The Credit Crunch and Global Recession
Vocabulary and terms
This page offers more information about some of the words in this podcast series. They have been selected from a list of 'key words' (words that are used relatively more frequently in the podcasts than in English in general) and have been identified as potentially unfamiliar to non-specialist or non-native listeners. For each entry you can see one or more examples from the podcasts, and, where available, important collocates (frequent word combinations), Wikipedia explanation and a direct link to search the The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online.
The table below offers a quick overview of the words and what information is available about them here. Click on a word to see example sentences from the podcasts, collocates (other words often found together with the word in question), and explanations from Wikipedia. Click on a table cell to go to the relevant piece of information (Wikipedia article, examples from the podcasts etc) or to search the online Longman dictionary. 'Hover' over a cell in the table for a quick view of the available information.
Lists of all words in each session are available on the Wordlists page.
Go back to the Credit Crunch and Global Recession start page to see a list of the talks in the series and to access further material.
AGGREGATES
example: They do not want to have sharp cut offs in the fiscal incentives because that will actually produce really quite big dislocations over short periods of time of aggregate demand. ; And now any kind of policy which is focused very heavily on quantitative monetary aggregates has this problem of which monetary aggregates you're going to focus on and what are the relationships between the monetary aggregates, which tend to be changing all the time, and, indeed, tend to change rather faster the more you lean on one particular monetary aggregate as people want to substitute into the other things.
collocates: monetary A.
Wikipedia: " In macroeconomics, aggregate demand (AD) is the total demand for final goods and services in the economy (Y) at a given time and price level[1]. It is the amount of goods and services in the economy that will be purchased at all possible price levels. "
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ASSET
example: looking at the troubled assets which are on the banks' balance sheets…. ; Is the price of their assets falling?
collocates: troubled A., A. bubble(s)
Wikipedia: " In financial
accounting, assets are economic resources. .. Simplistically stated, assets represent
ownership of value that can be converted into cash"
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BAIL
example: If they're too big to fail and they need to be bailed out, then they need to pay into a bail-out fund;
collocates: B. out
Wikipedia: " Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial"
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BAILED
example: And the IMF's already bailed out over a dozen countries since this crisis began.
collocates: B. out
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BAILOUT
example: we are now confronted with another bail-out package of the British banks
collocates:
Wikipedia: "A bailout is
an act of giving capital to an entity in danger of failing in an attempt to save
it from bankruptcy, insolvency, or total liquidation and ruin"
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BALANCE
example: They've been trying to rebuild their balance sheets, to recover their reputations ; all governments thought you had to balance your books
collocates: B. sheet, B. the/your books
Wikipedia: " "
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BENIGN
example: the situation's seen to be relatively benign
collocates:
Wikipedia: "a
condition that is harmless"
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BILLION
example: the government borrows a billion pounds ; debt interest payments were around £34 billion
collocates:
Wikipedia: "one
thousand million"
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BOOST
example: So are you going to get enough of a boost to the economy ; the government can tackle unemployment and boost the economy
collocates: B. demand, B. (to) the economy
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CHANCELLOR
example: And the debt levels are as predicted by the Chancellor. the British Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor, claimed to have ended boom and bust
collocates:
Wikipedia: " The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. "
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CONSENSUS
example: there does seem to be an emerging international consensus behind those moves
collocates:
Wikipedia: " general agreement or (secondly) group solidarity of belief or sentiment "
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CONSUMPTION
example: The problem is that consumption is a function of a good deal more than income ; this increase in real income which in theory, ought to increase their consumption.
collocates:
Wikipedia: " Generally, consumption is defined in part by opposition to production."
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CROWDING
example: the crowding in versus the crowding out argument
collocates: C. in/out
Wikipedia: " any reduction in private consumption or investment that occurs because of an increase in government spending"
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CRUNCH
example: what has been called 'The credit crunch' where there is just not lending coming out of the banking sector, which has real implications for mortgages, for business lending, for keeping individuals and companies going.
collocates: credit C.
