Understanding the Public Sector: Budgets, Decentralization, and Fiscal Balance
The Public Sector: An Overview
The concept of the public sector is often identified with the State. The public sector encompasses a broad area controlled by politicians. Its components include:
- The State General Administration (central).
- Territorial administrations (regions and municipalities).
- Their respective agencies and autonomous entities.
- Public enterprises.
Budgets and Public Finance
General State Budgets are systematically organized and quantified in a document that outlines the public sector’s
Read MoreUnderstanding Macroeconomic Forces: Supply, Demand, and Policy
Understanding Macroeconomic Forces
Internal forces are determined by the market behavior of economic agents in a country and are expressed through the free interplay of supply and aggregate demand.
The Average Level of Prices
The average level of prices is the weighted average of prices of all goods and services in an economy.
Macroeconomic Market
This involves matching buyers and sellers with their spending plans and production. Differential change is short-term productive capacity of a country, but
Read MoreUnderstanding Macroeconomic Aggregates and National Accounts
Macroeconomic Aggregates
Macroeconomic aggregates allow the measurement of a country’s economic activity. When we speak of macroeconomic aggregates, we are referring to the set of macroeconomic variables, which can be classified into three types: aggregate quantities, aggregate prices, and monetary aggregates.
System of National Accounts (SNA)
The national accounting system aims to quantify economic activity by making use of aggregate economic variables of the macroeconomic aggregates systematically.
Read MoreDemographic and Economic Indicators: Definitions
Civil Registration
Civil registration is a demographic source that continuously collects significant demographic events (deaths, births, marriages). These events generally happen immediately.
Net Migration
Net migration is the difference between emigrants and immigrants in a specific location. It is positive if the number of immigrants is greater than the number of emigrants, and negative otherwise.
Primary Sector
The primary sector includes the population employed in economic activities directly related
Read MorePrime Cost, Pricing Strategies, Production, and Budgeting
Prime Cost and Conversion Cost
Prime Cost: Direct Materials (DM) + Direct Labor (DL). These costs are most convincingly associated with and traceable to a specific product.
Conversion Cost: DL + Overhead (OH). Costs directly or indirectly necessary for transforming raw materials and purchased parts into a saleable, finished product.
Pricing Strategies
Pricing: What the seller believes the buyer will pay for a certain product. It can be fixed or negotiated.
Geographical Pricing
- Ex-works Pricing: The customer
Electronic Funds, Cards, and Postal Services
Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
Under EFT, a bank transfers wages and salaries directly from the company’s account to the accounts of the company’s employees. Other examples of EFTs include online payment of electricity bills, water bills, insurance premiums, house taxes, etc.
Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs)
An ATM is an automated machine. With the help of an ATM, money can be withdrawn or deposited by inserting a card and typing your Personal Identity Number (PIN). This machine operates 24/7.