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ZERO-SUM GAME: A situation in which a fixed amount is divided up among the winners and losers. In a zero-sum game the wins equal the losses. Many stock market, or financial market, exchanges are zero-sum. One person buys low and sells high, while another buys high and sells low. The wealth in such transactions are merely transferred from one person to another. "Productive" market transactions, in contrast, are not zero-sum. The act of producing goods and services from resources that are consumed to satisfy wants and needs results in a net gain to society.
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CREATIVE DESTRUCTION A fundamental process of capitalism, popularized by Joseph Schumpeter, in which the benefits of growth and prosperity induced by innovations also result in the costs of disrupting existing means of production. The creation of new activity involves the destruction of existing activity. This notion attributes business-cycle instability to innovations, including both the expansionary rise of prosperity, as well as a contractionary decline. Creative destruction is based on the idea that rather than tending toward equilibrium, the economy is largely in flux. A key question is one of cause and effect. Does innovation cause destruction or does destruction induce innovation?
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A half gallon milk jug holds about $50 in pennies.
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"We succeed in enterprises (that) demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those (that) can also make use of our defects." -- Alexis de Tocqueville, Statesman
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EEH Explorations in Economic History
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