Unit 2 Macro: Trade and Balance of Payments Glossary

A short glossary of some international trade and balance of payments key terms for AS macro

Balance of Payments (BoP)
The total of all the money coming into a country from abroad less all of the money going out of the country during the same period

Beggar my Neighbour
This is an economic policy that seeks to promote a nation’s economy at the expense of another country. An obvious example is the use of import tariff barriers. A country may place tariff on imports to help promote local domestic industry. This may help local unemployment, but, be at the expense of the other country’s export sector

Capital flight
The rapid movement of large sums of money out of a country. There could be several possible reasons - lack of confidence in a country’s economy and/or its currency and political turmoil. The result can be a sharp downward movement in a currency.

Capital flows
Movements of capital between countries. Outward capital flows are movements of domestically-owned capital abroad; inward capital flows are movement of foreign-owned capital to the domestic economy

Competitive devaluation
When a country tries to devalue its currency to increase its competitiveness. However, this often encourages other countries to also devalue leading to only temporary increases in the competitiveness of exports.

Competitiveness
Cost and non-price factors that make a business successful in international markets

Creeping protectionism
A period of time where import tariff rates rise and where countries introduce quotas and barriers to the mobility of labour and capital

Countervailing tariffs
Tariffs (duties) that are imposed by a country to counteract subsidies provided to a foreign producer or to counter-act the perceived effects of export dumping

Current account
Balance of trade in goods, services, net transfers of money & net investment income

OECD Economic Outlook Database (version 88) from Timetric

Dumping
When a producer in one country exports a product to another country at a price which is below the price it charges in its home market or is below its costs of production

Export revenue
Sales from selling goods and services overseas

FDI
Foreign direct investment from overseas businesses into a specific country

Foreign exchange reserves
The reserves of gold or foreign currencies (e.g. US dollars or Euros) typically held by central banks on behalf of their national government

Free trade
Ability of people to undertake trade with people in other countries free from any restraints imposed by governments or other regulators

United Kingdom from Timetric

Globalisation
The deepening of relationships between countries of the world reflected in an increasing level of overseas trade and investment.

Import
A good or a service produced overseas but domestic in domestic markets. Imports are a leakage of demand from the circular flow

Infant industry
New industry that requires government protection from overseas competition (for instance through the setting of import tariffs) in order to develop

Investment income
Interest, profits and dividends from assets owned and located overseas

Mercantilism
The notion that the wealth of a nation was based on how much it could export in excess of its imports, and thereby accumulate precious metals. Applied in the modern context to countries accumulating huge trade surpluses in goods or services and focusing on export-led growth

NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement - a free trade area agreement signed by the US, Canada and Mexico

Net Trade
The balance between the value of exports and imports

United Kingdom from Timetric

Overseas assets
Assets such as businesses, shares, property which are owned in overseas countries and which can generate a flow of investment income which is a credit item on the current account of the balance of payments.

Protectionism
The use of tariff and non-tariff restrictions on imports to protect domestic producers from foreign competition

Punitive tariff
An extra tariff charged on goods going into or out of a country, that is introduced because a country has done business in an illegal or unfair way

Remittances
The sending of money to people in another country. For many lower-income nations, remittance income is now a big contribution to their Gross National Income (GNI)

Sovereign wealth fund (SWF)
A government or state run fund usually created by profits from natural resources such as oil, gas or minerals. Highly secretive, their assets grew dramatically when oil prices rose to record levels. Some of the largest SWFs are in the oil-rich Middle East

Tariff
A tax on imported products which may be ad valorem (%) or a specific tax

World Trade Organisation
The WTO oversees trade agreements, negotiations and disputes between member countries
Trade deficit
When a country imports a greater value of goods and services than it exports.

Trade surplus
When the value of exports exceeds the value of imports in a given time period