Wikipedia: " A credit crunch (also known as a credit squeeze or credit crisis) is a reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from the banks. "
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CURRENT
example: The desperate attempt by Gordon Brown and the current government, ;; China and Japan have been running large current account surpluses.
collocates: C. account
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DEFICIT
example: the UK is going to more than triple its budget deficit to GDP ratio to 8% ; the aim has to be to reduce the government deficit, the question is how to do it
collocates: D. financing, D. spending
Wikipedia: " A budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in"
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DEFLATION
example: I certainly agree with the point of low interest rates and deflation
collocates:
Wikipedia: " Deflation In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services."
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DEFLATIONARY
example: they had a very strong deflationary effect on manufactured goods prices which then put downward pressure on import prices pushing down inflation in the rich economies.
collocates:
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DEPOSITS
example: it safe-guarded retail deposits away from investment banking functions
collocates:
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DEREGULATION
example: Of course, with deregulation in the 80's and 90's Wall Street flourished,
collocates:
Wikipedia: " Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces"
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DISCRETIONARY
example: Meaning they need to borrow less to spend on discretionary spending because there is a bigger welfare state. ; were very much against the idea of increasing the discretionary part of fiscal spending
collocates: D. spending
Wikipedia: " Discretionary spending is a spending category about which government planners can make choices."
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DOMESTIC
example: If it's a global recession alongside a domestic recession then it's more like the 1980's
collocates: D. economy, D. demand, D. consumption
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DOMESTICALLY
example: And the answer depends partly whether that money is spent domestically or whether it's spent on buying imports from other countries.
collocates:
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DOWNTURN
example: this looks like the great depression, banking sector failure followed by economy downturn, global recession.
collocates:
Wikipedia: " In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity over a period of time."
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EASING
example: That meant they turned to quantitative easing, directly targeting the quantity of money.
collocates: quantitative E.
Wikipedia: " describes a form of monetary policy used to increase money in an economy when the interbank interest rate (…) is either at, or close to, zero"
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ECONOMIC
example: we may well see the economic recovery take longer than the next six months ; Then the long periods of economic expansion
collocates: E. crises, E. relations, E. policy
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ECONOMICS
example: I teach economics at the University
collocates: macro E., micro E., Kenyesian E.
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ECONOMIES
example: Can you get companies from emerging economies to turn around and buy up Western companies
collocates: emerging E.
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ECONOMISTS
example: So it is very difficult, as the economists or policy analysts all know
collocates:
Wikipedia: " a professional in the social science discipline of economics"
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EMERGING
example: countries like China and other emerging economies
collocates: E. economies
Wikipedia: " Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization."
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ERA
example: we cannot return to an era without financial innovation
collocates:
Wikipedia: " An era is a commonly used word for long period of time."
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EUROZONE
example: what this crisis has done is to make the Eurozone more attractive to small economies like Iceland
collocates:
Wikipedia: " an economic and monetary union (EMU) of 16 European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro currency as their sole legal tender"
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EXCHANGE
example: Recently the exchange rate has been falling
collocates: E. rate, E. controls
Wikipedia: " In finance and commerce: Exchange may refer to: Exchange of goods and services, or trade, Exchange between a buyer and seller, a financial transaction, Exchange (organized market), where securities are sold and bought"
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EXPAND
example: if your economy's in recession and you need to expand demand somehow
collocates:
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EXTENT
example: they still don't know the extent of the write-downs of the banking system
collocates: the E. of/to
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FELLOW
example: I'm a fellow in economics at St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
collocates: research F.
Wikipedia: " a research position at a university or similar institution"
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FINANCE
example: How can you finance the bail out and stimulate the economy
collocates: F. ministers
Wikipedia: " Finance is the science of funds management."
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FINANCIAL
example: what is the social value of the financial system ; the pain had largely been confined to the financial markets
collocates: F. sector, F. crisis, F. institutions, F. system
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FISCAL
example: But any kind of fiscal stimulus will have that effect. ; the US had already done a fiscal stimulus package
collocates: F. policy, F. stimulus
Wikipedia: " fiscal usually refers to government finance, in particularly financial revenue, government debt or expenditures"
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FLOWS
example: the sheer scale of the global financial flows have really disrupted the entire global situation
collocates: capital F., credit F.
