Economic Glossary:

Dumping: Selling the same good to a foreign country at a lower price, often below production cost, than that charged to the domestic buyers. Dumping usually occurs because -- (1) producers in one country are trying to stay competitive with producers in another country, (2) producers in one country are trying to eliminate the producers in another country and gain a larger share of the world market, (3) producers are trying to get rid of excess stuff that they can't sell in their own country, (4) producers can make more profit by dividing sales into domestic and foreign markets, then charging each market whatever price the buyers are willing to pay.

Discrimination: Treating people differently based on some sort of group characteristic--like race, ethnic origin, or gender--rather then individual abilities. Discrimination is usually most prominent in employment and housing, but can filter into all aspects of life in many subtle ways. Discrimination tends to be inefficient because it limits the number of buyers or sellers that have access to a given market. Those who discriminate in this manner are, in essence, willing to pay extra for the privilege of associating only with "their own kind."

Consumption durable goods: Personal consumption expenditures on tangible goods that tend to last for more than a year. Common examples are cars, furniture, and appliances. This is one of three categories of personal consumption expenditures in the National Income and Product Accounts maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The other two are nondurable goods and services. Durable goods are about 12% of personal consumption expenditures and 8% of gross domestic product.

Shutdown rule: A rule stating that firm minimizes economic loss by producing no output in the short run if price is less than average variable cost. In the short run, a firm incurs total fixed cost whether or not it produces any output. As such, if the market price is falls below average total cost, it must decide if the economic loss from producing the quantity of output that equates marginal revenue and marginal cost is more or less than the economic loss incurred with shutting down production in the short run (which is equal to total fixed cost).

Stagflation: High inflation rates at the same time the economy has high unemployment rates. Throughout much of the economic history of the good old U. S. of A., we've seen a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. During an expansion, inflation is usually higher and unemployment is lower. The opposite has tended to occur during a recession. In the 1970s, however, inflation worsened at the same time the economy dropped into a recession. This led economists not only to coin the term stagflation (stagnation + inflation), but also to reevaluate the existing explanation of how the economy works.