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consumption

(Encyclopedia)consumption, in economics, direct utilization of goods and services by consumers, not including the use of means of production, such as machinery and factories (see capital). Consumption can be divide...

Cromwell, Thomas, earl of Essex

(Encyclopedia)Cromwell, Thomas, earl of Essex, 1485?–1540, English statesman. While a young man he lived abroad as a soldier, accountant, and merchant, and on his return (c.1512) to England he engaged in the wool...

De Soto, Hernando

(Encyclopedia)De Soto, Hernando dĭsōˈtō, Span. ĕrnänˈdō dā sōˈtō [key], c.1500–1542, Spanish explorer. After serving under Pedro Arias de Ávila in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru,...

Rathlin Island

(Encyclopedia)Rathlin Island răthˈlĭn [key], 5 sq mi (13 sq km), Moyle dist., N Northern Ireland. Its cliffs, of limestone and basalt, rise at Slieveacarn to 449 ft (137 m). Farming and fishing are important. St...

Melrose, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Melrose, town (1991 pop. 2,221), Scottish Borders, S Scotland, on the Tweed River. It is the site of one of the finest ruins in Scotland—Melrose Abbey, owned by the nation and founded for Cistercian...

Bannockburn

(Encyclopedia)Bannockburn bănˈəkbûrnˌ, bănˌəkbûrnˈ [key], moor and parish, Stirling, central Scotland, on the Bannock River. Textiles are manufactured in the parish. In 1314 on the moor, a Scottish army o...

Livingston

(Encyclopedia)Livingston, family of American statesmen, diplomats, and jurists. Edward Livingston,Edward Livingston, 1764–1836, b. Livingston Manor, was the son of Robert R. Livingston (1718–75) and brother o...

Chambers, William

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, William, 1800–1883, and Robert Chambers, 1802–71, Scottish authors and publishers. Their firm of W. and R. Chambers is best known for Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, which William started ...

Serra, Saint Junípero

(Encyclopedia)Serra, Saint Junípero ho͞onēˈpārō sĕˈrä [key], 1713–84, Spanish Franciscan missionary in North America, b. Majorca. His name was originally Miguel José Serra, and Junípero was his name in...

Friedman, Milton

(Encyclopedia)Friedman, Milton frēdˈmən [key], 1912–2006, American economist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Columbia, 1946. Friedman was influential in helping to revive the monetarist school of economic thought (se...