When the quantity of a good demanded responds substantially based on a change in the price or another factor inherent in demand, then the demand for the good in question is said to be elastic. When prices for a good or service decline even a little, [...]

Election stock markets refer to financial markets whose contracts track the predicted and actual outcome of national elections. They are also called election prediction markets. Investors who participate in such futures contract forms of exchanges invest real money, purchase and sell contracts which are listed, take on the risk of losing their invested funds, and make profits on their positions. Such [...]

EFT is the usual acronym for Electronic Funds Transfer. This program refers to the all-electronic money transfer processed out of one bank account and into another. This could be done within a single bank or over a number of different and often intermediary financial institutions. Computer systems handle these transactions entirely unaided by the intervention of human bank personnel. There [...]

In its most straight forward form, an embargo represents a ban on trading. The word is derived from the Spanish word “embargo” which means obstruction or hindrance. Such trading bans are either entire or partial prohibitions on both trade and commerce on either one specific nation or several of them. These actions are intended to be intense diplomatic penalties which [...]

Embezzlement is a type of crime that is considered to be white collar. It is usually committed by well educated and employed individuals. In this type of economic crime, the individual takes or misallocates the assets or funds with which he or she has been entrusted. With this kind of fraud, the perpetrator does not steal the money in the [...]

Emerging markets prove to be those countries of the world that possess business and development activities that stand in the midst of fast paced industrialization and growth. Today, twenty-eight different emerging markets are considered to exist around the globe. By far and away the largest of these are China and India. The largest regional emerging market today is the ASEAN-China [...]

Emerging Markets Index refers to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Morgan Stanley Capital International (more commonly known by its own acronym MSCI) created this index in order to follow the equity market performance of the world’s global emerging markets. This capitalization index is compiled as a float-adjusted one made up of indices following 24 emerging economies. These include the United [...]

Employee stock options are call options that are awarded privately rather than publicly. They turn out to be the most common form of equity compensation provided to employees of a business. Companies give out these options to their employees to provide them with an incentive to build up the market value of the company. These options may not be sold [...]

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan refers to a type of retirement plan. They are also called by their acronym ESOP. These plans permit employing companies to either provide cash or stock shares directly to the employee benefits plan. These plans hold one account for every employee who participates in them. The stock shares that the employers contribute become vested over [...]

Employees are individuals who work in the service of a business endeavor or trade. They do this by contributing their expertise, abilities, and labor to another individual’s small business, a corporation, for the government, or in their own self employed business. Employees are also a critical component of the factors of production that include land, capital, and labor. In this [...]

The term energy commodities refers to a variety of coal, oil, and gasoline derived products. These include such energy sources as coal, Brent Sea Oil, gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas. These energy resources prove to be essential in daily life. This makes consumers most aware of such commodities. Besides being among the most heavily used, they are also typically [...]

The Enron bankruptcy turned out to be among the largest corporate failures in American history. When the company filed for protection from its creditors, it showed assets amounting to $49.8 billion and debts that equaled $31.2 billion. These debt totals left out a number of items that were not properly listed on the company’s financial statements. The Enron bankruptcy was [...]

Entrepreneurs are individuals who have new business ventures, enterprises, and concepts. They take on substantial responsibility for both risks inherent in these as well as their end results. As such, entrepreneurs prove to be unique people for many reasons. For one, entrepreneurs have trouble working for other people, even though they do work on behalf of clients. They will put [...]

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzes and succinctly describes any potential proposed actions and the substantial effects these may cause for the environment where they will take place. Such an EIS is always made available to members of the public who wish to learn more about or comment on them. There are five components that every EIS has to contain [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency is the United States’ environmental enforcement group. It is not a cabinet level department, though its Administrator typically receives cabinet status and rank. The president appoints the administrator after the individual is approved by the Congress. The EPA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It also operates ten regional offices and 27 laboratories throughout the U.S. President [...]

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is also known as the ECOA. Congress created this regulation in order to provide all legal American residents with a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtain loans from banks or other financial institutions that make loans. The act clearly states that such organizations may not discriminate against individual people for any reason that does not [...]

Equifax today is an agency that reports consumer credit within the U.S. Analysts number it among the big three American credit bureau agencies alongside rivals Trans Union and Experian. The company proves to be the oldest of the three main credit bureaus in the country as it became established back in 1899. The firm gathers and keeps information on more [...]

Equities are another name for stocks and similar types of investments. Stocks turn out to be financial instruments that represent ownership, or equity position, within a given corporation. As such, they give an owner a stake in a representative share of the company’s profits and assets. Such ownership in a given firm is determined by taking the total numbers of [...]

