EOC - PracticeVocabulary Terms

Assimilation

• The process by which a minority group gradually adopts the culture of the majority group.

Business Cycle• Short-term fluctuations

in business activity– a period of economic

growth in real GDP followed by a period of decline in real GDP

– a recession or depression followed by a period of economic growth, and so on

Capital Resources• Goods used to produce

other goods and services– buildings,

equipment, machinery, tools, dams, etc.

– often called

capital goods

Comparative Advantage• A person or nation has

a comparative advantage in the production of a good or service if that person or nation can produce the good or service at a lower opportunity cost than that of another person or nation.

Cotton Belt

• Southern region in the U.S. where most of the cotton is grown.

Demand• The different quantities

of a resource, good, or service that will be purchased at various prices during a given period of time.– According to the law of

demand:• the lower the price,

the more of it will be purchased• the higher the price,

the less of it will be purchased

Democracy• A system of

government in which rule is by the people– direct democracy

where the people make their own laws

– a representative democracy, a republic, in which laws are made by the people’s representatives

Demographics• Refers to population– Statistics– Changes– Trends based on various

measures of fertility (adding to population),

– Mortality (subtracting from a population)

– Migration (redistribution of a population)

Federalism• A political system in which

a national government shares powers with state or provincial governments– Each level of government has

definite powers– Each level of government

may act directly on individuals within its jurisdiction

– In the U.S. federal system:• Some powers are given to the

federal government• Some powers are given to the

state governments• Some powers are shared• Some powers are given to

neither government

Fiscal Policy

• Government decisions taken with regard to taxing and spending money that is made in order to achieve economic goals

Gilded Age• Period of rapid wealth

accumulation by entrepreneurs from approximately the 1870’s-1890’s

– Economic, industrial, population, & territorial expansion

– Term coined by Mark Twain• Unbalance of wealth• Shallow worship of wealth• Sharp division in social classes

Hoovervilles• Communities of

hastily built makeshift shelters often constructed by people evicted during the Great Depression

– Derisively named after President Herbert Hoover

Human Characteristics of a Place• Those features of a place

that are the result of human activity– Places vary in

• nature of their populations

• population densities• ethnic makeup of the

people• languages most

commonly found• dominant religions• forms of economic, social,

and political organization

Inflation

• A rise in the general level of prices in an economy

Investment• Use of resources by businesses,

individuals, or government to increase productive capacity by developing new technology, obtaining new capital resources, or improving the skills of the work force– Examples

• A restaurant buys new stoves in which to bake bread

• An individual buys tools to make some repairs

• A school buys new computers and textbooks

Laissez Faire• The practice of letting people

do as they please without interference or direction– In an economy, letting owners

of businesses or industries fix the rules of competition or the conditions of labor as they please without government regulation or control

– As a leadership style, pertains to a type of leadership where the leader lets those under his authority do as they please without interference

Majority Rule

• A pattern of decision making where decisions are made by vote and a decision requires the support of more than half of those voting

Manifest Destiny• A belief and policy

held and implemented in the last half of the 19th century that claimed the U.S. had a right to expand its sovereignty on the North American continent.

Monetary Policy• Actions taken in an economy to

control the total money supply in order to promote economic growth or price stability– In the U.S. it is exercised by the

Federal Reserve Bank which strives to exercise control of the money supply• changing reserve requirements in

member banks• changing discount rates

– the rate of interest at which it loans its money to member banks

• buying and selling government securities

Nativism• Political movement

characterized by anti-immigrant sentiment favoring the interests of native-born people over foreign-born people

Natural Resources• “Gifts of nature” used

to produce goods and services– Examples:• Land, trees, water,

fish, petroleum, mineral deposits, fertile soil, and favorable climatic conditions for growing crops

Place

• Term used by geographers to describe an area

– Physical features or characteristics

(see next slide)

– Human features or characteristics

Place– Physical features or

characteristics

• Climate, soil, landforms, plant life, animal life, bodies of water

• Resulting from geological, hydrological, atmospheric, and biological processes

Primary Sources• Firsthand information

about people or events, used by historians to reconstruct and interpret the past– Official documents

• Laws, public speeches

– Eyewitness accounts• Diaries, letters,

autobiographies

– Visual evidence• News photographs, videotapes

– Artifacts• Manmade objects of people in

the past– Statue, tool, everyday item

Profit

• The difference between total revenue and total cost of a business

Progressives

• Early 20th century reformers seeking to return the government to the people and correct injustices

Radicals• Group or groups of

people that favor fundamental changes from the present

Region• An area of the world that

has similar, unifying characteristics– Physical

• Types of terrain– Plains, mountains, deserts, etc.

• Rainfall– Desert, rain forest, etc.

• Soil type– Sandy, rocky, clay, etc.

– Human and cultural• Political boundaries

– Cities, counties, states, countries, continents, etc.

• How land is used– Business district, ranch, cotton-

producing region, etc.• Dominant religion of people

Rust Belt

• Region in the northeast and Midwest where heavy industry and population has declined since the 1970’s

Saving• To withhold a portion

of current income from consumption.

– Example: individuals deposit savings in banks

• Banks use money to loan to those who wish to buy capital goods or other resources

Secondary Sources• Sources created by

someone who did not actually witness events– Constructed by historians

who have used primary sources and/or secondary sources in the process to reconstruct and interpret the past• News articles• Biographies• Histories and history

textbooks

Separation of Powers

• The division of powers among different branches of government within a political system

Steel Belt

• A region in the United States where most of the heavy industry was once located

Suburbia(Suburbs)

• Residential towns that grow on the outskirts of major cities

Sun Belt

• Region in the Southeast and southwest which experienced heavy population and business growth since the 1970’s

Supply• The different quantities

of a resource, good, or service that will be offered for sale at various possible prices during a specified time period.

• According to the law of supply, the higher the price of an item, the more of it that is likely to be offered for sale.