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Abu Yahya's definitions

spot price

(FINANCE) market price of a traded stock, commodity, currency, or bond at a specific point in time. For example, right now it's 5 April 2010 08:10 (GMT), and the spot price of WTI crude is $85.56/bbl. Spot price is the price at a specified time on a specific market.
The value of a derivative is determined by the relationship of its strike price to its spot price.
by Abu Yahya April 5, 2010
mugGet the spot pricemug.

cash flow

(ACCOUNTING) the total amount of money paid to a company during the period covered by a statement. For example, during a quarterly statement of cash flow, "cash flow" means the firm received payments or realized capital gains of that much money.

During the same period, the firm may have billed out (accounts receivable) a certain amount for which it has not received payment, and received payment on account for bills it made before the quarter began.

This is not the same as operating cash flow, which is revenue minus operating expenses.
Over the course of a few months, the cash flow for a business is about the same as revenue, as payments will generally come in at about the same rate as the firm bills customers.

This NOT true for operating cash flow or net cash flow.
by Abu Yahya September 20, 2010
mugGet the cash flowmug.

theodicy

*noun*; from Greek, θεός {god} + δίκαιον (justice). Literally, "the justice of God." Specifically, the attempt to explain God's ways to mortals.

The term was used by Gottfried Leibniz for his book {Théodicée} explaining how an omnipotent and benevolent God could allow suffering in the universe. Leibniz took the approach that this was the "best of all possible worlds," meaning that God could not have made this world better in any one respect, without making it worse in others.

In 1759, Voltaire published the novel *Candide* which was essentially a very long satire of Leibniz' views. The character of Dr. Pangloss is based on Leibniz, although it has been argued that Voltaire misrepresented Leibniz' views.


In common usage, the term *theodicy* refers to any defense of a thing based on the claim that whatever that thing does is the best possible. The obvious example is neoclassical economics, which insists that whatever outcome achieved by "the market," it is the best one that could possibly exist. It's a fallacy because it uses circular reasoning, and it is unfalsifiable.
Privileged and successful groups need religion for a very different purpose, namely legitimation. Their members are convinced that they deserve their good fortune and that the poor deserve their misfortune. {Max} Weber calls this the "theodicy of good fortune"...

Anthony Waterman in 2002 put forward the suggestion that Smith could be read as offering a kind of Augustinian theodicy of the market. According to him, Smith's idea could be interpreted as thus: just like God put governments in place to restrain sin, the institution of the market also restrains sin.

Nimi Wariboko, *God and Money: A Theology of Money in a Globalizing World* (2008)
by Abu Yahya March 23, 2009
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economic efficiency

The ability of an economic system to provide what people what, given their incomes. Given the fact that incomes and resources are both finite, efficiency will be of the utmost importance in determining if people's wants are satisfied by the workings of the economic system.
Free market economies usually provide high levels of economic efficiency.
by abu yahya June 23, 2008
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T-bill

(FINANCE) a bond issued by the US Department of the Treasury. Unlike longer-term bonds, with regular scheduled interest payments, a T-bill is purely discounted. In other words, the lender--the person buying the bond--pays a price lower than the face value of the bond. When the bond matures (after, say, 91 days), then the buyer is paid the face value.

The yield on the T-bill is usually very low; for example, yesterday 13-week T-bill rates were 4.01%. Their price is set at auction.
People usually suppose that the Federal Reserve System sets interest rates, but this only applies to the federal funds rate. The rates on other treasury securities, like T-bills, are set by auction.
by Abu Yahya May 14, 2010
mugGet the T-billmug.

square root

(MATHEMATICS) each positive number has another number that, when multiplied times itself, equals that number. So, for example, 4 has a square root of 2 (2 x 2 = 4).

The square root of a negative number is an imaginary number. Imaginary numbers are not, by themselves, useful solutions to math problems; but they can be used to find them.
BILL: Anna, we have a rectangle that's 3 x as long as it is wide, and it encloses an area of 300 square meters. What are the dimensions?

ANNA: Well, that's like 3 squares of 100 square meters. The square root of 100 is 10, so the rectangle is 10 by 30.

_________________________________________

The logarithm of a square root is one half the log of the number itself; hence, the natural log of 25 is 3.2189, while the natural log of 5 is 1.6094.
by Abu Yahya April 23, 2010
mugGet the square rootmug.

factors of production

*noun*; term coined by Adam Smith (1723-1790) to refer to things used to produce other things. Usually people refer to four factors of production:
1.labor (not the same thing as workers); a worker can work more or less hours per week, and can exchange her labor for payment
2. capital; includes tools, machinery, plants and fixtures, seed corn, etc. Adam Smith distinguished between inventories, which he called circulating capital, and tools, which he called fixed capital;
3. land; understood as a specific area on the earth's surface, but sometimes incorporates the natural productivity or mineral resources as well;
4. entrepreneurship; sometimes lumped with capital. Includes the combination of skills required to start a business.
Different economic systems vary in their view of who should own the factors of production. In capitalism, this would be private individuals; in communism, it would be a collective. In the Marxist transition to communism, it would be the state.
by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
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