Statistical Terms Glossary

The general principle of charging for services in relation to the cost of providing these services.

Method in which a fixed sum or a percentage of the total cost is added (as income or profit) to the cost of the product to arrive at its selling price

Cost/Benefit Analysis is a technique for deciding whether to make a change. As its name suggests, it compares the values of all benefits from the action under consideration and the costs associated with it.

An alternative term used to describe ‘substitution bias’.

Is the ratio of the minimum expenditures required to enable a consumer to attain a fixed level of utility under the two sets of prices.

Costs refer to the value in alternative uses of the factors of production used by a firm (labour costs, materials costs, capital costs). Costs may be fixed or variable.
Total costs refer to the sum of fixed and variable costs. Average costs refer to total costs divided by output. Marginal cost is the increment to total cost that results from producing an additional unit of output. Marginal cost is a function of variable costs alone, since fixed costs do not vary with increases in output.

The amount of available resources spent by the railway enterprise in conjunction with an operation or service, or with a series of operations and services.

The amount of available resources spent by the IWT enterprise in connection with an operation or service, or with a series of operations and services.

The amount of available resources spent by the oil pipeline transport enterprise in conjunction with an operation or service, or with a series of operations and services.

The amount of available resources spent by the road transport enterprise in conjunction with an operation or service, or with a series of operations and services.

The amount of available resources spent by the sea transport enterprise in connection with an operation or service, or with a series of operations and services.

Entered into force in July 2004, is the only binding international treaty on the subject to have been adopted to date. It lays down guidelines for all governments wishing to develop legislation against cybercrime.
Open to signature by non-European states, the convention also provides a framework for international co-operation in this field. An additional Protocol outlaws acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems.

Number of fish or shellfish per unit of weight.

In a guarantee operation, a guarantee provided, in addition to the primary guarantee, by another guarantor.

Unauthorized representation of a registered trademark carried on goods identical or similar to goods for which the trademark is registered, with a view to deceiving the purchaser into believing that he/she is buying the original goods.

The opposite party in a financial transaction (e.g. any party transacting with a central bank).

A countervailing duty is an additional levy imposed on imported goods to offset subsidies provided to producers or exporters by the government of the exporting country.
Countervailing duties are permitted under Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

Countervailing measures are measures that can be undertaken whenever an investigation, by the investigating authority of the importing country, has led to the determination that the imported goods are benefiting from subsidies, and that they result in an injury. Countervailing measures may take the form of countervailing duties or undertakings by the exporting firms or by the authorities of the subsidising country.

See: Bilateral monopoly, Buyer concentrationMonopsony

Document giving results of a country collectability analysis.

A generic term for documents setting out the planned programme of assistance provided by a donor to a country, usually for a set period (often 3-4 years). They address how to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals.

An Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country (a sovereign state or a dependent territory).

Analysis carried out by World Bank staff of countries in non accrual status to determine the likelihood of them repaying some or all of their outstanding debt to the Bank and therefore of the need for loan loss provisioning by the Bank.

The extent to which a financial institution has lent money to one country.

Mutual funds that invest exclusively in specific countries. IFC has set up several such funds in developing countries.