Vocab #5 – U.S. and Canada: The Economy Pgs. 166 - 176

market economy An economy that allows people to own, operate, and profit from their own businesses; there are also private property rights in a market economy; the United States and Canada are both market economies.

commodity Goods, produced for sale; examples are oil, gold, and orange juice

arable Land suitable for farming; the United States and Canada devotes 167 million acres to farming.

monopoly The total control of an industry by one person or one company; the U.S. and Canadian governments have passed laws to prevent and break-up monopolies.

global economy The merging of economies in which countries are interconnected and have become dependent on one another for goods and services; the United States and Canada play important roles in the global economy.

trade deficit This occurs when a country purchases more from another country than it sells to it; for example, the United States buys far more than it sells to China so the result is a large trade deficit.

tariff Taxes added to imported goods from another country

trade surplus Selling more to another country than buying from it; for example, Canada enjoys a trade surplus with many countries.

outsourcing Setting up plants, service industries, and other businesses abroad to produce parts and products for domestic use or sale; many U.S. manufacturing jobs have been sent overseas due to outsourcing.

eutrophication Water pollution speeds up this process in which a body of water becomes rich in dissolved nutrients; this encourages overgrowth of small plants (algae) and depletes the water’s oxygen, leaving none for fish and other lifeforms.