Ec1018 definitions
Mortgage-backed security
A security created when a group of mortgages are gathered together and bonds are sold to other institutions or the public; investors receive a portion of the interest payments on the mortgages as well as the principal payments; usually guaranteed by the government.
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract (more colloquially, futures) is a standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed upon today (the futures price or strike price) with delivery and payment occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date.
Market liquidity
In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is an asset's ability to be sold without causing a significant movement in the price and with minimum loss of value. Money, or cash, is the most liquid asset, and can be used immediately to perform economic actions like buying, selling, or paying debt, meeting immediate wants and needs.
Bond
In finance, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. It is a debt security, under which the issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay them interest (the coupon) and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed the maturity.
Arbitrage
In economics and finance, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices.
Short selling
In finance, short selling (also known as shorting or going short) is the practice of selling assets, usually securities, that have been borrowed from a third party (usually a broker) with the intention of buying identical assets back at a later date for a cheaper price allowing the seller to pocket the difference and return the asset to the lender.
MATURITY TRANSFORMATION: The term economists use to describe the activity of a financial intermediary that accepts deposits or investments of one term (usually short) and places those funds with a debtor in another term (usually intermediate or long term).

Present value
Present value, also known as present discounted value, is the value on a given date of a payment or series of payments made at other times. If the payments are in the future, they are discounted to reflect the time value of money and other factors such as investment risk.
Repurchase agreement
A repurchase agreement, also known as a repo, RP, or sale and repurchase agreement, is the sale of securities together with an agreement for the seller to buy back the securities at a later date. The repurchase price should be greater than the original sale price, the difference effectively representing interest, sometimes called the repo rate.
Gold standard
Gold standard is the system by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold, for which the currency could be exchanged.
Financial intermediation
Financial intermediation is the process of mobilizing deposits and disbursing them as loans to clients or investing them in other types of financial instruments.
Leverage
1. The use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital, such as margin, to increase the potential return of an investment.
2. The amount of debt used to finance a firm's assets. A firm with significantly more debt than equity is considered to be highly leveraged.
Open market operation
An open market operation (also known as OMO) is an activity by a central bank to buy or sell government bonds on the open market. A central bank uses them as the primary means of implementing monetary policy. The usual aim of open