Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Economics for University

This comprehensive bilingual glossary provides essential translations for accounting, finance, banking, and corporate terms from English to Spanish.

A

• Accounting: Contabilidad
• Active: Activo
• Act: Acto
• Achivement: Logro
• Adviser's office: Asesoría
• Acquisition: Adquisición
• Advantages: Ventajas
• Advisory: Asesor
• Aims: Objetivos
• Appeal: Atractivo
• Article: Artículo
• Asset: Activos
• Audit: Auditoría
• Auditor: Auditor
• Available: Disponible

B

• Backfire: Fracasar
• Backup: Reservas
• Balance sheet: Balance
• Balance: Saldo
• Bank: Banco
• Banknotes: Billetes
• Bankrupt: Bancarrota
• Barter: Trueque
• Bearish: Bajista/Pesimista
• Bearer: Portador
• Behalf: Beneficio
• Behavior: Comportamiento
• Belongings: Bienes
• Bid: Oferta
• Bill: Billete
• Board: Junta
• Bond: Bono
• Bondholder: Obligacionista
• Borrow: Pedir prestado
• Branch:

International Monetary System

The international monetary system comprises the institutions under which payments are made for transactions that cross national boundaries. It determines how foreign exchange rates are set and how governments can influence these rates.

Core Objectives

• To promote and finance international trade.
• To smooth adjustments to economic shocks.

Exchange Rate Systems

The central element involves the arrangements by which exchange rates are set. There are three major systems:

• Fixed exchange rate
• Flexible (floating) exchange rates
• Managed exchange rate

The Classical Gold Standard (1717–1933)

Under the Gold Standard, each country defined the value of its currency in terms of a fixed amount of gold. Exchange rates were determined by...

Economic Systems of Resource Allocation

There are two primary systems of resource allocation, representing different forms of organization to answer fundamental economic questions:

• System of Authority: The state or a central entity makes the decisions.
• Market System: The market and prices respond to the three basic economic questions.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Human requirements appear in succession, starting with the most elementary, physiological types. As one level is satisfied, higher-level, more psychological needs emerge. Access to higher-level needs depends on an individual's comfort level. While all people have basic needs, this does not guarantee the attainment of self-actualization.

Furthermore, the order in which Maslow ranked these...

International Logistics Fundamentals

International Logistics is the design and management of a system that controls the flow of materials into, within, and outside the international corporation.

The International Logistics Environment

International logistics involves the concept of exchange systems and the definition of total cost. The impact of international logistics is significant:

• Costs represent between 10% and 15% of the total import cost of an international order.
• Globalization has increased the length of the value chain.
• Currency fluctuation is a basic weakness in international logistics.
• Most national or domestic transportation is conducted by truck or rail.
• Multinational corporations frequently send their goods by air or sea.

Key Components

Theories of the Firm

Business economics studies the existence of firms by examining how agents decide to use their scarce resources.

In a market-regulated pricing system, an agent can buy or sell at a price equilibrium. If the market worked efficiently, the existence of firms might seem unnecessary. However, companies exist because the market doesn't always function perfectly.

There are four major areas in the theories of the firm: transaction cost theory, agency theory, strategic management, and business organizational cooperation.

Theory of the Firm: A Basic Production Unit

The theory of the firm views the company as the basic production unit, aiming to maximize profit. It utilizes productive factors and sources of supply of goods and services....

Production Planning and Scheduling Relationships

1. How are the Production Plan, the Master Production Plan, and Production Scheduling related?

In the Production Plan, long-term strategies of the company are defined according to sales estimates and the availability of financial and productive resources. These plans are generally less detailed and are divided into product families. In the Master Production Plan (MPP), medium-term commitments are defined for the manufacturing and assembling of goods and services. These are established based on production and sales forecasts for the medium term or confirmed orders in the book. Instead of involving broad families of products, the MPP focuses on specific items within those families.

In the Production

Core Accounting Concepts

Transactions

Financial transactions that the company made in the development of its business: buying and selling of goods and services, payments, and collections.

Accounting

Science that measures, assesses, and records the transactions made by the company to provide information to certain persons (users). It focuses on economic resources, leaving aside the human dimension.

Quantifiable Elements

Means that all the elements forming the assets should be valued in monetary units. Property and rights represent the positive, and obligations represent the negative:

• Wealth = Assets + Rights - Obligations

Assets and Liabilities

Each and every one of the items or components that make up the assets of the company, including assets, rights,...

Monetary Policy: Definition and Function

Monetary policy is an economic policy that uses money as a control variable to ensure and maintain economic stability. To achieve this, monetary authorities utilize mechanisms such as varying the interest rate and participating in the money market.

When applied to increase the amount of money in circulation, it is called expansionary monetary policy, and when applied to decrease it, it is called restrictive monetary policy.

Core Objectives of Monetary Policy

• Maintaining a stable value of money.
• Achieving Full Employment (the highest possible level of employment).
• Avoiding continuing disparities in the balance of payments.

Key Mechanisms of Monetary Control

The central bank can influence the amount of money and...

Accounting Standards

One of the objectives of Financial Accounting is to prepare financial statements for external users. Since this information, prepared by companies, significantly influences the decisions of users, it has been considered necessary to normalize the principles and rules used in its preparation. Accounting standards ensure that the accounting information disclosed complies with minimum standards of quantity and quality, setting quality requirements, the format to be disseminated, and the principles and rules of valuation to be used.

Spanish accounting standards are primarily contained in business law (Commercial Code, Corporations Law, etc.). The General Accounting Plan 2007 and the General Plan Small Business Accounting 2007...

Mercantilism

Mercantilism is a set of economic ideas that considers the prosperity of a nation or state to depend on its capital, specifically the precious metals held in its power.

Physiocracy

Physiocracy claimed the existence of a natural law, ensuring the economic system would function without government intervention.

Marxist Economic Theory

Marx studied the economy through "historical materialism," where the evolution of society is explained by economic factors. The most important consideration in any historical period is the dominant system of production and distribution.

Surplus Value and Labor

Marx maintained that all wealth is produced by the worker, who remains at the mercy of the capitalist surplus value: the benefit gained by the employer...