M
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Machinery And Equipment | One form of fixed capital asset, consisting of machines, computers, transportation equipment, assembly lines, and other equipment. Investment in machinery and equipment is considered crucial for productivity growth. |
| Macroeconomics | The study of aggregate economic indicators such as GDP growth, employment, unemployment, and inflation. It distinguishes from microeconomics, which focuses on individual businesses or industries. |
| Major Trading Partner | In international trading, a country or group of countries with which one country trades more than with others. |
| Managerial Economics | A branch of economics applying economic methods in managerial decision-making. Aims to provide a framework for decisions maximizing profits and outcomes for a company. |
| Managers | Top managers and directors of larger companies responsible for initiating and organizing production, disciplining workers, and reporting to shareholders on business performance. |
| Marginal Cost | The additional increase in total cost when one more unit of output is produced. |
| Marginal Product Of Labour | The change in output resulting from employing an added unit of labor, a feature of the production function dependent on existing physical capital and labor. |
| Marginal Propensity To Consume | A metric quantifying induced consumption, representing the increase in personal consumer spending with an increase in disposable income. |
| Marginal Revenue | The additional income earned from selling one more unit of a good; sometimes equal to price. |
| Marginal Utility | The change in total utility resulting from consuming the next unit of a good or service. It can be positive or negative. |
| Marginal Value | A value that holds true given particular constraints, the change in a value associated with a specific change in some variable, or the ratio of the change of a dependent variable to that of the independent variable. |
| Marginalism | A theory of economics explaining the value of goods and services by reference to their secondary, or marginal, utility. |
| Market | A composition of systems, institutions, or social relations facilitating the exchange of goods and services between buyers and sellers. |
| Market Basket | A bundle of goods and services selected to measure inflation, such as the Consumer Price Index. |
| Market Economy | An economy where most economic activity occurs in markets with minimal government interference, often referred to as a laissez-faire economic system. |
| Market Failures | Situations where markets deliver socially non-optimal outcomes, often caused by factors like asymmetric information and public goods. |
| Market Income | A household’s total pre-tax income obtained from formal economic activities, excluding government transfer payments. |
| Market Production | The term used by economists to describe when one individual offers to make or sell something to another individual at an agreeable price. |
| Market Socialism | A form of socialism where productive companies are owned publicly or by non-profit entities but interact through markets and competition. |
| Market Structure | The organization of a market considering the number of firms and the nature of goods offered, whether identical, similar, or differentiated. |
| Market System | Any systematic process enabling market players to offer and demand, encompassing the entire system surrounding the price mechanism. |
| Markets | Places where buyers and sellers come together to trade money for goods or services. |
| Mercantilism | An economic theory from pre-capitalist times asserting that a country’s prosperity depends on generating large surpluses in foreign trade. |
| Microeconomics | The study of the economic behavior of individual agents, such as companies, workers, or households. |
| Migration | The movement of people from one country or region to another, often motivated by economic factors or other forces. |
| Monetarism | Originally, a right-wing economic theory associated with controlling inflation by strictly managing money supply growth. More broadly, it emphasizes controlling inflation through disciplined policies. |
| Monetary Policy | The use of interest rate adjustments and other tools by the government and central bank to influence credit flow, economic growth, and job creation. |
| Monetary System | A system by which a government provides money in a country’s economy, including the treasury, mint, central banks, and commercial banks. |
| Monetary Targeting | A policy attempting to directly limit the growth of the total money supply in the economy, mainly used by strict monetarists. |
| Money | Anything used as a means of payment, including currency, bank deposits, credit cards, and electronic payment methods. |
| Money Supply | The total volume of money held by the public in an economy at a particular point in time, including currency, coins, and various deposits. |
| Monopolistic Competition | A market situation where many firms with slightly different products compete, benefiting from product differentiation but with production costs higher than perfectly competitive firms. |
| Monopoly | A market structure where a single seller or producer dominates the entire market, often leading to reduced competition and higher prices. |
| Monopsony | A market structure where a single buyer substantially controls the market as the major purchaser of goods and services. |
| Mortgage | Credit used for financing property or long-lasting structures, usually longer-term in duration. |
| Multinational Corporation (MNC) | A company operating in multiple countries, engaging in global business activities such as production, marketing, and sales. |
| Multiplier | An initial spending stimulus resulting in a larger final increase in total spending, production, and employment in the economy. The strength depends on factors like the type of spending and importance of imports. |
| Mutual Fund | A financial vehicle pooling investments in shares of various companies to reduce risk and costs associated with investing in corporate shares. Investors buy units in the mutual fund and receive a pro-rated portion of the total income. |
| Market Capitalization | The total value of a company’s outstanding shares, calculated by multiplying the stock’s market price by the total number of shares. |
| Market Structure | The organizational and competitive characteristics of a market, including the number of firms, competition level, and entry or exit ease. |
| Money Market | A financial market where short-term, low-risk debt securities are bought and sold, including Treasury bills, commercial paper, and certificates of deposit. |
| Moral Hazard | The risk that one party may take excessive risks when shielded from the consequences, often arising from asymmetric information or lack of incentives to act prudently. |
| Multinational Corporation (MNC) | A company operating in multiple countries, engaging in global business activities such as production, marketing, and sales. |
| Milton Friedman | An influential economist known for advocating free-market principles and monetarism, receiving the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1976. |