Compulsory government levies collected to pay for public spending. There are many different types of taxes (income, corporate, sales, wealth, payroll, and environmental taxes); each has a different impact on the economy, and on different groups within the economy.

Technology is the knowledge which humans collectively possess regarding how to produce goods and services in more efficient ways.

The ratio of the average price of a country’s exports, to the average price of its imports, is its terms of trade. In theory, an improvement in a country’s terms of trade raises its real income (since it can “convert” a given amount of its own output into a larger amount of consumable products through trade) – although in practice it depends on how those terms of trade gains are distributed.

Individuals who would like to be employed, and are actively seeking work, but cannot find a job, are considered “officially” unemployed. Individuals who are not working, but not actively looking for work, are considered to be outside of the labor force, and hence don’t count as “officially” unemployed.