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FUELLED
example: they fuelled US borrowing in a couple of ways
collocates:
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GDP
example: Consumption used to be 50% of GDP. It's now fallen ; Japan has a massive debt to GDP ratio
collocates: G. ratio, G. growth
Wikipedia: " the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year."
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HAVENS
example: he will try to clamp down on the tax havens, international tax havens ; a safe haven,
collocates: tax H., safe H.
Wikipedia: " A tax haven is a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all."
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IMF
example: And the IMF's already bailed out over a dozen countries ; we'll come on to IMF's forecast which is that the recession will continue into the next year
collocates:
Wikipedia: " The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries"
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IMPORTS
example: part of it goes to imports which are another country's exports ;
collocates:
Wikipedia: " The term "import" is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country"
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INDEBTED
example: heavily indebted governments probably look at quantitative easing as a valuable policy tool
collocates:
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INDEBTEDNESS
example: The Clinton administration managed to reduce its indebtedness ; Clearly the UK has had rather higher levels of indebtedness at some times;
collocates: levels of I., levels of I.
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INFLATIONARY
example: people will feel that a big inflationary stimulus has been unleashed
collocates:
Wikipedia: " an inflationary economic policy is one that is predicted to lead to inflation"
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INTEREST
example: Icelandic banks because they give high interest rates
collocates: I. rate(s), cutting I. rates, low I., I. payments
Wikipedia: " Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets."
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KEYNES
example: the particular times of the 1930s when Keynes propounded the active use of fiscal policy ; Then John Maynard Keynes came along in the Great Depression, published his 'General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' and pointed out that you could get out of a recession by government boosting demand by spending more than it was taking in through taxes
collocates:
Wikipedia: " British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics"
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KEYNESIAN
example: good old-fashioned Keynesian economics ; that Keynesian fiscal policies fell out of favour was because of the inflationary consequences associated with it.
collocates:
Wikipedia: " a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes"
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LEHMAN
example: Lehman Brothers was not a high street bank but when it went down it took lots of people with it. ; the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15th
collocates: L. Brothers
Wikipedia: " was a global financial services firm"
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LIQUIDITY
example: Liquidity is of course the fact that as these banks lose market value, as they write down these toxic debts or troubled assets, they are essentially short of liquidity. ; Reflating the economy with liquidity, with credit, eases the deleveraging process.
collocates: L. trap
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MEASURES
example: I think you need a combination of measures. ; They will take measures which are suitable for their own national economy
collocates: stimulus M.
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MONETARY
example: an era of unconventional monetary policy. ; central banks shall no longer just target inflation in the way that they manage the monetary system but rather take on regulatory functions
collocates: M. policy, M. aggregate(s), International M. Fund (IMF)
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PANELLISTS
example: And thanks to all the participants and panellists.
collocates:
Wikipedia: " A panelist is a member of a panel. The role a panelist plays depends upon the duties of the panel."
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POLICIES
example: because of this policy of borrowing to try to stave of recession ; monetary policy might have lags of two to three years before the full effects of interest-rate changes become apparent
collocates: fiscal P., monetary P., economic P., P. makers
Wikipedia: " a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s)"
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PREMISED
example: I think this recovery has to be premised on financial stability ; this unit of count the IMF uses which is premised on different currencies
collocates: P. on
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PROTECTIONISM
example: there were little signs of protectionism around the world ; properly coordinating rather than being protectionist about their fiscal spending
collocates:
Wikipedia: " the economic policy of restraining trade between states, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations"
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QUANTITATIVE
example: That meant they turned to quantitative easing, directly targeting the quantity of money. ; heavily indebted governments probably look at quantitative easing as a valuable policy tool
collocates: Q. easing
Wikipedia: " The term quantitative easing describes a form of monetary policy used to increase money in an economy when the interbank interest rate (…) is either at, or close to, zero."
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RATIO
example: their debt to GDP ratio is 200% ; what the effect of increasing borrowing will be on the ratio of borrowing to national income
collocates: debt to GDP R.
