market sharethe fraction of the total
industry output accounted for by a
firm’s output. (p. 569)
mean household incomethe average
income across all households. (p. 765)
means-tested programa program in
which benefits are available only to
individuals or families whose incomes
fall below a certain level. (p. 768)
median household incomethe income
of the household lying in the middle
of the income distribution.(p. 765)
medium of exchangean asset that
individuals acquire for the purpose of
trading for goods and services rather
than for their own consumption.
(p. 232)
menu costthe real cost of changing a
listed price. (p. 137)
merchandise trade balance (trade bal-
ance) the difference between a coun-
try’s exports and imports of goods
alone—not including services. (p. 412)
microeconomics the branch of econom-
icsthat studies how people make deci-
sions and how those decisions inter-
act. (p. 5)
midpoint methoda technique for cal-
culating the percent change in which
changes in a variable are compared
with the average, or midpoint, of the
starting and final values. (p. 462)
minimum-cost outputthe quantity of
output at which average total costis
lowest—the bottom of the U-shaped
average total cost curve.(p. 555)
minimum wage a legal floor on the
wage rate. The wage rate is the market
price of labor. (p. 82)
model a simplified representation of a
real situation that is used to better
understand real-life situations. (p. 14)
monetarism a theory of business cycles,
associated primarily with Milton
Friedman, that asserts that GDP will
grow steadily if the money supplygrows
steadily. (p. 348)
monetary aggregatean overall meas-
ure of the money supply.The most
common monetary aggregates in the
United States are M1, which includes
currency in circulation,traveler’s
checks, and checkable bank deposits,and
M2, which includes M1 as well as
near-moneys.(p. 234)
monetary basethe sum of currency in
circulationandbank reserves.(p. 249)
monetary neutralitythe concept that
changes in the money supplyhave noreal effects on the economyin the long
run and only result in a proportional
change in the price level. (p. 317)
monetary policythe central bank’s use
of changes in the quantity of money
or the interest rate to stabilize the
economy (p. 177)
monetary policy rulea formula that
determines the central bank’sactions.
(p. 349)
moneyany asset that can easily be
used to purchase goods and services.
(p. 231)
money demand curve a graphical rep-
resentation of the negative relation-
ship between the quantity of money
demanded and the interest rate. The
money demand curve slopes down-
ward because, other things equal, a
higher interest rate increases the
opportunity costof holding money.
(p. 270)
money multiplierthe ratio of the
money supplyto the monetary base;
indicates the total number of dollars
created in the banking system by each
$1 addition to the monetary base.
(p. 250)
money supply the total value of finan-
cial assetsin the economythat are con-
sideredmoney.(p. 231)
money supply curvea graphical repre-
sentation of the relationship between
the quantity of money supplied by the
Federal Reserve and the interest rate.
(p. 273)
monopolista firm that is the only
producer of a good that has no close
substitutes. (p. 571)
monopolistic competitiona market
structure in which there are many
competing firms in an industry, each
firm sells a differentiated product, and
there is free entry into and exitfrom the
industry in the long run.(p. 575)
monopolyan industry controlled by a
monopolist.(p. 571)
monopsonist a single buyer in a
market. (p. 701)
monopsony a market in which there is
only one buyer. (p. 701)
moral hazardthe situation that can
exist when an individual knows more
about his or her own actions than
other people do. This leads to a distor-
tion of incentives to take care or to
exert effort when someone else bears
the costs of the lack of care or effort.
(p. 785)movement along the demand curve a
change in the quantity demandedof a
good that results from a change in the
price of that good. (p. 51)
movement along the supply curvea
change in the quantity suppliedof a
good that results from a change in the
price of that good. (p. 60)
multiplierthe ratio of total change in
real GDPcaused by an autonomous
change in aggregate spendingto the size
of that autonomous change. (p. 160)
mutual fundafinancial intermediary
that creates a stock portfolio by buy-
ing and holding shares in companies
and then selling shares of this portfo-
lio to individual investors. (p. 228)
Nash equilibrium ingame theory,the
equilibriumthat results when all players
choose the action that maximizes their
payoffsgiven the actions of other play-
ers, ignoring the effect of that action
on the payoffsof other players; also
known as noncooperative equilibrium.
(p. 646)
national income and product accounts
an accounting of consumer spending,
sales of producers, business investment
spending,and other flows of money
between different sectors of the econo-
my;also referred to as national
accounts.Calculated by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis. (p. 102)
national savingsthe sum of private
savingsand the government’s budget
balance;the total amount of savings
generated within the economy.
(p. 223)
natural monopolyamonopoly that
exists when increasing returns to scale
provide a large cost advantage to having
all output produced by a single firm.
(p. 571)
natural rate hypothesisthe hypothesis
that the unemployment rate is stable
in the long run at a particular natural
rate. According to this hypothesis,
attempts to lower the unemployment
rate below the natural rate of unem-
ployment will cause an ever-rising
inflation rate. (p. 350)
natural rate of unemploymentthe
unemployment rate that arises from
the effects of frictional plus structural
unemployment. (p. 130)
near-moneyafinancial assetthat can’t
be directly used as a medium of
exchangebut can be readily converted
into cash or checkable bank deposits.
(p. 235)G-8 GLOSSARY