Glossary
What will I find in this section?
Technical terms, unfortunately, cannot always be avoided – particularly when it comes to complex topics such as monetary policy. This is why we have compiled a glossary with a wide range of terms, arranged in alphabetical order and each with a short explanation.
-
A wage bargaining partner is a group of people that concludes collective agreements stipulating wages, salaries and the working conditions of employees. Wage bargainers include the trade unions and employers' associations, but also individual employers.
See also
-
A wage-price spiral is a mutually reinforcing process of wage and price increases. Higher wages and the attendant increase in production costs lead to higher sales prices, which in turn give rise to wage increases. This distributional struggle between wage bargaining partners is one possible cause of inflation.
See also
-
A warrant is a security that securitises the right – but not the obligation – to purchase (call option) or sell (put option) a certain amount of an underlying (usually equity shares) at a pre-determined strike price on a specific date. Warrants are traded on the exchange. The price of a warrant is primarily determined by fluctuations in the price of the underlying. However, additional factors also influence the price of a warrant, in particular the volatility of the price of the underlying. Warrants often respond disproportionately to fluctuations in the price of the underlying.
See also
-
In 1999, fifteen European central banks signed the Washington Agreement on Gold committing to selling no more than 400 tonnes of gold altogether per year in the following five years in order to help stabilise the gold market. The agreement was extended for another five years in 2004, with an increased quota of 500 tonnes per year and a slightly altered group of participants. In 2009, the agreement was renewed again between the then 17 Eurosystem central banks, Sweden and Switzerland for another five years, this time with the quota once more set at 400 tonnes per year. In 2014, the agreement was renewed again between the 19 Eurosystem central banks (as of 2015), Sweden and Switzerland for another five years. The European Central Bank (ECB) and 21 other central banks that are signatories of the Washington Agreement on Gold have decided not to renew the Agreement upon its expiry in September 2019.
-
The watermark is one of several security features of euro banknotes directly incorporated into the banknote paper. When held against the light different thicknesses of paper make some parts of the watermark appear lighter and some parts darker.
See also
More on this topic
-
The weekly activity index (WAI) for the German economy was developed in 2020 at the Bundesbank to assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on economic activity from a near-time perspective. The WAI is composed of seven indicators, which all play a part in explaining economic developments. These include “electricity” and “toll” (road charge) – indicators of industrial production – as well as “flights” – an indicator of global activity. In addition, there are the “unemployment” and “short-time work” variables, which relate to the labour market. The “cash” indicator captures one part of consumer behaviour, while the “air pollution” variable serves as a metric for the mobility sector.
The WAI is still a work in progress – it is constantly undergoing revision and is, when necessary, adjusted. The WAI is not an official forecast of the Deutsche Bundesbank or the Eurosystem.
Further information
-
Wero is the name of a European payment system application developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), which has been on the market since the summer of 2024. Wero allows customers of participating banks to use their smartphone to make cashless payments in several European countries, simply, quickly and around the clock. Going forward, additional payment options are planned. Wero offers users a European alternative to existing international payment systems.
See also
-
The World Bank group is a special organisation of the United Nations with its own legal personality and comprises five organisations. It is often referred to in short as the World Bank. Its core task is to promote the development of less developed countries through consultancy, technical assistance and financial aid. In a stricter sense, the World Bank is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A country’s weighted vote is determined in accordance with its capital share in the World Bank. The World Bank was created in 1944 and its headquarters are in Washington DC. The post of President of the World Bank is traditionally occupied by a US citizen.
See also