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An imprest account is a means of controlling petty-cash expenditure in which a person is given a certain sum of money (float or imprest). When he has spent some of it he provides appropriate vouchers for the amounts spent and is then reimbursed so that the float is restored. Thus at any given time the person should have either vouchers or cash to a total of the amount of his float.
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In business, an imputed cost is an estimate of the opportunity cost of making use of a resource that is already owned and so has no formal price. In arriving at the true cost of a process, the imputed cost must be added to the actual outlay. For example, if one wishes to instal a commercial process in one's garage, the true cost is obtained by adding the interest one could earn on the money obtained by selling the garage to the cost of the plant, machinery, raw materials, etc.
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Incentive compatibility is the compatibility of an economic rule or mechanism with the incentives of the individuals concerned. That non- incentive compatible rules are usually of limited use has important implications for the operation of government policy. For example, it is of little use for the government to ask individuals how much they value a good provided by the state, such as roads, and use this response as a basis for deciding how much to spend on roads, as all road users have an incentive to overstate their needs. Such a mechanism for determining expenditure on roads is not incentive compatible.
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Incestuous share dealing is the buying and selling of shares in companies that belong to the same group, in order to obtain an advantage of some kind, usually a tax advantage. The legality of the transaction will depend on its nature.
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The incidence of taxation is the impact of a tax on those who bear its burden, rather than those who pay it. For example, VAT is paid by traders, but the ultimate burden of it falls on the consumer of the trader's goods or services. Again, a company may pay corporation tax but if it then raises its prices or reduces its employees' wages to recoup the tax it may be said to have shifted the incidence.
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An income and expenditure account is an account, similar to a profit and loss account, prepared by an organization whose main purpose is not the generation of profit. It records the income and expenditure of the organization and results in either a surplus of income over expenditure or of expenditure over income.
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Income stock is a stock or share bought primarily for the steady and relatively high income it can be expected to produce. This may be a fixed- interest gilt or an ordinary share with a good yield record.
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Income support is a government benefit for those with low incomes in Britain. It is primarily given to those who are unemployed, over 60, bringing up children alone, or unable to work through disability or through caring for relatives. Those with capital or savings in excess of œ6000 are not eligible.
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Income Tax is a tax levied directly from income of every description. It was first levied in Britain in January 1799, then repealed in 1802 and reinstated the same year under the name of Property Tax. It was fixed at 10 percent in 1806 and repealed in 1816 only to be reinstated in 1842. Since then the rate has fluctuated with the political whims of the current ruling party, and it is currently graduated but starting at 20 percent.
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An incomes policy is a government policy aimed at controlling inflation and maintaining full employment by holding down increases in wages and prices by statutory or other means. In the 1960s and 1970s, when Keynesianism, demand- pull, and cost-push theories of inflation were popular, incomes policies were widely pursued in the developed world. This reflected the strong belief that inflation and unemployment were closely connected, although incomes policies were unpopular with workers, whose wages were held down, often to an extent that caused a fall in the purchasing power of their incomes, as a result of inflation. However, the emergence of stagflation cast doubts on the benefits of these policies; with the rise of monetarism and the increasing popularity of laissez-faire government in the 1980s, incomes policies became much less attractive.
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In economics, the term inflation describes a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money circulating. Inflation results in a loss of value of currency.
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In modern times we take for granted the building of roads, and the like by the government, However, in the USA in particular this was not always the case.
The American Constitution did not provide for internal improvements, hence they became a party political question. Since 1789 money has been steadily appropriated by Congress for improvements lying strictly within Federal jurisdiction, as for light-houses, buoys, beacons and public piers. The first actual appropriation for other internal improvement was in 1806, when a sum was appropriated for the construction of the Cumberland Road, which was designed to penetrate the Western States and be the means of transmitting emigrants and mails in time of peace, and troops in time of war.
About the same time a road was begun through Georgia on the route to New Orleans. Congress passed a resolution in 1818, declaring its power to appropriate money for the construction of roads and canals, and for the improvement of water-courses. On March the 3rd, 1823, the first act for harbour improvement passed the US Congress. On April the 13th, 1824, $30,000 was appropriated for the survey of such roads and canals as the President should deem of national importance, and $300,000 was subscribed to the stock of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. In May, 1822, President Monroe vetoed the Cumberland Road Bill, declaring that Congress had no power under the Constitution to carry out a system of internal improvements at Federal expense. This, and Jackson's veto of the Maysville Turnpike Road Bill in 1830, threw the matter into the hands of the States.
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The Interstate Commerce Commission was an American commission appointed by Act of Congress on February the 4th, 1887. It had jurisdiction of rates on interstate traffic, and could inquire into the management of the business of all common carriers subject to the provisions of 'An act to regulate commerce'.
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In the USA in 1884 Representative Reagan, of Texas, submitted a bill to the House for the regulation of interstate commerce, and about the same time a similar bill was proposed in the Senate. Both bills failed. Thereafter yearly debates took place concerning these and similar bills, until, February the 4th, 1887, the Reagan bill was finally passed and approved. It provided for the appointment of a commission, consisting of five persons, who saw to it that railway and other such companies established and preserved a just and uniform rate of transportation. This particularly affected such corporations as controled continuous lines from one State to another, either by land or by water, or both. The law was very effective in preventing gross discriminations in charges for freight and the issuing of passes.
