Goldilocks economy — (GOHL.dee.lawks i.KAWN.uh.mee) n. An economy that is not so overheated that it causes inflation, and not so cool that it causes a recession. Example Citation: America s not too hot, not too cold Goldilocks economy is getting too hot. The result… … New words
Goldilocks planet — (GOHL.dee.lawks PLAN.uht) n. A planet that can support life because it is neither too hot nor too cold, too big nor too small, too near its star nor too far. Example Citations: Last week NASA announced the discovery of a giant gasball of a planet … New words
wealth effect — (WELTH uh.fekt; TH as in thin) n. An increase in consumer spending based on the perceived wealth created by the escalating value of stock market portfolios. Example Citation: Big portfolio gains by investors in recent years have created what… … New words
spotlight effect — n. The tendency to believe that other people are paying closer attention to one s appearance and behavior than they really are. Example Citation: Oh, things sure took a bad turn. Mortifying, that s what it was. Such a big party friends, co… … New words
poverty effect — n. A reduction in consumer spending based on a perception of relative poverty caused by the decreasing value of stock market portfolios. Example Citation: Some economists are already talking about a poverty effect caused by sinking stock prices.… … New words
watercooler effect — n. The effect created by two or more employees having an informal, face to face conversation, as though at a watercooler. Example Citation: There also was the watercooler effect, or the theory that people come up with their best ideas when… … New words
house money effect — n. The premise that people are more willing to take risks with money they obtained easily or unexpectedly. Example Citations: The Flemings lot are now talking about regret aversion, investors inclination to sell their winners and stick by their… … New words
snob effect — n. The desire to purchase something only because it is extremely expensive or extremely rare; the tendency for demand to increase along with the price of an item whenever that item is perceived to improve the social status of the consumer.… … New words
lipstick effect — n. During a recession, the tendency for consumers to purchase small, comforting items such as lipstick rather than large luxury items. Example Citation: If you ve been following domestic news in recent weeks, you ve probably heard about the… … New words
small-world effect — (smawl WURLD uh.fekt) n. The tendency for individual elements in a large system to be separated from any other element in the system by only a few steps (a.k.a. six degrees of separation ). Example Citation: What has Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon… … New words
