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Doniphan, Alexander William

(Encyclopedia)Doniphan, Alexander William dŏnˈĭfən [key], 1808–87, American lawyer and soldier, b. Mason co., Ky. He began (1830) to practice law in Lexington, Mo., and served three terms in the state legisla...

Cook, James

(Encyclopedia)Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joine...

fair trade

(Encyclopedia)fair trade, a trading arrangement intended to provide more equitable international trade by creating better conditions for disadvantaged or marginalized producers of goods. Fair trade practices includ...

Marshall Plan

(Encyclopedia)Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World War II. The Marshall ...

Borglum, Gutzon

(Encyclopedia)Borglum, Gutzon (John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum) gŭtˈsən dĕ lˈə mät bôrˈgləm [key], 1867–1941, American sculptor, b. Idaho; son of a Danish immigrant physician and rancher. He studied at ...

Yanukovych, Viktor Fedorovych

(Encyclopedia)Yanukovych, Viktor Fedorovych vēkˈtôr fĕdˈərōvĭch yäno͞okōˈvĭch [key], 1950–, Ukrainian politician, president of Ukraine (2010–14). The graduate of a mining college and a polytechnic ...

right whale

(Encyclopedia)right whale, name for whales of the family Balaenidae. They were so named by whalers, who for centuries considered them “the right whales” to hunt, because they float when killed and because they ...

marketing

(Encyclopedia)marketing, in economics, that part of the process of production and exchange that is concerned with the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. In popular usage it is defined as the dist...

tariff

(Encyclopedia)tariff, tax on imported and, more rarely, exported goods. It is also called a customs duty. Tariffs may be distinguished from other taxes in that their predominant purpose is not financial but economi...

economic planning

(Encyclopedia)economic planning, control and direction of economic activity by a central public authority. In its modern usage, economic planning tends to be pitted against the laissez-faire philosophy which develo...

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