Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) interest, charge for the use of credit or money, usually figured as a percentage of the principal and computed annually. Simple interest is computed annually on the principal. Compound interest, paid ...

(Encyclopedia) Consumer Affairs, Office of, agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established 1971. The office advises and represents the president on matters of consumer interest, and analyzes and coordinates ...

(Encyclopedia) Concert of Europe, term used in the 19th cent. to designate a loose agreement by the major European powers to act together on European questions of common interest. The concert emerged after the Congr...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick VIII, 1843–1912, king of Denmark (1906–12), son and successor of Christian IX. He fought in the war with Prussia in 1864 and always retained an interest in military affairs. He was succe...

(Encyclopedia) Gregory of Tours, Saint, 538–94, French historian, bishop of Tours (from 573), b. Clermont-Ferrand, of a prominent family. He had a distinguished and successful career as bishop. Gregory wrote accou...

(Encyclopedia) balance of payments, balance between all payments out of a country within a given period and all payments into the country, an outgrowth of the mercantilist theory of balance of trade. Balance of paym...

(Encyclopedia) National Academy of Sciences, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., a private organization of leading American scientists and engineers devoted to the furtherance of science and its use for the gener...

(Encyclopedia) Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, one of the first consumers' cooperatives, founded in 1844 in Rochdale, England, by 28 Lancashire weavers. Influenced by the theories of Robert Owen, they opened...

(Encyclopedia) Carnegie Corporation of New York, foundation established (1911) to administer Andrew Carnegie's remaining personal fortune for philanthropic purposes. Initially endowed with $125 million, the foundati...

(Encyclopedia) Fisher, Irving, 1867–1947, American economist, b. Saugerties, N.Y., Ph.D. Yale, 1891. He began teaching at Yale in 1890 and was active there until 1935. His earliest work was in mathematics, and he ...