
1992
The programme of the European Community (EC) aimed at unifying its internal market by 1992. The target was the elimination of all barriers to the movement of goods, people, and capital within the EC. ...

A & M trust
Abbreviation for accumulation and maintenance trust. See discretionary trust; *18–25 trust.

A. P. Usher
(1883–1965), American economic historian.The Harvard scholar Abbott Payson Usher will be remembered chiefly for three major monographs: The History of the Grain Trade in France, 1400–1740 (Cambridge, ...

A1
A description of property or a person that is in the best condition. In marine insurance, before a vessel can be insured, it has to be inspected to check its condition. If it is “maintained in good ...

AAA
Shorthand term (taken from the credit rating system) used informally to indicate top credit worthiness.

aajir
(Islam).The lessor in a risk-sharing transaction, a practice permitted under Islamic law (the shira). See ijara.

Aaron Director
(1901–2004)Aaron Director was born in 1901 in Charterisk, in what is now Ukraine, late in 1901. He died at his home in Los Altos, California on 11 September 2004 ...

A/B structure
Description of a two-tranche transaction: the A tranche is usually in the form of senior debt, while the B tranche is subordinated. It is commonly used as a method of ...

abatement cost
The cost of securing a reduction in pollution. The abatement cost can be quoted as a cost per unit or the total cost of achieving a given target. The marginal abatement cost should be equated to the ...

Abba Ptachya Lerner
(1903–82)Lerner was born in the Russian province of Bessarabia on 28 October 1903. He died in Tallahassee, Florida on 27 October 1982. After immigrating to England in 1906, Lerner ...

ABC Agreement
(USA).The legal basis for a firm to finance the purchase of a membership of the New York Stock Exchange for an employee since only individuals can be members. A ...

ABC securities
(USA).A non-interest-paying convertible where the dividends on the underlying issue of common stock are passed through to the holders if the price of the common stock rises more than a predetermined ...

abnormal return
The return on an asset or security beyond that predicted by market movements alone (cf. alpha coefficient; specific risk; stock specific risk). See also anomaly; risk premium.

above par
A security which is trading above its redemption value or par value. Purchasers of such securities will make a capital loss if held to maturity (cf. premium; discount). Many corporate bonds are ...

above-the-line activities
A corporate or banking obligation that must appear on the balance sheet (cf. below-the-line activities). Sometimes known as on-balance sheet. See financial lease.

Abraham Gesner
(1797–1863), geologist, chemist, entrepreneur.Born in the Annapolis Valley, Gesner studied medicine in London in 1825–6. Between 1836 and 1846, he published geological surveys of Nova Scotia, New ...

Abram Bergson
(1914–2003)Bergson was born Abram Burk in Baltimore in 1914, and died on 23 April 2003 in Cambridge Massachusetts. Along with his brother Gustav, he changed his name to Bergson ...