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V4 The Visegrad Group of countries.
V20 Vulnerable Twenty
Vaccine passport A document certifying that an individual has been vaccinated. In 2021, this referred to those vaccinated against the Covid 19 coronavirus. These passports were available in the European Union and some other countries, but not all.
Valuation See customs valuation procedure.
Value added The value of output minus the value of all intermediate inputs, representing therefore the contribution of, and payments to, primary factors of production.
Value added tax A tax that is levied only on the value added of a firm. A VAT is usually subject to border tax adjustment.
Value added trade 1. A measure of international trade that focuses on the value added in each country's exports rather than their total value that includes imported intermediate inputs.
2. Also sometimes used for exports that have undergone some processing within the exporting country, as opposed to exports of primary products.
Value chain The sequence of activities that a firm undertakes to create value, including the various steps of the supply chain but also additional activities, such as marketing, sales, and service. Term due to Porter (1990) and used by Krugman in slicing up the value chain.
Value date The date on which which the value of a transaction is determined. For a spot transaction in the foreign exchange market, that is usually two business days from the date of the trade. For a transaction on the forward market, that is the date that the currencies are exchanged.
Value marginal product Marginal value product.
Value product Price times quantity produced, as in marginal value product.
Value quota A quota specifying an upper limit on value -- price times quantity -- of a good. Contrasts with quantity quota.
Variable cost The portion of a firm or industry's cost that changes with output, in contrast to fixed cost.
Variable geometry Term used in the European Union for arrangements that do not encompass all and only those countries that are members of the EU. Also called Europe à la carte and multi-speed Europe. [Origin]
Variable levy A tax on imports that varies over time so as to stabilize the domestic price of the imported good. Essentially, the tax is set equal to the difference between the target domestic price and the world price.
Variable returns to scale The property of a production function that returns to scale may be increasing or decreasing, at different rates, at different levels of output.
Variable trade cost A trade cost per unit of the quantity of trade. May exist for exports or for imports, and for any trade regardless of origin/destination or separately for each origin/destination. Contrasts with fixed trade cost.
Variance A measure of how much an economic or statistical variable varies across values or observations. Its calculation is the same as that of the covariance, being the covariance of the variable with itself.
Variety Refers to the multiplicity of differentiated products that are available in some industries, a multiplicity that tends to become larger with trade.
Variety effect One [Source] of gains from trade: the fact that trade makes available both to consumers and to producers purchasing intermediate inputs a larger variety of products that therefore are able to meet their needs and desires more precisely.
VAT Value added tax.
VAX ratio The ratio of value added to gross exports. Introduced and used by Johnson and Noguera (2012) to indicate (inversely) the "intensity of production sharing."
Vehicle currency The currency used to invoice an international trade transaction, especially when it is not the national currency of either the importer or the exporter.
Velocity of money The rate at which money changes hands in an economy, usually defined by the equation of exchange.
Vent for surplus The concept that a country -- especially a developing country -- may be able to gain by exporting the products of factors that would not be employed at all without trade. [Origin]
Venture capital Money used to fund startup firms in exchange for shares of ownership that are expected to be cashed out within a few years as the successful startups go public or are acquired. The greater availability of venture capital in the U.S., compared to other countries, is said to contribute to its success in innovation.
VER Voluntary export restraint
Verisk Maplecroft A consultancy that provides intelligence on "sustainability, resilience and ESG." It produces the Resource Nationalism Index.
Vernon product cycle See product cycle.
Vertical FDI Foreign direct investment by a firm to establish manufacturing facilities in multiple countries, each producing a different input to, or stage of, the firm's production process. Contrasts with horizontal FDI.
Vertical integration Production of different stages of processing of a product within the same firm.
Vertical intra-industry trade Intra-industry trade in which the exports and imports either are differentiated by quality or (less commonly) are at different stages of processing. Contrasts with horizontal IIT.
Vertical specialization Another term for fragmentation. Used by Hummels, Rapoport, and Yi (1998).
VIE Voluntary import expansion
Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergieiche, WIIW, is "the Austrian think tank for first-hand expertise on Central and East Europe, CIS and the Balkans."
VII See Title VII.
Vinerian Associated with the work of economist Jacob Viner, as in the Vinerian concept of trade diversion.
Visegrad Group Also called the Visegrad Four, the group consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It was formed in 1991 with the aim to "work together in a number of fields of common interest within the all-European integration."
Visible In referring to international trade, used as a synonym for "good." "Visibles trade" is trade in goods. Contrasts with invisible.
Vocal for local Slogan promoted by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020 to encourage purchases of products made in India. [Source]
Void See appeal into the void.
Volatility The extent to which an economic variable, such as a price or an exchange rate, moves up and down over time.
Voluntary export restraint A restriction on a country's imports that is achieved by negotiating with the foreign exporting country for it to restrict its exports. Same as voluntary restraint agreement and orderly marketing arrangement.
Voluntary import expansion The use of policies to encourage imports, in response to pressure from trading partners. Due to Bhagwati (1987).
Voluntary restraint agreement Same as a VER.
VRA Voluntary restraint agreement, same as a VER and OMA.
Vulnerable Twenty Also called the V20, this is a group of countries formed in 2015 in Lima, Peru, that are "systemically vulnerable to climate change." As of February 2024, it has 68 member countries.