BANK RUN: A situation in which a relatively large number of a bank's customers attempt to withdraw their deposits in a relatively short period of time, usually within a day or two. While common throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, government deposit insurance has largely eliminated banks runs in the modern economy. Historically a bank run was prompted by fears that the bank was on the verge of collapse, causing deposits to become worthless. Ironically a bank run often caused the bank to fail. Bank runs were often infectious, leading to economy-wide bank panics and business-cycle contractions.

     See also | bank panic | Federal Reserve System | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation | required reserves | banking | banks | fractional-reserve banking | bank reserves | money | monetary economics | government functions | financial markets | liquidity | money creation | central bank | monetary policy | monetary aggregates | barter | full-reserve banking | no-reserve banking | goldsmith banking |

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A rule stating that a firm minimizes economic loss by producing no output in the short run if price is less than average variable cost. This is one of three short-run production alternatives facing a firm. The other two are profit maximization (if price exceeds average total cost) and loss minimization (if price is less than average total cost but greater than average variable cost).

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