The telegraph, invented in 1837, provided the first technology for rapid communications and gave businesses the ability virtually instantaneously to contact their own branches, other companies, or consumers.
The Treasury Department has a farreaching effect on the U.S. economy and all its private and public financial institutions through the department’s responsibility for managing the federal government’s finances and enforcing laws that ensure the safety and soundness of American and international financial institutions.
Supply-side economics, embraced by U.S. president Ronald Reagan during the 1980’s in an attempt to boost the U.S. economy after the stagflation of the 1970’s...
Savings and loan associations are similar to banks but offer a somewhat narrower range of services because of government restrictions and their traditional emphasis on saving and lending money.
Since Charles Ponzi perpetrated his scheme on a large scale in Boston in 1920, many others have defrauded investors through what have become known as Ponzi schemes.
Pension and retirement plans became expected job benefits during the twentieth century, increasing the overhead of employment for many firms but also providing workers with significant income on retirement.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is the oldest and largest stock exchange in the United States, and the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume.
As the first computerized stock exchange, the NASDAQ revolutionized the stock market trading system by allowing the easy trade of small stocks by permitting ordinary people to use electronic trading to buy and sell stocks without the need for a broker.
Since the creation of the first mutual fund in 1929, the mutual fund industry has enjoyed the fastest growth rate of the financial investment industry.
Mortgage loans have long been a major formof credit for households and business firms, and they provide major assets for banks and other financial firms.
Morgan exercised tremendous economic power through J. P. Morgan and Company, the nation’s most prosperous private banking house; a railroad empire built by reorganizing bankrupt lines and gaining a controlling interest in many of the nation’s major lines; and the United States Steel Corporation, then the world’s largest business.
The junk bond industry arose during the 1970’s in response to an increasingly desperate need for capital by American corporations, which issued high-risk bonds that attracted investors tempted by the prospect of high returns.
Prohibitions against insider trading seek to reassure investors that corporate managers and other with an obligation to the public (that is, those with fiduciary responsibilities) do not act in their own or others’ financial interest on the basis of information that is required to be but has not yet been disclosed regarding business developments, such as serious pending financial losses.
Inflation temporarily increases business profits, but it distorts business accounting measures; drives up interest rates; augments conflicts with customers, suppliers, debtors, and creditors; and contributes to antibusiness political sentiment.
Gould became rich frombuying railroad lines and stocks at bargain prices and selling them for huge profits at a time when American financial markets were largely unregulated.
Adoption of the gold standard stabilized international currency exchange rates and enabled free trade, thereby aiding the growth of American business during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Most businesses with pension plans have replaced traditional defined-benefit plans with 401(k) retirement plans, or what are classified as defined-contribution pension plans.
Forbes is one of the most influential business and financial magazines in the United States, known for its many lists, including its list of the world’s richest people.