Capital is a catch-all term that refers to a person’s assets, which means something useful a person has which can create wealth - and it can be extremely broad and be interpreted in many ways. On the face of it, capital is one of if not the most important thing in an economic system. The financing and investing of capital helps to define if and how the economy grows and also how people experience their returns on investment. To this end, capital is a good measurement of wealth, and also a means of creating wealth through the investment of capital.

In capital markets, capital is exchanged between investors (who supply it from their assets) and investees (who need it to fund projects and ventures).  The investment horizon is usually at least one year.

When economists say “ceteris paribus” they are talking about the direct effect of X on Y while assuming that the rest of the world stands still. Ceteris is Latin for “other things” and paribus means “equal” so the literal translation is “other things being equal” but in economics it is generally understood to mean that all other things remain equal or constant (while dealing with the issue at hand).

A Cobb-Douglas production function models the relationship between production output and production inputs (factors). It is used to calculate ratios of inputs to one another for efficient production and to estimate technological change in production methods.

Having the comparative advantage (if, for example, you are a business) means that you can produce a good or service at a relatively lower cost than that of your competitors. Having the comparative advantage means you will be able to sell your goods for a lower cost than your competitors and potentially perform better.

Consumer surplus is the gain made by consumers when they purchase an item at the competitive market price rather than the (highest) price that they would have been willing to pay for it. Analogously, producer surplus is the gain made by producers when they sell an item at the market price rather than the (lowest) price that they would also have accepted for it.

Also known as consumer choice, this term refers to the study of how and why people spend their money based on their preferences, and how they maximise the utility of their purchases while working within budget restraints. Some of the basic ideas of consumer theory state firstly that people try to make rational decisions which bring them the greatest utility; secondly, that people will always make multiple shopping trips, one not sufficing; and thirdly, that the more you use a product, the less you want it.

The cross elasticity of demand (or cross-price elasticity of demand)  ϵAB refers to the sensitivity of the demand for item A  qA  to changes in the price of item B&n