Food for Peace succeeded in facilitating the sale of increasingly large American agricultural surpluses to foreign buyers.

The oversight provided by the Food and Drug Administration affects directly such businesses as agriculture, tobacco, meat processing and packing, pharmaceuticals, the cosmetics industry, and the makers of much of the biomedical hardware commonly found in modern medical facilities.

The American fishing industry expanded in response to the growing popularity of seafood, but many of the areas rich in seafood have become overfished.

The crisis disrupted housing markets, mortgage markets, and finance and credit markets generally.

Films treating economic subjects tend to reflect popular American attitudes toward business during the periods in which they are made.

The fiber-optic industry transformed communication and data transmission, allowing more data to be sent using a greater bandwidth for longer distances with lower interference and attenuation.

FedEx was the first company to integrate air and ground transportation to enable overnight, door-to-door delivery of time-sensitive parcels.

The Federal Trade Commission is charged with protecting consumers from unfair competition and unfair or deceptive acts in commerce.

As the central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve is the institution in which the federal government and private banks do their banking.

Created on April 1, 1979, by President Jimmy Carter, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was a federal government response to the need for a centralized emergency management system.

Establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation helped eliminate bank panics, which had been a major contributor to business depressions.

Because the Federal Communications Commission has the power to allocate frequency bands and to grant (or deny) licenses to radio and television stations, it has had a profound effect on these and other communications businesses, which commission officials are legally required to monitor so that they serve the public interest.

During the twentieth century, fastfood restaurants, or quick service restaurants (QSR), became one of the fastest-growing American industries.

Farm subsidies help control the price of crops, ensure farmers of a consistent income, and keep the United States free from dependence on foreign countries for its food supply.

Although the population of the United States grew dramatically during the late nineteenth century, the vast expansion of land being farmed and the beginnings of mechanized agriculture soon led to overproduction and falling prices.

The United States is one of the most productive agricultural nations in the world, and its ability to produce food and other cash crops has been a direct function of the labor available and its relationship to the means of production.

The Farm Credit Administration is the federal agency that regulates all other government entities providing credit facilities for farmers, other rural landholders, and ruralbased businesses.

A family farm is officially defined by the 1998 Agricultural Resource Management Study as any farm organized as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or family corporation.

See COMPOUNDING, FUTURE VALUE.

Futures or futures contracts are sales of commodities for delivery at some later time. In the United States, futures generally refer to CONTRACTs specifying a fixed quantity and quality of a commodity to be delivered to a location at a certain date. Futures contracts are traded under the rules of the COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION (CFTC).

Free-trade areas are regional agreements to reduce TARIFFs, quotas, and other barriers to trade among the participating nations while retaining national TRADE BARRIERS with respect to other countries. The goal in creating areas for FREE TRADE is to stimulate ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and increase economic bargaining power.

Free trade is international trade without restraints imposed by governments. For a variety of reasons, governments often impose limitations on trade, and thus totally free trade does not exist in the world. Limitations on trade include TARIFFs, quotas, and other NONTARIFF BARRIERS.

Free on board, most commonly called FOB, is a shipping term that has much significance in the accounting for a firm’s ASSETS. There are two FOB situations: FOB shipping point and FOB destination. When a seller needs to ship goods to a buyer, the two parties will negotiate the manner in which the goods are transported, either FOB shipping point or FOB destination.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which can be found in Title 5 of the U.S. Code, Section 552, was enacted in 1966 and provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information.