When we think of oil, the part of the world that comes to our mind first may be the Middle East. But petroleum development takes place all over the world. Nigeria , for example, is the largest oil producer in Africa and the eleventh largest producer in the world. Russia is the world’s second largest exporter of […]
What does it mean that the U.S. dollar is “falling”? Falling from where? No, dollar bills aren’t dropping out of the sky — although that would be pretty cool. It means that any money you have is falling in value compared with the money used by other countries. A bit of math might help explain this. Let’s […]
Trade is the buying and selling of goods and services. The products that areexchanged are things that people grow or make, like food to eat, machines to work with or clothes to wear. Services are things that people do for others, like working in bank, caring for old people or teaching pupils. Why do we trade? Trade happens because people […]
Money is something that is very difficult to explain . People in various cultures think of money in different ways. A London banker and an African tribesman have different ideas of what money is. Many people think of money as a currency –metal coins and paper bills . We need it to buy the things in life that we need. We also get money for the work […]
Capitalism is an economic system in which private people, not the government, own and run companies. These companies compete with other companies forbusiness. They decide what products they want to produce, how much they should cost and where to sell them. Companies do all these things in order to make profitsfor their owners. People who use their money to start companies or run companies are called […]
Your shirt was made in Mexico and your shoes in China. Your CD player comes from Japan. You can travel to Moscow and eat a Big Mac there and you can watch an American film in Rome. Today goods are made and sold all over the world, thanks to globalization. Globalization lets countries move closer to each […]
In 2008 a great economic crisis led to a recession of the economies around the world. What began as a credit crisis turned out to be the biggest banking crisis since the Great Depression. Although the implications of the crisis are mostsevere in the USA, banks and insurance companies all over the world havecollapsed and governments have come to the rescue by lending them money. The American government wants to […]
The stock exchange is a marketplace where brokers buy and sell stocks andbonds for other people. Many countries have one or more stock exchanges. Smaller stock exchanges often handle only national stock, whereas the big stock exchanges handle the stock of big international corporations. Corporation A corporation is a company that has the right to issue stocks. They are registered with the government and have laws that protect them and theirshareholders . Every corporation has a board of directors who makedecisions for the company. People […]
A credit rating agency is a powerful company that rates how good you are in paying back your debts. It rates businesses, private individuals and even whole countries. The credit rating company gives a score on how able you are to pay back a debt or a loan. Banks take risks when they lend person money. If they don’t know anything about the person or company they lend money which […]
A bank is a company that works with the money that the people give it. If you give your money to a bank, it not only protects it but pays you interest so that it can work with the money. This is one of the reasons why people save their money in a bank. Money may also be safer there than […]