21 terms were found starting with the letter n.

Nash Equilibrium

A set of strategies or actions in which each firm makes the best decision for itself that it can, taking the actions of its competitors as given.

Natural Capital

Same as environmental capital, which is the stock of natural resources and environmental assets. Includes water, soils, air, flora, fauna, minerals, and other natural resources.

Natural Monopoly

An industry in which there are increasing returns to size even when only one firm produces the industry’s total output. A special case of a monopoly. Occurs when the market demand curve crosses this one firm’s average total cost curve at a point where average total cost is still falling. In a natural monopoly, the market demand is not large enough to push the industry into the region of constant or decreasing returns.

Net Domestic Product (NDP)

Gross domestic product (GDP) minus depreciation of capital. In cases were green accounting is used, capital includes natural resources and the environment.

Net National Product (NNP)

Gross national product (GNP) minus depreciation of capital. In cases were green accounting is used, capital includes natural resources and the environment.

Net Present Value

The value of the future stream of benefits from an investment discounted to the present by means of a discount rate (or interest rate). The discount rate should reflect the opportunity cost of the resources devoted to the investment – what the resources could have earned if they had been invested elsewhere.

Nominal Protection Coefficient/Nominal Rate of Protection (NPC, NRP)

The degree of protection given to a good by tariffs and other restrictions on imports. Equal to the percentage amount by which the domestic price for that good exceeds the world price.

Nonexcludability

Occurs when it is not possible to prevent anyone from consuming a good or service once it has been made available to the public.

Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)

A privately owned and operated organization that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries in order to promote economic development, protection of the environment, or some other objective.

Nonperforming Assets

Assets that have no financial return.

Nonperforming Debt

A debt that has no financial return (i.e., no interest is being paid on it).

Nonperforming Loan

A loan where interest and/or principal payments are more than a certain number of days late (e.g., 30 days late or 90 days late).

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Pollution that reaches the environment at a large number of locations that either cannot be identified or monitored at all, or cannot be identified and monitored at a reasonable cost. Agricultural pollution is typically nonpoint source pollution. The opposite of nonpoint source pollution is point source pollution.

Nonrivalry

Occurs when one person’s consumption of a good or service does not reduce the quantity available for consumption by someone else.

Nontariff Trade Barrier

Regulations used by governments to restrict imports from, and exports to, other countries, including embargoes, import quotas, and technical barriers to trade.

Non-Use Value

An economic value attached to an environmental or natural resource that is not based on the tangible human use of the resource. Sometimes called a passive use value. Non-use values may include existence values, bequest values, altruistic values, and option values.

Normal Good

A good whose income elasticity of demand is positive, so that an increase in income leads to an increase in consumption of that good.

North

Another name for the high-income countries as a group.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

An agreement implemented in 1994 committing Canada, the U.S., and Mexico to the elimination of all tariffs, quotas, and other trade barriers between them before 2009. Trade relations with other countries are unaffected by NAFTA.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

A classification system developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to categorize business activities in a comparable manner across the three countries. NAICS has replaced the old U.S. SIC codes.

Notifications

The annual process by which member countries report to the World Trade Organization (WTO) information on commitments, changes in policies, and other related matters as required by various trade agreements.

30 terms were found starting with the letter m.

Malnutrition

Generally refers to an insufficient intake of energy, protein, or other nutrients to sustain normal growth and healthy activity. Sometimes also refers to a lack of one specific nutrient such as iron.

Marasmus

A disease of malnutrition in which a person suffers extreme emaciation due to depletion of bodily fat and protein reserves.

Marginal Benefit

The monetary value of the benefit associated with the consumption of one additional unit of a good or service.

Marginal Cost

The change in the total cost of production for some good or service caused by a one-unit increase in production.

Marginal Private Benefit

The monetary value of the benefit to a consumer from the consumption of one additional unit of a good or service.

Marginal Product

The change in total output in response to a one unit increase in the quantity of some input. For example, the marginal product of labor in wheat production is the increase in wheat output in response to a one unit increase in the amount of labor used to produce wheat.

Marginal Rate of Return

The rate of return on an additional dollar (or peso, Rupee, etc.) invested in some project or activity.

Marginal Social Benefit

The monetary value of the benefit to society at large associated with the consumption of one additional unit of a good or service.

Marginal Social Cost

The change in the total cost of production for some good or service plus the monetary value of the costs incurred by all other members of society associated with the production of one additional unit of that good or service.

Market Access

The extent to which a country permits imports. A variety of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers can be used to limit the entry of products from other countries.

Market Economy

An economy in which most goods and services are produced by the private sector rather than the public sector and in which prices of goods and services adjust according to the forces of supply and demand.

Market Equilibrium

A situation in which supply equals demand in the market for a good or service – that is, there is no excess supply or unmet demand at the going market price.