Wikipedia: " In mathematics, a ratio expresses the magnitude of quantities relative to each other"
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RECAPITALISE
example: But they're asked to recapitalise themselves, improve their balance sheets ; They initially didn't want to recapitalise, they were more intent on buying up the troubled assets
collocates:
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RECESSION
example: cutting government spending during a recession might make matters worse ; Well in the last recessions unemployment rose to 3 million people. ; So in the UK, on average in the post-war period, recessions had five consecutive quarters of negative growth,
collocates: global R.
Wikipedia: " a general slowdown in economic activity over a period of time"
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REGULATE
example: This financial crisis has certainly raised the issue of how do we regulate banks.
collocates:
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REGULATED
example: because those basic utilities were in private ownership they had to be regulated so you always had more regulation in America
collocates:
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REGULATION
example: Would it be fiscal stimulus or would it be regulation of the banks to sort out the mess?
collocates: light/soft touch R.
Wikipedia: " Regulation is 'controlling human or societal behavior by rules or restrictions'."
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REGULATOR
example: the Bank of England or some kind of regulator has a much greater responsibility
collocates:
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REGULATORS
example: the sort of decisions by the regulators which they secretly wanted
collocates:
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REGULATORY
example: should the bank take on more of the regulatory functions
collocates:
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RETAIL
example: split banks into narrow retail banks, the high street type banks that make loans and take deposits, as opposed to the investment banks
collocates: R. banks
Wikipedia: " Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser."
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RICARDIAN
example: The argument against borrowing, the argument against deficit spending, is that in an ideal world deficit spending ought to be counterproductive because you have things like Ricardian equivalence.
collocates: R. equivalence
Wikipedia: " Ricardian equivalence suggests that it does not matter whether a government finances its spending with debt or a tax increase, the effect on total level of demand in an economy being the same."
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STABILISERS
example: one of the fastest things about fiscal policy are the automatic stabilisers; the counter-cyclical movement of fiscal policy where in a recession benefit payments go up, taxes come down, which increases disposable income in the private sector, which automatically boosts the economy.
collocates: automatic S.
Wikipedia: " In macroeconomics automatic stabilizers work as a tool to dampen fluctuations in real GDP without any explicit policy action by the government"
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STAGNATION
example: that is indeed what also happened three decades ago, when you had high levels of public debt which ended up with high levels of stagnation.
collocates: period of S.
Wikipedia: " a prolonged period of slow economic growth "
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STIMULUS
example: the Chancellor's projecting a minor fiscal stimulus this year ; So the entire stimulus therefore for the next couple of years is 2% of GDP.
collocates: fiscal S.
Wikipedia: " Economic stimulus: For government spending as stimulus see Fiscal policy, For an increase in money designed to speed growth see Monetary policy, For general information about economic stimulus see Stimulus (economic)"
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SUMMIT
example: our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, hosts the G20 summit in a couple of months ; This was said at the first summit in Washington last autumn
collocates: G20 S.
Wikipedia: " A summit meeting (or summit) is a meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security and a prearranged agenda."
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SYSTEMIC
example: we were looking at systemic banking failure which could threaten the entire credit system
collocates:
Wikipedia: " Systemic refers to something that is spread throughout, system-wide, affecting a group or system such as a body, economy, market or society as a whole. It should not be confused with "systematic", which means methodical."
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TAUP
example: see TARP: buying up the troubled assets, the so-called 'Tarp Plan'
collocates:
Wikipedia: " a program of the United States government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector "
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TRANSMISSION
example: cutting interest rates and waiting for the monetary transmission mechanism
collocates: monetary T. mechanism
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TRILLION
example: borrowing up to something like a trillion pounds over the next few years
collocates:
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VAT
example: most people think a 2.5% cut in VAT is really not anything to write home about ; As a result of the reduction in VAT, real income rises by a couple of percentage points.
collocates: V. cut
Wikipedia: " Value added tax (VAT) is similar to a sales tax."
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Lists of all words in each session are available on the Wordlists page