Key Economic and Social Development Terms

Posted on Sep 21, 2025 in Social sciences

Essential Economic and Social Terminology

  • Official Development Assistance (ODA)

    Financial contributions from governments designed to promote development. It is often insufficient, not always directed to the poor, and usually provided in the form of loans.

  • Quality of Life

    Assessed by indicators of social well-being such as food, health, education, employment, housing, leisure, consumption, freedom, and the environment.

  • Social Charter

    Adopted in 1989, this text recognizes a series of fundamental rights of workers, such as free movement, employment, fair remuneration, social protection, freedom of association, and collective bargaining.

  • FAD Credits (Development Aid Fund)

    Official Development Assistance provided by Spain. These funds are conditional on the recipient’s acquisition of Spanish goods and services.

  • IMF (International Monetary Fund)

    Established in 1944 to reform the international monetary system. Its purpose is to promote international monetary cooperation and the stability of various currencies.

  • G8

    Brings together the eight strongest economies in the world (USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, and Russia). Its purpose is to influence the global economy and politics through annual summits.

  • Economic Globalization

    The process by which international economic relations become more intense, and decision-making power is concentrated in a small number of organizations. It is the result of trade liberalization, market deregulation, and increased capital mobility, leading to greater international specialization. Multinational corporations are the main beneficiaries of this process. The global economy hinges on a few decision-making centers located in the USA, EU, and Japan, where the headquarters of major companies are found.

  • HDI (Human Development Index)

    Developed by the UN since 1990. It uses three indicators of development: life expectancy, school enrollment, and GDP per capita. The score for each country is a number between 0 and 1, which allows for a global ranking.

  • Monopoly

    Control by a single company of either all supply or all demand, allowing it to set prices regardless of the equilibrium level.

  • Anti-Globalization Movements

    Movements that emerged in response to the negative consequences of globalization, criticizing the manner in which globalization is taking place.

  • Globalization of the Economy

    The growing interdependence of world economies, as manifested in the tendency for production, trade, and financial relations to develop worldwide.

  • Standard of Living

    The amount of goods and services that a person, family, or society can acquire with a certain income.

  • ILO (International Labour Organization)

    A social organization that aims to achieve social justice in employment.

  • Oligopoly

    The control of a market for a specific product type by a few independent companies of similar size. Since none is strong enough to impose its standards, they either compete moderately or coordinate to set a price that allows them to achieve maximum benefit, sharing the market.

  • Network

    A set of geographic locations interconnected in a system by a certain type of links.