Equity represents the homeowner’s total dollar amount of ownership in their property. Determining equity is a simple calculation. It is found by taking the home’s assumed fair market value and subtracting out the balances of liens and debts secured by the property along with the mortgage balance that is still unpaid. As a home owner pays down the mortgage, reducing [...]

Equity Financing refers to raising capital via selling shares within the enterprise itself. This comes down to selling an ownership stake in the corporation in order to come up with much needed funds for business enterprises. This type of financing could cover a wide array of different activities in both scope and scale. It might be only several thousand dollars [...]

Equity of redemption refers to a property owner’s legal rights. This term represents the right of a home owner to reclaim his or her property which a mortgage loan secures. Such a right pertains to the period before the bank or lender has foreclosed on the home when the home owner is in default on the mortgage payments that include [...]

Equity securities prove to be those asset classes which feature shares of stock in a given corporation. Investors hold these as reported by a company’s official balance sheet. Corporations issue such securities in an effort to raise business capital via the financial markets. They use this money for significant company life events, such as for product development, merger and acquisition [...]

ERISA is the acronym for The Employment Retirement Income Security Act that was enacted in 1974. This ERISA legislation set up a basic level of standards for health, retirement, and various additional types of plans for welfare benefits. These include disability insurance, life insurance, and apprenticeship plans. This Employment Retirement Income Security Act is both overseen and run by the [...]

Escrow is a concept that relates to a sum of money that is kept by an uninvolved third party for the two parties involved in a given transaction. In the U.S., this escrow is most commonly involved where real estate mortgages are concerned. Here is it utilized for the payment of insurance and property tax during the mortgage’s life. When [...]

An ESOP stands for the Employee Stock Ownership Plan. These are not exactly retirement savings accounts in the traditional sense. They are critical investment vehicles with tax advantages. With these types of accounts, employers establish a trust fund for the employee. The employer is then able to transfer shares of its own stock to this fund. They might alternatively allocate [...]

Ethereum Currency, often simply called Ether tokens, proves to be the much-needed fuel element for the Ethereum operating platform and system. As such, Ether is also a type of payment that platform clients can make to the machines which execute the smart contracts, or operations auto requested between two parties. Ether is simultaneously the financial incentive to make certain that [...]

EUREX is a state of the art options and futures exchange which Deutsche Borse of Germany jointly operated with SWX the Swiss Exchange until 2012. At this point, Deutsche Borse acquired the remaining shares of the EUREX exchange from SWX. The exchange operates offices in nine global locations including in Frankfurt, London, Chicago, Zurich, and Paris. This international exchange specializes [...]

The Euro proves to be the one currency that fully 19 of the member countries of the European Union share. These nations are said to belong to the Euro area, or Euro zone. This currency became introduced in 1999 and marked a major milestone in the attempted integration of the member countries in the European continent. The currency today remains [...]

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index proves to be the leading European Blue-chip like index that comprises securities of mega companies from the Euro Zone. This index offers investors and financial institutions a vehicle for following and investing in the Blue chip type of sector leaders for the zone. It includes 50 stocks (as the name implies) drawn from 11 different [...]

Euro-skeptics are the front line forces of the anti European Union political doctrine in favor of disengaging and stepping back from the political and economic consolidation taking place within the EU. There are now numerous political parties in existence throughout Europe which ascribe to the ideas of tougher controls on immigration (in defiance of the EU guiding principle of freedom [...]

The European Central Bank is responsible for the European Union’s monetary system and for maintaining the euro currency. The EU created this central bank of European central banks in June of 1998. It works alongside the various national banks of the EU member states to come up with unified monetary policy. This policy is intended to help achieve price stability [...]

The European Debt Crisis refers to the ongoing European sovereign government struggle to repay various national debts the countries ran up over the past several decades. There were five of the peripheral EU states in particular that were unable to create sufficient economic growth in order to make possible their repaying of the national bondholders as they promised to originally. [...]

The European Investment Bank proves to be the bank of the European Union. As such it is the one and only bank which is both representing the EU member states’ interests and also owned by the same member countries. This EIB works hand in glove with the other institutions of the European Union in order to carry out the common [...]

In 1979 a few European nations linked their currencies together in an arrangement and system to stabilize exchange rates called the European Monetary System. This system endured until the EMU European Economic and Monetary Union succeeded it. As an important institution within the European Union, the EMU established the euro. The origin of the EMS lay in an effort to [...]

