Foundations & Markets
This economic concept refers to the limited nature of society's resources compared to unlimited human wants.
What is Scarcity?
This major economic indicator measures the total dollar value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific year.
What is GDP (Gross Domestic Product)?
This form must be completed annually by students to determine their eligibility for federal financial aid for college.
What is the FAFSA?
This three-digit number rates your creditworthiness and dictates the interest rates you will pay on loans.
What is a Credit Score?
This powerful financial mathematical phenomenon allows you to earn interest on your initial investment plus interest on the interest already accumulated.
What is Compound Interest?
This represents the value of the next best alternative you give up when making a choice.
What is Opportunity Cost?
This term describes a general, sustained rise in prices across the economy, which reduces consumer purchasing power.
What is Inflation?
This document is completed by an employee so their employer knows exactly how much federal income tax to withhold from their paycheck.
What is a W-4 Form?
This financial rule of thumb dictates which debts you should target first to pay the least amount of total money over time.
What is paying the highest interest debt first?
This form of intellectual property law protects inventions, such as new machines or manufacturing processes, from being copied.
What is a Patent?
In this specific type of economic system, a central government authority answers all "Big 3" economic questions.
What is a Command Economy?
This is the central bank of the United States, responsible for adjusting monetary policy depending on the state of the economy.
What is the Federal Reserve (The Fed)?
This type of income is earned from investments, interest, or rental properties, rather than from an active hourly wage or salary.
What is Passive Income?
This legal contract is a specific type of loan used exclusively to finance the purchase of a home.
What is a Mortgage?
This type of high-volatility digital asset uses cryptography to secure financial transactions.
What is Cryptocurrency (or Crypto)?
This specific market situation is reached when the quantity of a good demanded by buyers perfectly equals the quantity supplied by sellers.
What is Equilibrium Price?
This category of government spending funding is optional and must be approved by Congress each year, unlike mandatory spending.
What is Discretionary Spending?
This financial institution operates as a non-profit cooperative owned by its members, often offering lower fees than traditional banks.
What is a Credit Union?
This type of mortgage features an interest rate that stays exactly the same for the entire life of the loan.
What is a Fixed-Rate Mortgage?
This specific component of an auto or health insurance policy represents the out-of-pocket amount the policyholder must pay before the insurance company covers a claim.
What is a Deductible?
This term describes the incentive that drives entrepreneurs to take risks, which directly affects how producers behave in a market economy.
What is the Profit Motive?
These are items, like streetlights or national defense, that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, meaning anyone can use them without reducing their availability.
What is a Public Good?
This popular budgeting strategy dictates that you allocate 50% of your income to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings.
What is the 50/30/20 Rule?
This mandatory document must be given to consumers by lenders to disclose all interest rates, fees, and terms of a credit card account.
What is a Credit Disclosure Statement (or Schumer Box)?
This legal estate-planning document outlines exactly how a person's assets should be distributed after their death.
What is a Will?