Chapter 2 Economics

traditional econonmy

an economic system where production and distribution are based on customs, beliefs, and established patterns of behavior passed down through generations. Key characteristics include subsistence-level production (just enough to survive), a reliance on bartering or trade for goods and services, and occupations determined by one's family role.

GDP per capita

GDP per person

market econonmy

an economic system where the forces of supply and demand, driven by individual consumers and private businesses, determine the production and pricing of goods and services. In this system, there is minimal government intervention in economic decisions, and the pursuit of profit motivates most activity. 

undertaking

any entity engaged in an economic activity, which is defined as offering goods or services on a market

five year plan

were a series of centralized economic plans aimed at rapid industrialization and agricultural collectivization, with a primary focus on heavy industry and infrastructure like steel, energy, and hydroelectric projects. While successful in certain aspects of industrial output, particularly in heavy industry, the plans often led to severe rural hardship, food shortages, and famine due to the forced collectivization of farmland and requisitioning of agricultural products to finance industrial grow

Gosplan

agency responsible for central economic planning in the Soviet Union.

collectivization

the process of combining individual, often privately-owned, units, such as farms or industries, into larger, cooperatively or state-controlled entities

perestroika

meaning "restructuring," was a series of political and economic reforms implemented in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev starting in 1985. It aimed to modernize the Soviet system by introducing elements of a market economy, such as privatization and the decentralization of economic decision-making. While intended to strengthen the USSR, perestroika ultimately contributed to its collapse by undermining the existing central planning system without effectively establishing a market econo

Great Leap Forward

was a catastrophic economic and social campaign launched by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. Intended to rapidly transform China from an agrarian economy into an industrial communist society, the policies resulted in widespread famine, economic disaster, and the deaths of tens of millions of people

solidarity

Polish trade union that in the early 1980s became the first independent labour union in a country belonging to the Soviet bloc.

keiretsu

a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized alliance within Japan's business community.

population density

number of people per square mile