The European Monetary Union is also known by its long-time acronym of EMU. The full name of this is the European Economic and Monetary Union. This refers to the succeeding protocol to the original EMS European Monetary System. It means the combining of European Union member nations into a frame work for a centralized economic policy set and system. The [...]

The European sovereign debt crisis threatened to overthrow financial institutions, sovereign countries’ bonds, and even the Euro currency at several points. This crisis erupted in 2008 when Iceland saw its entire banking system collapse. From here it spread to other peripheral European nations including Greece, Portugal, and Ireland throughout the subsequent year 2009. A number of peripheral EU countries like [...]

The European Stability Mechanism is a significant part of the financial stability and safeguard mechanisms in the Euro Zone area. It replaced the EFSF European Financial Stability Facility in 2013. This original EFSF was never intended to be permanent. Instead it was designed as a temporary solution to financial problems within the EU. The European Stability Mechanism that took over [...]

The European Union proves to be both an economic and political cooperation and block. It is made up of 28 independent European countries. There are several common representative institutions that bind the nations together. The European Council is a body that represents the various national governments. The citizens are represented by the European Parliament. The common interests of the Europeans [...]

The Eurozone is the economic and physical geographical area that covers all countries which have completely adopted the euro for their national currency. All Eurozone countries are in the European Union, but not all EU countries participate in the Eurozone. The ones that are a part of the Euro are also members of the European Central Bank. This Eurozone group [...]

The Eurozone Crisis proved to be the gravest threat facing the world back in 2011, per a warning issued by the OECD. The situation became even more perilous as it worsened in 2012. The crisis erupted seemingly from nowhere back in 2009. This was the point when the world finally woke up to the headlines that Greece could completely default [...]

Eviction involves the forced removal of a rental tenant from a landlord’s rental property. Other terms that convey the same or a similar meaning include repossession, summary possession, and ejection. Eviction proves to be the term most commonly utilized in landlord and tenant communications. Evictions can not simply happen without going through a legal process that could include an eviction [...]

Excess reserves represent a capital reserve which financial institutions such as banks hold. They keep more than what their overseeing regulators, internal control mechanisms, or creditors require. This is especially important for commercial banks. The reason is because the central banking authority within their jurisdiction sets their additional reserves by establishing a standard in reserve requirements. Such reserve ratios as [...]

In finance and business, exchange rates are also known as Forex Rates, foreign exchange rates, or FX rates. These exchange rates are the rates that are valid between two currencies. They are stated in terms of one currency’s value in the other currency. Such an exchange rate is also the foreign nation’s currency value as stated in the currency of [...]

Exchange Rate Mechanisms are systems that were established to maintain a certain range of exchange for currencies as measured against other currencies. These ERMs can be run in three different ways. On one extreme they can float freely. This permits the systems to trade without the central banks and governments intervening. The fixed Exchange rate mechanisms will do whatever it [...]

These ETF’s prove to be stock market exchange traded investment funds that work very much like stocks. Exchange Traded Funds contain instruments like commodities, stocks, and bonds. They trade for around the identical net asset value as the assets that they contain throughout the course of a day. The majority of ETF’s actually follow the value of an index like [...]

Expense ratio relates to the costs that a mutual fund incurs as it trades and does normal business. Typical mutual fund expense ratios include a number of different costs. Among these are management fees, transaction costs, custody costs, marketing fees, legal expenses, and transfer agent fees. Management fees comprise those charges that the fund pays to the company which handles [...]

Expenses refer to costs that business undergo in order to conduct their daily business operations, expand and grow their business, and acquire additional assets, property and factories. Firms are capable of investing their cash into a few different kinds of investments. They might buy a new building or some real estate. They could similarly purchase office or computer equipment for [...]

Experian is one of the three main credit reporting bureaus in the United States. As such it maintains a credit report, history, and FICO score on all adult Americans. The company does so much more than this most commonly understood function. The company is also an international leader for global business and consumer credit reporting as well as marketing services. [...]

The word export refers to a good or service that is sold and shipped out of a country. In business and economics terms, an export can be any kind of commodity or other good that is utilized in trade and transported out of one nation into another nation. These must be done in legal ways to qualify as exports. The [...]

Export quotas represent a specific limit which a nation or block of nations establishes on the quantity of goods which may be legally exported in a given amount of time. They are also referred to as export controls. The main reason why a nation would set such a quota on its exports centers on optimizing the domestically available supply. This [...]

Extendable Commercial Paper, also known by its acronym XCP, represents a promissory note that is unsecured and comes with a set maturity date which can not be longer than 270 days. This paper is also a money market form of security that major corporations issue and sell to raise funds for their short term needs, such as payroll obligations. The [...]