Work, Trade & Technology

Module Vocab & Key Topics

Wage

The price paid for labor, usually expressed as an hourly rate, salary, or other payment for work.

Labor Supply

The number of workers willing and able to work at different wage levels.

Labor Demand

The number of workers employers are willing and able to hire at different wage levels.

Minimum Wage

The lowest wage employers are legally allowed to pay covered workers.

Income

Money received over a period of time from work, business activity, investments, or other sources.

Wealth

The value of what a person owns minus what they owe at a specific point in time.

Assets

Items of value a person, business, or government owns, such as savings, property, or investments.

Liabilities

Debts or financial obligations owed to someone else.

Income Distribution

The way total income is divided across people or households in an economy.

Quintiles

Five equal-sized groups used to compare shares of income or wealth across a population.

Income Mobility

Movement up or down through income classes over time.

Discrimination

Unequal treatment based on traits such as race, gender, age, or background rather than skill or productivity.

Labor Union

An organization that represents workers when negotiating wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Collective Bargaining

Negotiation between workers acting as a group and an employer over pay, benefits, and workplace rules.

Strike

A coordinated work stoppage used by workers to increase bargaining power in a labor dispute.

Exports

Goods and services sold by people or businesses in one country to buyers in another country.

Imports

Goods and services bought from sellers in other countries.

Net Exports

Exports minus imports; a positive result is a trade surplus and a negative result is a trade deficit.

Tariff

A tax on imported goods that raises their price and protects some domestic producers while increasing costs for consumers.

Protectionism

Government policies that restrict trade to help domestic industries, often through tariffs, quotas, or subsidies.

Comparative Advantage

The ability to produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than another producer.

Opportunity Cost

The value of the best alternative given up when making a choice.

Specialization

Focusing production on goods or services where a person, business, or country has an advantage.

Terms of Trade

The rate at which one good or service can be exchanged for another in a trade.

Globalization

The growing connection of economies through trade, technology, investment, information, and culture across the world.

Regionalization

Deeper economic cooperation among countries within a specific region or trade bloc.

Exchange Rate

The price of one currency expressed in terms of another currency.

Currency Depreciation

A decrease in a currency's value compared with another currency, making imports more expensive and exports cheaper for foreign buyers.

Profit Motive

The incentive for businesses to innovate, cut costs, and improve products in order to earn profit.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Technology that allows computers to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence, such as recognizing patterns, generating content, or making predictions.

E-commerce

Buying and selling goods or services online through digital platforms, websites, or apps.

Transaction Costs

The costs of making an exchange, including finding buyers or sellers, arranging payment, and building trust.

Digital Divide

The gap between people with reliable access to digital technology and skills and those without that access.