| A | B |
|---|
| Active solar energy systems | Solar energy systems that collects energy through the use of mechanical devices such as photovoltaic cells or flat-plate collectors. |
| Adolescent fertility rate | The number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19. |
| Biomass fuel | Fuel that derives from plant material and animal waste. |
| Breeder reactor | A nuclear power plant that creates its own fuel from plutonium. |
| Calorie consumption | The total number of calories in a daily diet allocation. |
| Core-periphery model | A model of the spatial structure of an economic system in which underdeveloped or declining areas of the world are defined with respect to their dependence on a dominating core region. |
| Demand | The quantity of something that consumers are willing and able to buy. |
| Dependency theory | Theory of international relations holding that major states influence other states through their economic power. |
| Developed country (more developed country [MDC] or relatively developed country) | A country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development. |
| Development | A process of improvement in the material conditions of people through diffusion of knowledge and technology. |
| Energy consumption | The use of energy as a source of heat or power or as a raw material input to a manufacturing process. |
| Fair Trade | An alternative to international trade that emphasizes small businesses and worker-owned and democratically run cooperatives and requires employers to pay workers fair wages, permit union organization, and comply with minimum environmental and safety standards. |
| Female-labor force participation rate | The percentage of women holding full-time jobs outside the home. |
| Fission | The splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy. |
| Foreign direct investment | Investment made by a foreign company in the economy of another country. |
| Fossil fuel | An energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago. |
| Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) | The pumping of water at high pressure to break apart rocks in order to release natural gas. |
| Fusion | Creation of energy by joining the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms to form helium. |
| Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) | Compares the ability of women and men to participate in economic and political decision making. |
| Gender Inequality Index (GII) | A measure of the extent of each country's gender inequality. |
| Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) | Compares the level of development of women with that of both sexes. |
| Geothermal energy | Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks. |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | The value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country in a given time period (normally one year). |
| Gross national income (GNI) | The value of the output of goods and services produced in a country in a year, including money that leaves and enters the country. |
| Housing bubble | A rapid increase in the value of houses followed by a sharp decline in their value. |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | An indicator of the level of development for each country, constructed by the United Nations, that is based on income, literacy, education, and life expectancy. |
| Hydroelectric power | Power generated from moving water |
| Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) | Modification of the HDI to account for inequality within a country. |
| Less developed country (LDC) | A country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic development. |
| Literacy rate | The percentage of a country's people who can read and write. |
| Maternal mortality ratio | The number of women who die giving birth per 100,000 births. |
| Microfinance | Provision of small loans and other financial services to individuals and small businesses in developing countries. |
| Millennium Development Goals | Eight international development goals that all members of the United Nations have agreed to achieve by 2015. |
| More developed country (MDC) | A country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development. |
| Neocolonialism | Referring to economic and political policies by which major developed countries are sent to retain or extend influence over the economies of less developed countries and peoples. |
| Nonrenewable energy | A source of energy that has a finite supply capable of being exhausted. |
| Passive solar energy systems | Solar energy systems that collects energy without the use of mechanical devices. |
| Photovoltaic cell | A solar energy cell, usually made from silicon, that collects solar rays to generate electricity. |
| Physical Quality of Life Index | An attempt to measure the well-being of a country. |
| Potential reserve | The amount of resources in deposits not yet identified but thought to exist. |
| Primary sector | The portion of the economy concerned with the direct extraction of materials from Earth's surface, generally through agriculture, although sometimes by mining, fishing, and forestry. |
| Productivity | The value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it. |
| Proven reserve | The amount of a resource remaining in discovered deposits. |
| Purchasing Power Parity | The amount of money needed in one country to purchase the same goods and services in another country; adjusts income figures to account for differences among countries in the cost of goods. |
| Radioactive waste | Materials from a nuclear reaction that emit radiation; contract with such particles may be harmful or lethal to people; therefore, the materials must be safely stored for thousands of years. |
| Relatively developed country | A country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development. |
| Renewable energy | A resource that has a theoretically unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by humans. |
| Rostow's Stages of Development | Model of economic development that describes a country's progression which occurs in five stages, transforming them from least-developed countries to most-developed countries. |
| Secondary sector | The portion of the economy concerned with manufacturing useful products through processing, transforming, and assembling raw materials. |
| Structural adjustment program | Economic policies imposed on less developed countries by international agencies to create conditions encouraging international trade, such as raising taxes, reducing government spending, controlling inflation, selling publicly owned utilities to private corporations, and charging citizens more for services. |
| Supply | The quantity of something that producers have available for sale. |
| Technology gap | Contrast between advancements available in developed core regions and that available in peripheral areas of underdevelopment. |
| Technology transfer | The diffusion to, or acquisition, by one culture or retention of advancements possessed by another, usually more developed, society. |
| Tertiary sector | The portion of the economy concerned with transportation, communications, and utilities, sometimes extended to the provision of all goods and services to people in exchange for payment. |
| Third World | Applied to countries considered not fully developed. |
| Transnational corporation | A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located. |
| Uneven development | Development of core regions at the expense of those on the periphery. |
| Value added | The gross value of the product minus the costs of raw materials and energy. |
| World Systems Theory | Wallerstein's theoretical approach which analyses societies in terms of their position within global systems. |
