THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

Gross National Product (GNP): The value of all goods and services
produced and exchanged in a particular country. The largest
component of GNP is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the
value of all goods and services consumed in a country. Foreign Trade
makes up the difference between GNP and GDP.
Inflation: Depreciation over time of the value of a currency in terms
of goods and services. An excess of money supply will tend to create
inflation.
Interest: Time-related income for the lender of a currency, or timerelated
cost for the borrower of a currency. Charging interest was
prohibited by all three major religions, Judaism, Christianism and
Islam. Today, only Islam enforces this rule (hence 'Islamic banking'
which is banking where interest charges are replaced with other
types of fees). Interest is one of the key ingredients in the Discounted
Cash Flow, which provokes discounting of the future.
International Monetary Fund (IMF): International organisation
based in Washington DC, initially created to administer the Bretton
Woods Agreement. The US is the only country with veto power in it.
Website: http://www.imf.org/
Investment: Spending money with the objective to improve or
augment the productive capacity of a company or project. In
economic language, is opposed to consumption.
Legal tender for all debts public and private' means that if A owes a
debt to B and offers to pay B with this currency, if B refuses the
currency A can declare the debt void and have the courts support
him or her (is particularly important in tax payments, and in all other
legal settlements).