Market Failure

Occurs when externalities, oligopolies, oligopsonies, or some other force causes the theoretically beneficial properties of a free market equilibrium to break down. Equivalently, the failure of the market to allocate resources to the point where marginal social benefits equal marginal social costs.

Market Price Support

An indicator of the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to producers arising from policy measures creating a gap between domestic market prices and international prices of a specific commodity.

Marketed Surplus

The difference between the quantity of an agricultural product produced by a household and the quantity consumed by that same household – in other words, the amount sold on the market. Marketed surplus tends to be very small or zero in the case of subsistence crops, and tends to account for nearly all production in the case of cash crops.

Megatariffs

Extremely high tariffs that effectively cut off all imports other than any minimum access amounts granted under a trade agreement. In agriculture, some well-known examples of megatariffs include EU tariffs on dairy products, US tariffs on sugar, peanuts and dairy products, Canadian tariffs on dairy products and poultry, and Japanese tariffs on wheat, peanuts and dairy products.

Mercantilism

A seventeenth-century political philosophy which emphasized the importance of promoting foreign trade surpluses and securing commercial advantage over rival states.

MERCOSUR (Mercado Común del Sur)

The Common Market of the South (Mercado Común del Sur) created by the Treaty of Asuncion signed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay in 1991. Chile and Bolivia became associate members in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Metric ton

A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms or about 2205 pounds.

Microcredit

The extension of small loans for income-generating projects to entrepreneurs who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Middle-Income Country

A country with a medium level of per capita income compared to other countries.

Moderate Poverty

A situation in which a person or household lacks the resources to consume a certain minimum basket of goods consisting of food, clothing, housing and other essentials, even in the case where all resources are devoted to those essentials.

Money Illusion

Refers to the time lag between receiving increased money incomes and the realization that prices have all gone up, leaving consumers and firms no better off than they were before money incomes went up.

Money Market

The market for buying and selling short-term loanable funds such as certificates of deposit (CDs) and commercial paper. The market for long-term funds is typically referred to as the capital market.

Monopoly

A market for a good or service in which there is only one seller.

Monopsony

A market for a good or service in which there is only one buyer.

Moral Hazard

A situation in which the presence of insurance or some government policy weakens incentives for individuals, households or firms to behave prudently.

Most Favored Nation (MFN) Principle

A principle driving the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is a commitment to end discrimination in trade and to assure that any advantage granted to one trading partner must be extended to every member of the WTO.

Multifunctionality

A term used to indicate that agriculture can produce various non-commodity outputs in addition to food and fiber. Non-commodity outputs often mentioned in discussions about multifunctionality include landscape and open space amenities, rural economic viability, domestic food security, prevention of natural hazards, cultural heritage, and preservation of biodiversity.

Multinational Enterprise

A company with production or sales in at least one country besides its home country.

12 terms were found starting with the letter l.

Labor Productivity

The total quantity of output divided by the amount of labor used in production. Same as the average product of labor.

Labor-Augmenting Technical Change

Technical change that increases output by raising the productivity of labor. For example, information technologies that permit better managerial decisions could be interpreted in part as labor-augmenting technical change.

Land Productivity

The total quantity of output divided by the amount of land used in production (in other words, yield). Same as the average product of land.

Land-Augmenting Technical Change

Technical change that increases output by raising the productivity of land. For example, an improved crop variety that increases yields could be interpreted as land-augmenting technical change.

Large Country

In economics, a country that is large enough economically for its international transactions to have a significant impact on world prices. The U.S. is an example of a large country.

Law of Diminishing Returns

The tendency, beyond a certain point, for the marginal product of an input to fall as additional amounts of that input are used, holding constant production technologies and the quantities of other inputs into production. Furthermore, beyond a certain point, the average product also falls.

Law of One Price

The idea that, if there were no government restrictions on trade, the price of an internationally traded good in one country would be the same as the price in another, taking into account transportation costs.

Learning-by-Doing

The acquisition of human capital through on-the-job experience in doing tasks and producing goods and services.

Less-Developed Country

Another name for a low-income country or middle-income country, that is, a country with a relatively low or middle level of per capita income.

Long Run

A time horizon over which all inputs into production are variable and none are fixed.

Lorenz Curve

A diagram showing the cumulative percentage of national income received (or percentage of national consumption expenditures paid) by a certain percentage of individuals or households. The purpose of the diagram is to depict the difference of actual income or expenditures from perfect equality among individuals or households.

Low-Income Country

A country with a relatively low level of per capita income.

2 terms were found starting with the letter k.

Kuznets Curve

An “inverted U” relationship between a country’s per capita income and the degree of inequality in its income distribution. The distribution of income first worsens during the course of economic growth and then later improves.

Kwashiorkor

Severe malnutrition, especially in children, characterized by anemia, edema (swelling of tissue), potbelly, depigmentation of the skin, and loss of hair or change in hair color.