Key Economic Terms for Global Trade, Industry & Resources

Key Economic Terms and Definitions

Economy

System that organizes the use of a country's resources.

Economic system

Way a society organizes its economy.

Economic agent

Person or institution that participates in economic activity.

Globalization

A process of integration that affects economic, political, and cultural systems across geographical boundaries.

Resource

Thing a person or country has that can be used for economic benefit.

Goods

Objects that have a use or value for the person who possesses them.

Factor of production

Resource used to produce goods or offer services.

Supply

Goods and services that are available for sale.

Demand

Goods and services that consumers want to buy.

Unemployment benefit

Money unemployed people receive from the government.

Teleworking

Working from home or another location using telecommunications.

ICT (information and communication technology)

Technologies for collecting, storing, processing, analyzing, and transmitting information.

Trade union

Organization that defends workers' rights.

Collective agreement

Contract that sets out the working conditions for employees that have been agreed between trade unions and employers' associations.

Multinational

Company or organization that operates in several or many different countries.

Trade

Activities related to buying and selling goods and services.

Tariff

Tax on a product imported from another country.

UN

International organization that was founded in 1945. It has 192 member states and promotes world peace and international cooperation.

Secondary sector

Economic sector that consists of construction and industry.

Raw material

Resource that is transformed into finished or semi-finished products by means of an industrial process.

Energy source

Natural resource that provides the necessary power to operate machines.

Finished product

Industrial product that is ready for consumption.

Semi-finished product

Industrial product used as raw material in other industries.

Concrete

Very hard building material.

Microchip

Small piece of silicon with an electronic circuit inside.

Pulses

Vegetables like peas, beans, chickpeas, and lentils.

Industrial crop

Crop that is grown to be processed by industries.

Fodder crop

Crop cultivated for animal feed.

Dehesa

Grassland with trees; some of the trees are cut so that animals can graze and crops can be grown.

Esparto grass

Plant with long, tough leaves used to make rope, fibre mats, and pulp for the production of paper.

Aquaculture

Farming of saltwater and freshwater fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants.

Metal mining

Extracting minerals with a high metal content from the ground.

Industrial rock

Generic term for materials like clay that are used as raw materials for industry.

Quarry

Mining operation where rocks and similar materials for construction are extracted from open ground.