Applied English for International
Politics (Seibert)
Chapter 14 and 15 Vocabulary --------- Quiz on Friday, November 8, 2002
| merchandise (n) | goods or products bought and sold; tangibles |
| services (n) | intangible; work done by people for pay (designing things, programming computers, teaching, designing buildings, serving food, etc.) |
| booming (adj) | very successful; increasing rapidly (business) |
| the industrial revolution (n) | the major social and economic changes that resulted from the invention of machines and factories in the late 18th century |
| standard of living (n) | the wealth, comfort and goods a person, group or country has (can be "high", "low", etc.) |
| resources (n) | assets; things that help or support |
| raw materials (n) | materials used to manufacture other products; e.g., wool, wood, etc.; sometimes the same as natural resources |
| natural resources (n) | minerals and forests |
| materialism (n); materialistic (adj) | the belief that getting possessions and money is the most important thing in life |
| capital (n) | financial resources; money to do business and operate |
| self-sufficiency (n) | being able to take care of oneself without help |
| rate of inflation (n) | the percent that prices of goods and services increase in a certain period |
| reserves (n) |
money (or other things) saved back for future use or emergencies |
| balance of payments (n) | the comparison between the money that goes out of a country and the money that come in (as a result of trade, tourism, sales, etc.) |
| surplus (n) | more of something than is needed (money, merchandise, food, etc.) |
| output (n) | the amount produced or manufactured |
| (product) dumping (n) | selling merchandise abroad for less than the price at home |
| majority ownership requirements (n) | laws that require that a portion of a business must be owned by certain people (e.g., "50% of the owners must be citizens of the country") |
| economic espionage (n) | spying on companies |
| tax breaks | reduced taxes as economic incentives |
| NICs | Newly Industrializing Countries (e.g., Singapore or Taiwan) |
| Group of 77 = G 77 (now 133) | 77 less developed countries "southern" countries who at a 1963 conference asked for more fairness in North-South trade |
| Group of 7 = G7 | the 7 economically-largest free market countries: Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the U.S. and Germany |
| downsizing (n); to downsize (v) | reducing the number of workers in a company; to lay off workers |