Glossary
Cash Crop: a readily sellable crop (like cotton or tobacco) produced or gathered primarily for foreign markets
Consumerism: a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods
Generic: not having a brand name: generic soap. A drug sold under or identified by its official nonproprietary or chemical name.
Global Warming: an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase sufficient to cause climatic change.
International Monetary Fund (IMF): The IMF was established at the end of WWII. Its mandate is to create global economic stability. The IMF has evolved since its inception, but remains focused on overseeing the international monetary system, which includes helping to resolve debt problems and encouraging member governments to implement appropriate macroeconomic and structural policies. For more informtion, go to www.imf.org
Patent: A writing securing to an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years
Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP's): Economic reforms that international lending bodies like the IMF and World Bank insist upon before lending out money. The purpose of SAP's is to ensure that the lending country is able to make payments on the debt. They usually require the loaning country to sell off public assets, cutback on social spending, and to increase their cash crop exports.
World Bank: An agency of the United Nations established at the end of the Second World War to provide countries with money for development.. For more information, visit the World Bank web site at www.worldbank.org
World Trade Organisation (WTO): The WTO is the cornerstone of the world trading system. It determines how governments frame and implement trade legislation and regulations. It also makes rulings when trade disputes between countries go to the WTO court. For more information go to www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm
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