VACANCIES- Unfilled jobs.

VALUE ADDED- The difference between the value of final goods minus the cost of buying raw
materials and intermediate goods.

VALUE ADDED TAX- A tax on the value added at each stage of production, that is on the
difference between the value of final goods minus the cost of buying raw materials and
intermediate goods.

VARIABLE- A characteristic that may assume more than one set of values to which a numerical
measure can be assigned, for example, income, age, weight.

VARIABLE COSTS-Production expenses (costs) that are dependent on the level of output. In
other words, if output increases then the variable costs will increase.

VARIABLE FACTOR- A variable factor is a factor of production whose quantity can be varied in
the short run. We would normally expect labour and raw materials to be variable factors.

VARIABLE PRICING- When a firm offers the same goods at different prices for different market
sectors.

VARIABLES- Economic items which change and take different values.

VARIANCE- A measure of dispersion expressed in terms of squared average deviations as

opposed to the original units from some measure of central tendency such as the mean.

VEBLEN GOOD- A Veblen good (named after an American economist - Thorstein Bunde
Veblen) is a good that may have an upward-sloping demand curve because of conspicuous
consumption. In other words people may buy more of the good because it is more expensive.

VELOCITY OF CIRCULATION- The velocity of circulation is the number of times on average

each pound is spent on transactions. So if, for example, there was spending in an economy of
400m and there was a money supply of 100m, then each pound must have been used on
average 4 times. The velocity of circulation is 4. The velocity of circulation is an important part
of the Fisher Equation of Exchange.

WAGE DIFFERNTIALS- The difference in wages between workers in different occupations, age
groups, industrials, areas etc

WAGE DRIFT- Traditional wage differentials between groups of workers are eroded

WAGE PRICE SPIRAL- A wage-price spiral can occur when workers demand a pay rise above
inflation. This will increase the firm's costs and mean that they in turn have to put their prices
up further if they are to maintain their profit margin. If prices increase faster, then that will
prompt workers to put in for a yet higher wage rise. If they are successful in this then the firm
will have to put prices up further still, and if they do this then.....
WAGE RATE- Pay per time period e.g. s per hour

WAGES- A payment for labour.

WAGE-WAGE SPIRAL- When a wage increase in one industry sets off a series of wage claims
in other industries so as to maintain differentials.

WANTS AND NEEDS- The desire for goods and services.

WEALTH- A stock of all those assets capable of earning an income. Wealth can be human or
material
WEALTH EFFECTS- A wealth effect refers to the effect there may be on spending when a
person experiences a change in their wealth. For example, when house prices increase people
may "feel" wealthier and as a result spend more. This would be a wealth effect. Their income
has not risen, but they have spent more because their wealth has risen.

WELFARE LOSS- A situation where marginal social benefit is not equal to marginal social cost
and society does not achieve maximum utility.

X-AXIS- The horizontal axis in a chart. It displays the range of values possible for the
independent variable to take. In time series data, the x-axis represents time.

X-INEFFIENCY- When a firm fails to produce on the lowest possible average and marginal cost
curves. X-inefficiency is perhaps most likely in a situation where there is not enough
competition, like monopoly. In these circumstances forms may not be stretched as there is no
competition and so some "organisational slack" may creep in. This means that resources are
not being used as efficiently as possible. X-inefficiency will increase costs because of a lack of
competitive pressure.

Y-AXIS- The vertical axis in a chart. It displays the range of values possible for the dependent
variable to take.

YIELD- The yield of something is the income from it as a percentage of its price. The yield of a
gilt-edged security would therefore be the income you got from it each year, as a percentage
of the price you paid for it.

ZERO GROWTH- A situation where the economy does not grow at all. This can also be termed
stagnation if it continues for very long. Given worries about the environment and the depletion
of natural resources, some economists have argued that zero growth should be the aim of
policy. This has yet to gain much credence, but a considerable amount of work has gone into
trying to achieve "sustainable growth".

ZERO SUM GAME- A zero sum game occurs when any gain made by one player is exactly
balanced by losses to other players.