Cost, average variable

Variable cost divided by the number of units produced.

Cost, average fixed

Fixed cost divided by the number of units produced.

Cost, Average

Total cost divided by the number of units produced.

Corporation

The dominant form of business organization in modern capitalist economies. A corporation is a firm owned by individuals or other corporations. It has the same rights to buy, sell, and make contracts as a person would have. It is legally separate from those who own it and has limited liability.

Corporate income tax

A tax levied on the annual net income of a corporation

Consumer Surplus

The difference between the amount that a consumer would be willing to pay for a commodity and the amount actually paid. this difference arises because the marginal utilities of all but the last unit exceed the price. Under certain conditions, the money value of the consumer surplus can be measured as the area under the demand curve but above the price line.

Conglomerate

A large corporation producing and selling a variety of unrelated goods e.g., some cigarette companies have expanded into such unrelated areas as liquor, car rental, and movie production.

Concentration ratio

The percentage of an industry's total output accounted for by the largest firms. A typical measure is the four-firm concentration ratio, which is the fraction of output accounted for by the four largest firms.

Complements

Two goods which go together in  the eyes of consumers example will be a right shoe and a left shoe. Goods are substitutes when they compete with each other as do gloves and mittens.

Competition equilibrium

The balancing of supply and demand in a market or economy characterized by perfect competition. Because perfectly competitive sellers and buyers individually have no power to influence the market, price will mover to the point at which it equals both marginal cost and marginal utility.

Competition, imperfect

Term applied to markets in which perfect competition does not hold because at least one seller or buyer is large enough to affect the market price and therefore causes a downward slopping demand or supply curve. Imperfect competition refers to any kind or market imperfection pure monopoly, oligopoly, or monopolistic competition.

Compensating differentials

Differences in wages rates among jobs that serves to offset or compensate for the non monetary differences of the job. For example, unpleasant jobs that require isolation for many months in Alaska pay wages much higher than those for similar jobs nearer to civilization.

Comparative advantage

In international trade. The law of comparative advantages says that a nation should specialize in producing and exporting those commodities which it can produce at relatively lower cost and that it should import those goods for which it is a relative high cost producer. Thus  it is a comparative advantage, not an absolute advantage, that should dictate trade patterns.

Command economy

A mode of economic organization in which the key economic functions what how  and for whom are principally determined by government directive. Sometimes called a centrally planned economy.

Change in demand vs. change in quantity demand

A change in the quantity buyers want to purchase, prompted by any reason other than a change in price (e.g., increase in income, change in tastes), is a change in demand. In graphical terms, it is a shift of the demand curve. If, in contrast the decision to buy more or less is promted by a change in the good's price, then it is a change in quantity demanded, In graphical terms, a change in quantity demanded is a movement along an unchanging demand curve.

Cartel

An organization of independent firms producing similar products that work together to raise prices and restrict output. Cartels are illegal under U.S. antitrust laws.

concentration ratio

Concentration ratio is the percentage of the industry's total output accounted for by the largest firm.

Capital

in economic theory one of the triad of productive inputs such as land labor and capital. capital consists of durable produced goods that are in turn used in production. Also in accounting and finance, capitals means the total amount of money subscribed by the shareholder-owners of a corporation, in return for which they receive shares of the company's stocks.

Budget surplus

An Excess of government revenues over government spending, the opposite of budget deficit

Business cycles

Business cycles is a fluctuation in total national output, income and employment, usually lasting for a period of 2 to 10 years, marked by widespread and simultaneous expansion or contraction in many sectors of the economy.