United Kingdom from Timetric

Unit 3 Micro: How eBaY boosts World Trade [8 Jun 2013]
Unit 3 Micro: Vodafone and Corporation Tax [8 Jun 2013]
Unit 3 Micro: Debt Rises at Network Rail [8 Jun 2013]
Unit 3 Micro: Business Economics Key Term Glossary [2 Jun 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Brazil Writes Off $900m of African Debt [27 May 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Linda Yueh - New Column on the Global Economy [10 May 2013]
Cover to Cover - Ten Stories from the FT [8 May 2013]
A2 Macro: Competitiveness problems in Singapore? Surely not! [5 May 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Growth and Development Challenges for China [18 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Taking the Pulse of Africa - Growth Outlook is Good [16 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Graphic Illustration of Global Inequality [13 Apr 2013]
Paul Ormerod: Sovereign debt and Euro zone reality [11 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Research on the Economics of Migration [11 Apr 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Investment in UK Economy Remains Low [8 Apr 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Interest Rates [6 Apr 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: The Great Productivity Puzzle [5 Apr 2013]
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Trade (1) [4 Apr 2013]
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Protectionism (1) [4 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment in Germany - The Hartz Reforms [4 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Growth and Development in Angola [3 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment in Europe (March 2013 Update) [2 Apr 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Fresh Serving of Acronym Soup - ZIRPs and PLOGs [2 Apr 2013]
Revision Quiz: AS Economics: Balance of Payments (1) [1 Apr 2013]
Revision Quiz: AS Economics: Economic Growth (1) [1 Apr 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Growth and Development in Mongolia [31 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Revise and Test - Aid and Micro Finance [31 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: FDI in Africa [29 Mar 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Revise and Test - Aggregate Demand [28 Mar 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Revise and Test - Macro Objectives [27 Mar 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Revise and Test - National Income [27 Mar 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Revise and Test - The Circular Flow [27 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Trade Costs Higher for Developing Countries [17 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Growth and Development in South Korea [13 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: New research on fiscal austerity and the sovereign debt crisis [1 Mar 2013]
Paul Ormerod: What would Keynes have said?  Ouija board active! [1 Mar 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: China’s Presence in Europe [26 Feb 2013]
Spring 2013 A2 Macro Revision Workshops [24 Feb 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Slow Export Growth Hampers UK Recovery [11 Feb 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Abenomics - Changing Monetary Policy in Japan [10 Feb 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: China’s Mass Internal Migration [10 Feb 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: The UK Economy and the Euro [10 Feb 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: The UK Economy Outside of the Euro Area [4 Feb 2013]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Resources on the German Economy [3 Feb 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Global Economic Power Shift Continues [28 Jan 2013]
Unit 3 Micro: Samsung surges ahead in global smartphone sales [27 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Business Taxes - A Race to the Bottom? [27 Jan 2013]
Scoop It Board for IB Balance of Payments [26 Jan 2013]
UK Economy - Triple Dip Recession Looms Large [25 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Data Charts on the Euro Economy [21 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Fair Trade and Micro Finance - Spurs to Development? [20 Jan 2013]
econoMAX - Banana Wars are finally over! [19 Jan 2013]
Sweden issues international garlic smuggling warrant [19 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Micro Credit and Development [18 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Land Grabs and Development [18 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Overseas Aid and Economic Development - Debt Relief and Debt Cancellation [17 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Smarter Ways of Measuring Trade in a Globalised World [16 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Overseas Aid and Economic Development - Benefits and Costs [15 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Overseas Aid and Economic Development - Basic Background [14 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Broader Economic Benefits of Trade [14 Jan 2013]
Teaching Macro: Charts on the US Economy [13 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Fair Trade and Development [12 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Sources of Comparative Advantage [11 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) [9 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP and PPP Adjustments [8 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Economic Growth - the Solow Model [6 Jan 2013]
Unit 1 Micro: Flood Defence for Venice - a Public Good? [4 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Links on International Financial Flows and Development [3 Jan 2013]
Prospects for the UK Economy in 2013 [2 Jan 2013]
econoMAX - Has the Global Economy become a Bloc-o-holic? [1 Jan 2013]
Unit 4 Macro: Britain’s Future in the European Union [27 Dec 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Brazil - economic slowdown continues [26 Dec 2012]
Less Globally Connected Than Before? [20 Dec 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Top Firms Target the Rich [17 Dec 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: The effect of immigration on wages and prices [14 Dec 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Tax Changes to Boost Growth [12 Dec 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Tesco Goes West - Failure in the USA [11 Dec 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Mo Tanweer - Debunking the Myths of China [27 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Paul Collier on Key Development Issues [26 Nov 2012]
Boosting GDP in a downturn- generating regional growth in India [22 Nov 2012]
Peter Marsh - A New Industrial Revolution [21 Nov 2012]
Macro Policy: A Lost Decade for the West? [19 Nov 2012]
Bangladesh: As good as it looks on paper? [18 Nov 2012]
Scoop.It Boards become more popular with Economics teachers [15 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: UK to End Financial Aid to India from 2015 [12 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Looking to 2060: A Global Vision of Long-term Growth [11 Nov 2012]
Student Collaboration using Pinterest [9 Nov 2012]
Chocolate Passion - Grown in St Lucia, Made in Cambridge [9 Nov 2012]
Paul Ormerod: Our Friends in the North are trapped in a monetary union [8 Nov 2012]
Unit 4: Currency Markets [8 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Revision Prezi on International Trade and Development [4 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Changing Patterns of Exports [4 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Teaching Trade in a Different Way [4 Nov 2012]
Student View: Aggreko - Turning short-term solutions into long-term profit [1 Nov 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Micro Finance, Fair Trade and Development [31 Oct 2012]
Rural life in China - never had it so good [29 Oct 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Ford announces the closure of UK assembly plants [26 Oct 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Can UK Exporters Boost the Recovery? [24 Oct 2012]
Peter Marsh - A New Industrial Revolution [24 Oct 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Wage Inflation and Chinese Competitiveness and Growth [15 Oct 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Perspectives on Natural Resource Curses [13 Oct 2012]

AS & A2 Economics Revision / Exam Coaching Workshops Coming Up:

Monday 11 March 2013 - Portsmouth (Vue, Gunwharf Quays)
Wednesday 13 March 2013 - Fulham (Vue, Fulham Broadway)
Thursday 14 March 2013 - Stratford City (Vue, Westfield)
Friday 15 March 2013 - Bristol (Vue, Cribbs Causeway)
Monday 18 March 2013 - Birmingham (Vue, Star City)
Tuesday 19 March 2013 - Manchester (Vue, Salford Quays)
Thursday 21 March 2013 - Newcastle (Odeon, Metro Centre)
Friday 22 March 2013 - Leeds (Vue, The Light)
Monday 22 April 2013 - Stratford City (Vue, Westfield)

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