| Latin phrases for economists | ||
|---|---|---|
| Phrase | Translation | |
| A priori | Pre-supposed; your “priors beliefs”. | |
| Ad infinitum | To infinity; and so on. | |
| Ad valorem | Per value; a 10% tax is an ad valorem tax, whereas a duty per gallon of gasoline is not. | |
| Ceteris paribus | All else equal e.g. “We would expect, ceteris paribus, that an increase in price would lower quantity demanded.” | |
| De facto | For all practical purposes, but not officially. | |
| De jure | By law. | |
| Ex ante | Before the event; in anticipation. | |
| Ex post | After the event; in retrospect. | |
| Per se | Literally; by itself. | |
| Prima facie | In the first instance; at first glance. | |
| QED | As has been asked to be shown; done. | |
| Ultra vires | Beyond their power, e.g. the court ruled that Congress were acting ultra vires. | |
| Greek letters for economists | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower-case | Upper-case | Pronunciation | Economic meaning |
| \(\alpha\) | A | Alpha | Capital share of income |
| \(\beta\) | B | Beta | Regression coefficient (econometrics), or rate of time discounting (economic theory) |
| \(\gamma\) | \(\Gamma\) | Gamma | N/A |
| \(\delta\) | \(\Delta\) | Delta | Depreciation |
| \(\epsilon\) | E | Epsilon | Elasticity |
| \(\zeta\) | Z | Zeta | N/A |
| \(\eta\) | H | Eta | N/A |
| \(\theta\) | \(\Theta\) | Theta | Type, e.g. \(\theta_H\) might represent a “high type” |
| \(\iota\) | I | Iota | N/A |
| \(\kappa\) | K | Kappa | N/A |
| \(\lambda\) | \(\Lambda\) | Lambda | The Lagrange multiplier |
| \(\mu\) | M | Mu | Mean |
| \(\nu\) | N | Nu | N/A |
| \(\xi\) | \(\Xi\) | Xi | N/A |
| o | O | Omicron | N/A |
| \(\pi\) | \(\Pi\) | Pi | Inflation, or profit (lower-case) or the product of a series (upper-case) |
| \(\rho\) | R | Rho | The coefficient of autoregression |
| \(\sigma\) | \(\Sigma\) | Sigma | Standard deviation (lower-case) or the sum of series (upper-case) |
| \(\tau\) | T | Tau | Tax |
| \(\upsilon\) | \(\Upsilon\) | Upsilon | N/A |
| \(\phi\) | \(\Phi\) | Fy | N/A |
| \(\chi\) | X | Chi (rhymes with `guy’) | Used in statistics |
| \(\psi\) | \(\Psi\) | Psi (like `Si’) | N/A |
| \(\omega\) | \(\Omega\) | Omega | N/A |
Some Useful Latin and Greek (PDF)
Some Useful Latin and Greek (TeX)
1 thought on “Latin phrases and Greek letters for economists”
The list should also include “mutatis mutandis” meaning “once the necessary changes have been made”. This is a useful phrase when talking about several cases that have differing structural parameters, but share the same general idea or outcome. For instance, you might have a growth model for an economy that you want to use for different countries. One of your parameters is, say, the ratio of capital to total output. In a developed economy like the U.S. this could be 2/3 of GDP, while in an evolving one it could be less than 1/2 of GDP. After making the necessary adaptations for each country (mutatis mutandis), your conclusion may be that in general the GDP growth rate is positively affected by the productivity of capital (although different countries have different levels of capital).