What Is a Centrally Planned Economy? A centrally planned economy, also known as a command economy, is an economic system where a government body makes economic decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods. Centrally planned economies are different from market economies, where these decisions are the result of thousands of choices by producers and
What Is the Central Provident Fund? The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a mandatory benefit account providing retirement earnings and healthcare for Singaporeans. Contributions to the retirement account originate from both the employee and the employer. There are three types of CPF accounts: ordinary, special, and medisave accounts. Key Takeaways The Central Provident Fund (CFP)
What Is Central Purchasing? Central purchasing is a department within a business or organization that is responsible for making all necessary procurement. Central purchasing works with other departments and agencies to consolidate orders for products to make use of economies of scale for receiving cheaper prices. Additionally, organizations use a central purchasing department to simplify
What Is the Centre for European Economic Research? The Centre for European Economic Research is a nonprofit economic research institution based in Mannheim, Germany. The organization provides advice on economic issues and policy to its clients, with its work focused primarily on European economies. Key Takeaways The Centre for European Economic Research, or ZEW (Zentrum
What Is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO)? A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive in a company. Broadly speaking, a chief executive officer’s primary responsibilities include making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company, acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and corporate
What Is the CEO Confidence Survey? The CEO Confidence Survey is a monthly survey of 100 chief executive officers (CEOs) from a variety of industries in the U.S. economy. The survey is conducted, analyzed, and reported by the Conference Board and it seeks to gauge the economic outlook of CEOs, determining their concerns for their
What Is Certain and Continuous? Certain and continuous refers to a type of annuity that guarantees a number of payments, even if the annuitant dies. If the annuitant passes away during the guaranteed period, a specified beneficiary will receive the rest of the payments. Alternatively, if the annuitant outlives the specified number of guaranteed payments, then
What Is Catastrophic Illness Insurance? Catastrophic illness insurance is a type of coverage that protects the insured for a specific and severe health problem over a defined period. It differs from other forms of health insurance in that there is limited coverage to the specifically named risk. An individual can buy the coverage as a stand-alone
What Is a Catch-Up Contribution? A catch-up contribution is a type of retirement savings contribution that allows people aged 50 or older to make additional contributions to 401(k) accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). When a catch-up contribution is made, the total contribution will be larger than the standard contribution limit. The Economic Growth and Tax
What Is a Category Killer? A category killer is a large retail chain superstore that dominates its product category and puts less productive and highly specialized merchants out of business. The original category killers proliferated during the 1980s and 1990s and generally excelled until the arrival of e-commerce, which paved the way for a new
