EXPANSION: A phase of the business cycle characterized by a general period of rising economic activity. An expansion is one of two basic business cycle phases. The other is contraction. The transition from expansion to contraction is termed a peak and the transition from contraction to expansion is termed a trough. Expansions last an average of about 3-4 years, but this by no means not guaranteed. An expansion in the early 1980s lasted a mere 12 months. The next expansion then lasted over 8 years. Much of the 1960s was dedicated to a 106-month expansion, almost 9 years.

     See also | business cycle | prosperity | contraction | peak | trough | real gross domestic product | full employment | unemployment rate | inflation | investment | consumption | investment business cycle | political business cycle |

EXPANSION, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: April 28, 2024].

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An ideal market structure characterized by a large number of small firms, identical products sold by all firms, freedom of entry into and exit out of the industry, and perfect knowledge of prices and technology. This is one of four basic market structures. The other three are monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. Perfect competition is an idealized market structure that is not observed in the real world. While unrealistic, it does provide an excellent benchmark that can be used to analyze real world market structures. In particular, perfect competition efficiently allocates resources.

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