Portal:Business and Economics
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 The word "economics" is from the Greek words οἶκος [oikos], meaning "family, household, estate," and νόμος [nomos], or "custom, law," and hence literally means "household management" or "management of the state." An economist is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned a university degree in the subject. The field may be divided in several different ways, most popularly microeconomics (at the level of individual choices) vs macroeconomics (aggregate results), but also descriptive vs. normative, mainstream vs. heterodox, and by subfield. Economics has many direct applications in business, personal finance, and government. Theories developed as a part of economic theory have also been applied to non-monetary choices in fields as diverse as criminal behavior, scientific research, death, politics, health, education, family, dating, etc. This is allowed because economics is fundamentally about human decision making. In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.  His business career was controversial. He was bitterly attacked by muckraking journalists; his company was convicted in the Federal Court of monopolistic practices and broken up in 1911. He gave up active management of Standard Oil in the late 1890s, while keeping a large fraction of the shares. He spent the last forty years of his life focused on philanthropic pursuits, primarily related to education and public health. He donated most of his wealth using multiple foundations run by experts. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions throughout his life. Rockefeller may ultimately be remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth. In 1902, an audit showed Rockefeller was worth about $200 million, compared to the total national wealth that year of $101 billion. His wealth grew significantly after as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries. By the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion. Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him among the list of wealthiest persons in history. As a percentage of the United States economy, no other American fortune—including Bill Gates or Sam Walton—would even come close.
 It is estimated that in the period 2006-2020 the European Union's economy will grow at an average rate of 2.1% per annum, against the United States growing at an annual rate of almost 3.0%, however if growth is taken per head the figures are 2.5% per annum for the US and 2.0% for the EU. The European Union's economic growth has been below that of the United States most years since 1990, while its unemployment rate has generally been higher. Many point out that there are benefits accruing to EU citizens (the "social wage") that are not visible in traditional economic data - like enhanced time off from work, social protection and other benefits. In recent years, the economic performance of several of its key members, including Germany and Italy, has been a matter of serious concern to policy makers. Twelve members of the European Union use a common currency, the euro. This group of members (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) is known as the Eurozone. Three members (Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom) have no current plans to join the euro, though the Danish Krone is pegged to it. The remaining members have a treaty obligation to join as soon as they meet the convergence criteria. Slovenia will adopt the euro on 1 January 2007. In the news
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 99.26 |
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65.04 |
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21.44 |
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12.28 |
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 9.91 |
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305.82 |
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201.21 |
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136.27 |
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35.50 |
- ...that William McChesney Martin, Jr. (pictured) was the longest-serving Chairman of the Federal Reserve serving from April 2, 1951 to January 31, 1970?
- ...that Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the home furnishing retail chain store IKEA, drew some controversy in 1994 when it was revealed that Kamprad had joined Swedish fascist activist Per Engdahl's pro-Nazi group in 1942?
- ...that Robert Solow, a Nobel Laureate American economist, was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1989 for "his creation of the modern framework for analyzing the effects of investment and technological progress on economic growth"?
- ...that former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers served as the World Bank Chief Economist from 1991 to 1993?
Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men. The fundamental threat to freedom is power to coerce, be it in the hands of a monarch, a dictator, an oligarchy, or a momentary majority. The preservation of freedom requires the elimination of such concentration of power to the fullest possible extent and the dispersal and distribution of whatever power cannot be eliminated — a system of checks and balances.
