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OIKONOMOS: This rather strange word is a greek term meaning "household manager" or "household steward" that gave rise to the modern term economy and the whole range of related terms, including economic, economics, economist, and economize. Ironically there are those who use economics less with the goal of providing "stewardship" of the economy and more focused on the goal of extracting maximum personal gain.
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                           SERVICES, CONSUMPTION: Personal consumption expenditures on activities that provide direct satisfaction of wants and needs without the production of tangible goods. Common examples are information, entertainment, and education. 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 durable goods and nondurable goods. Services are about 60 percent of personal consumption expenditures and 40 percent of gross domestic product. Services are consumption activities purchased by the household sector that generally provide for direct satisfaction without a physical, tangible product. Household expenditures on services are generally unaffected by business cycles. In good times and bad, the household sector continues to purchase services at a relatively constant pace.The four main categories of services in the National Income and Product Accounts are "housing," "household operation," "transportation," and "medical care." Housing and medical care are the two largest of these four categories, each about 25 percent of consumer expenditures on services. Household operation takes up 10 percent. And, transportation is the smallest of the four, at less than 8 percent. The services category of personal consumption expenditures is extremely diverse, as reflected by the size of the "other" category, which is in the neighborhood of 30 percent. A notable point about the services category of personal consumption expenditures is its size. Sixty percent of the expenditures made by the household sector and 40 percent of all purchases for GDP are services. This means that A LOT of economic production takes place each year that does NOT involve tangible products. This has not always been the way of the economic world. A hundred years ago, even fifty years ago, the vast majority of the productivity activity in the economy was the production of tangible products. Services, however, have become and will continue to be increasingly important. But do not be overly alarmed. The change in the mix of goods and services produced and consumed in the economy is a reflection of economic progress. Two hundred years ago, consumers were primarily concerned with acquiring food, clothing, and shelter. A hundred years ago, consumers had most of the food, clothing, and shelter needed, so they sought other tangible goods like cars and household appliances. Now, consumers have food, clothing, shelter, cars, and appliances, and what they seek is entertainment, education, and medical care. Being able seek these services means that consumers have come a long, long way in satisfying wants and needs. And that is progress.
Recommended Citation:SERVICES, CONSUMPTION, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: May 5, 2024].
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Paper money used by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to the U.S. Revolutionary War, which was issued against the dictates of Britain, was designed by patriot and silversmith, Paul Revere.
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"Each of us is issued but one life, and we know full well how it all ends. It would be regrettable to squander this one chance on someone else's appearance, someone else's experience. " -- Joseph Brodsky, Writer
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GDP
Gross Domestic Product
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