27 terms were found starting with the letter b.

Balance of Payments

A country’s financial ledger showing all receipts from other countries and all payments to other countries.

Balance of Payments Deficit

When a country’s total export earnings fall short of its spending on imports.

Balloon Loan

A loan repayment scheme under which repayments in later years (or months) are larger than repayments in earlier years (or months). In some cases, the entire loan may be repaid at maturity.

Barriers to Entry

Restrictions imposed on any new enterprise wishing to start up business in a given field. Such barriers may be legal, bureaucratic, financial, or economic.

Barriers to Trade

Restrictions on international trade such as quotas or tariffs that prevent a firm from making an international purchase or sale.

Barter

The exchange of one good or service directly for another good or service. No money is used in the exchange.

Basic Needs

The basic goods and services (food, clothing, housing, etc.) necessary to achieve some minimum standard of living.

Basis

In economics, the difference between the current cash price and the futures price of a commodity.

Basis Point

Equal to one hundredth of a percentage point (0.01 percent) of yield.

Bear

In economics and finance, someone who thinks market prices will decline.

Beggar-thy-Neighbor Policy

A protectionist trade policy that seeks to increase domestic employment without regard to the fact that any such gain in domestic employment must come at the expense of losses in employment in the country’s trading partners.

Bequest Value

The economic value attached to preserving an environmental or natural resource for future generations.

Best Available Technology/Best Control Technology

In environmental policy, refers to the use of state-of-the-art control and treatment technology to achieve the lowest possible emissions rate.

Best Management Practices (BMPs)

In environmental policy, refers to the use of state-of-the-art management practices to achieve the lowest possible emissions rate.

Bilateral Trade Agreement

A trade agreement that two countries undertake, often to reduce tariffs and quotas on items between themselves. They are free to implement different trade policies with respect to other countries.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

A measure of the amount of pollution caused by organic substances in water. (The technical definition is the number of milligrams of oxygen required by microorganisms to oxidize the organics in a liter of water.)

Biodiversity

The diversity of living things in a particular area or region. There are three general kinds of biodiversity: habitat diversity (the variety of places within an area where life exists), genetic diversity (the variety of populations that comprise each species), and species diversity (the number and variety of species).

Biotechnology

A technology that modifies the natural evolution of living systems to develop products for commercial or other purposes.

Black Market

The process of buying and selling a good or service at a price greater than the legal maximum set by the government or lower than the legal minimum set by the government. Also refers to buying or selling a good or service outlawed by the government.

Border Price

The price of an internationally traded good at the country’s border or port of entry.

Borrowing Constraint

A limit imposed by a lender on the amount an individual, household or firm can borrow. Depending on the situation, the constraint may be binding (someone borrows up to their limit) or non-binding (someone borrows less than their limit).

Bound Tariff Rates

Tariff rates resulting from GATT negotiations or accessions that are incorporated as a part of a country’s schedule of concessions. Bound rates are enforceable under GATT. If a GATT party raises a tariff above the bound rate, the affected countries countries have the right to retaliate against an equivalent value of the offending country’s exports or receive compensation, usually in the form of reduced tariffs of other products they export to the offending country.

Brady Bond

A bond created when existing developing country debt is converted into new debt. The new bond typically has worse terms for an investor than the old bond (a smaller face value or a lower interest rate), but the new bond may be viewed as a more secure investment.

Brain Drain

The emigration of highly educated workers from developing countries to developed countries.

Budget Share

The share of an individual’s or household’s income spent on some good or service (e.g., food).

Buffer Stocks

Supplies of a product held by a country or an international organization to moderate fluctuations in the price of some commodity. Stocks are typically sold during periods of high prices and bought during periods of low prices.

Bull

In economics and finance, someone who thinks market prices will rise.