Pigovian tax 庇古税
A tax enacted to correct the effects of a negative externality
 
Positive statements 实证表述
Claims that attempt to describe the world as it is
 
Poverty line 贫困线
An absolute level of income set by the federal government for each family size below which a family is deemed to be in poverty
 
Poverty rate 贫困率
The percentage of the population whose family income falls below an absolute level called the poverty line
 
Price ceiling 价格上限
A legal maximum on the price at which a good can be sold
 
Price discrimination 价格歧视
The business practice of selling the same good at different prices to different customers
 
Price elasticity of demand 需求价格弹性
A measure of how much the quantity demanded of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, computed as a percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price
 
Price elasticity of supply 供给价格弹性
A measure of how much the quantity supplied of a good responds to a change in the price of that good, computed as the percentage change in quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in price
 
Price floor 价格下限
A legal minimum on the price at which a good can be sold
 
Prisoners' dilemma 囚犯的两难处境
A particular 'game' between two captured prisoners that illustrates why cooperation is difficult to maintain even when it is mutually beneficial
 
Private goods 私人物品
Goods that are both excludable and rival
 
Private saving 私人储蓄
The income that households have left after paying for taxes and consumption
 
Producer price index 生产物价指数
A measure of the cost of a basket of goods and services bought by firms
 
Producer surplus 生产者剩余
The amount a seller is paid for a good minus the seller's cost
 
Production function 生产函数
The relationship between quantity of inputs used to make a good and the quantity of output of that good
 
Production possibilities frontier 生产可能性边界
A graph that shows the various combinations of output that the economy can possibly produce given the available factors of production and the available production technology
 
Productivity 生产率
The amount of goods and services produced from each hour of a worker's time; The quantity of goods and services produced from each hour of a worker's time
 
Profit 利润
Total revenue minus total cost
 
Progressive tax 累进税
A tax for which high-income taxpayers pay a larger fraction of their income than do low-income taxpayers
 
Proportional tax 比例税
A tax for which high-income and low-income taxpayers pay the same fraction of income
 
Public goods 公共物品
Goods that are neither excludable nor rival
 
Public saving 公共储蓄
The tax revenue that the government has left after paying for its spending
 
Pareto-efficient allocations 帕雷托有效配置
resource allocations, that cannot make a person better off without making someone else worse off
 
partial equilibrium analysis 局部均衡分析
an analysis that focuses on only one or a few markets at a time
 
partnership 合伙制
a business owned by two or more individuals, who share the profits and are jointly liable for any losses
 
patent 专利
a government decree giving an inventor the exclusive right to produce, use, or sell an invention
 
paternalism 父爱主义
the making of judgments by government about what is good for people to have, rather than letting people choose on their own
 
payroll tax 工薪税
a tax based on payroll (wages) that is used to finance the Social Security and Medicare programs
 
perfect competition 完全竞争
situation in which each firm is a price taker--it cannot influence the market price; at the market price the firm can sell as much as it wishes, but if it raises its price, it loses all sales
 
perfectly mobile capita 具有完全流动性的资本
capital that responds quickly to changes in returns in different countries
 
permanent-income hypothesis 永久收入假说
the theory that individuals base their current consumption levels on their permanent (long-run average) income
 
permanent-income savings motive 永久收入储蓄动机
people save in good years, to tide them over in bad years; they choose their pattern of savings and spending year by year to average or smooth their consumption over good years and bad
 
piece-rate system 计件工资制度
a compensation system in which workers are paid specifically for each item produced
 
planned or unplanned inventories 计划或无计划库存
planned inventories are those firms choose to have on hand because they make business more efficient; unplanned inventories result when cannot sell what they produce
 
policy ineffectiveness 政策无效性命题
the proposition that government policies are ineffective--policies aimed at stimulating aggregate demand at most change the price level
 
planned economy 计划经济
an economy in which most decisions about resource allocation are made by the government
 
portfolio theories 资产组合理论
theories that argue that monetary policy affects output through its effect on prices of various assets, in particular the prices of stocks
 
portfolio 资产组合
an investor's entire collection of assets and liabilities
 
potential GDP 潜在GDP
a measure of what the value of GDP would be if the economy's resources were fully employed
 
potential output 潜在产出
the level of output that would prevail if labor were fully employed (output may exceed that level if workers work more than the normal level of overtime)
 
precautionary savings motive 谨慎储蓄动机
people save to guard against the chance of an unexpected illness or accident
 
predatory pricing 掠夺性定价
the practice of cutting prices below the marginal costs of production to drive out a new firm (or to deter future entry), at which point prices can be raised again
 
present discounted value 现期贴现值
how much an amount of money to be received in the future is worth right now
 
price index 价格指数
a measure of the level of prices found by comparing the cost of a certain basket of goods in one year with that cost in a base year
 
principal 本金
the original amount a saver deposits in a bank or a borrower borrows
 
principal-agent problem 所有者—代理人问题
any situation in which one party (the principal) needs to delegate actions to another party (the agent), and thus wishes to provide the agent with incentives to work hard and make decisions about risk that reflects the interests of the principal
 
private marginal cost 私人边际成本
the marginal cost of production borne by the producer of a good; when there is a negative externality, such as air pollution, private marginal cost is less than social marginal cost
 
privatization 私有化
the process whereby functions that were formally run by the government are delegated instead to the private sector
 
product differentiation 产品差异
the fact that similar products (like breakfast cereals or soft drinks) are perceived to differ from one another and thus are imperfect substitutes
 
product market 产品市场
the market in which goods and services are bought and sold
 
product-mix efficiency 产品组合效应
the condition in which the mix of goods produced by the economy reflects the preferences of consumers
 
production efficiency 生产效率
the condition in which firms cannot produce more of some goods without producing less of other goods
 
productivity (GDP per hour) 生产率/平均每人时的GDP
how much an average worker produces per hour, calculated by dividing real GDP by hours worked in the economy
 
proprietorship 独资企业
a business owned by a single person, usually a small business
 
protectionism 保护主义
a policy of protecting domestic industries from foreign-made competition
 
pure profit (monopoly rents) 纯利润或垄断租金
the profit earned by a monopolist that results from its reducing output and increasing the price from the level at which price equals marginal cost
 
 
Q
 
Quantity demanded 需求量
The amount of a good that buyers are willing and able to purchase
 
Quantity equation 货币数量方程式
The equation MxV=PxY, which relates the quantity of money, the velocity of money and the dollar value of the economy's output of goods and services
 
Quantity supplied 供给量
The amount of a good that sellers are willing and able to sell
 
Quantity theory of money 货币数量论
A theory that asserts that the quantity of money available determines the price level and that the growth rate in the quantity of money available determines the inflation rate; The theory that velocity is constant, so that changes in the money supply lead to proportionale changes in nominal income (which also equals the value of output)
 
quota rents 配额租金
profits that accrue to firms which are allocated the rights to import a good subject to quotas that result from the artificially created scarcity