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Between 1985 and 1991 the Inti was the currency of Peru. The Inti was introduced after inflation caused the existing currency, the Sol to become worthless. In 1991 inflation had reduced the value of the Inti to nothing, and the Neuvo Sol was introduced replacing the Intis.
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An inventory and valuation policy is an insurance policy, usually on household goods and personal effects, that is based on a written schedule of every item in the premises. This schedule, which is prepared by professional valuers, shows the value of each item. In such policies, insurers agree that in the event of a claim they will not require any further proof of value, which they would require without a valued schedule. Inventory and valuation policies are rare because of the time and expense involved in obtaining a valuation. There are also the problems of having to add to the cover any new items purchased and of inflationary rises in the value of objects.
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An investment analyst is a person employed by stockbrokers, banks, insurance companies, unit trusts, pension funds, etc., to give advice on the making of investments. Many pay special attention to the study of equities in the hope of being able to advise their employers to make profitable purchases of ordinary shares. To do this they use a variety of techniques, including a comparison of a company's present profits with its future trading prospects; this enables the analyst to single out the companies likely to outperform the general level of the market.
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An investment bank is a US bank that fulfils many of the functions of a UK merchant bank. It is usually one that advises on mergers and acquisitions and provides finance for industrial corporations by buying shares in a company and selling them in relatively small lots to investors.
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An investment club is a group of investors who, by pooling their resources, are able to make more frequent and larger investments on a stock exchange, often being able to reduce brokerage and to spread the risk of serious loss. The popularity of investment clubs has waned with the rise of unit trusts and investment trusts, both of which have the advantages of professional management.
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An investment grant (or investment incentive) is a grant made to a company by a government to encourage investment in plant, machinery, buildings, etc. The incentives may take various forms, some being treated as a deduction for tax purposes, others being paid whether or not the company makes a profit.
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An investment bond is a single-premium life-assurance policy in which an investment of a fixed amount is made (usually over œ1000) in an asset-backed fund. Interest is paid at an agreed rate and at the end of the period the investment is returned with any growth. Investment bonds confer attractive tax benefits in some circumstances.
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The invisible balance is the balance of payments between countries that arises as a result of transactions involving services, such as insurance, banking, shipping, and tourism (these are often known as invisibles), rather than the sale and purchase of goods. Invisibles can play an important part in a nation's current account, although they are often difficult to quantify. Britain relies on a substantial invisible balance in its balance of payments.
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The invisible hand is a business term describing the unseen forces by which the pursuit of rational self- interest achieves a socially desirable outcome. The concept was conceived by Adam Smith to describe the operation of a market economy, the idea of the invisible hand forms the basis of neoclassical theories about general equilibrium and Pareto optimality.
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An invoice is a document stating the amount of money due to the organisation issuing it for goods or services supplied. A commercial invoice will normally give a description of the goods and state how and when the goods were dispatched by the seller, who is responsible for insuring them in transit, and the payment terms.
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In economics, involuntary unemployment is unemployment in which workers who would be willing to work for lower wages than those in employment are still unable to find work. John Keynes argued that recessions are characterised by
involuntary unemployment because firms may be unwilling or unable to cut the wages of workers they employ. Although neo-classical economists have found difficulty accepting this concept in recent years, a number of theories (including the implicit contract theory and the efficiency wage theory) have been suggested to explain it. The emergence of these theories reflects the need to explain the high and persistent levels of unemployment that began in the 1980s.
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An IOU is a written document providing evidence of a debt, usually in the form 'I owe you...'. It is not a negotiable instrument or a promissory note and requires no stamp (unless it does include a promise to pay). It can, however, be used as legal evidence of a debt.
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In economics, the ISLM model is a model that shows how the equilibrium levels of interest and national output are determined. It involves manipulation of the IS (investment-savings) curve and the LM (liquidity- money) curve. First formulated by John Hicks, the model works by simultaneously finding the equilibrium values of these variables in the money market and the savings-investment market. The aim of the model was to provide a framework for contrasting John Keynes' general theory with the standard neo-classical (later monetarist) theory and a basis for policy analysis. Although the ISLM model has been the standard textbook analysis for some fifty years, it lacks proper micro- foundations and has failed to resolve the major issues in macroeconomics.
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In economics, the isocost is the set of combinations of goods that have the same total cost; this can be represented by a curve on a graph. In producer theory isocosts refer to inputs and, making certain assumptions, there will be a unique minimum cost of producing a given level of output, which can be represented as the point at which a particular isoquant curve touches the lowest possible isocost curve.
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In economics, an isoquant is the combinations of inputs that can be used to produce a given level of output; this can be represented as a curve on a graph. The concept is analogous to that of an indifference curve in consumer theory. Given the prices of inputs faced by a firm, by making certain additional assumptions, the firm or entrepreneur will be able to choose a single combination of inputs that minimises costs for a given level of output (i.e. on a particular isoquant); this combination will also maximise profits.
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An issuing house is a financial institution, usually a merchant bank, that specialises in the flotation of private companies on a stock exchange. In some cases the issuing house will itself purchase the whole issue, thus ensuring that there is no uncertainty in the amount of money the company will raise by flotation. It will then sell the shares to the public, usually by an offer for sale, introduction, issue by tender, or placing.
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Abbreviations
Money
