Economic activity aimed at profiting from expected changes in the prices of goods, assets, or currencies. In a world of uncertainty, most transactions are capable of being interpreted as speculative, but the term speculation is reserved for transactions where expected capital gains tax provide a major motive. Speculators may buy goods or assets they do not want but whose prices they expect to rise, or buy call options on such assets. They can contract to buy assets they do not have the funds to pay for. Speculators may sell goods, assets, or currencies they do not really want to part with, but whose prices they expect to fall, so that they will be able to buy them back more cheaply; or they may buy put options on such assets. It is also possible to contract to sell assets one does not actually possess. In Keynesian monetary theory, the speculative motive for holding money implies that more than the usual proportion of assets is held in money when bond prices are expected to fall, and less than the usual proportion of assets is held in money when bond prices are expected to rise. If speculators hold stable expectations about the medium-term levels of prices, the reaction of speculation to short-term fluctuations in prices will be stabilizing. If the speculators themselves have unstable expectations, speculation is liable to amplify fluctuations in asset prices due to other causes. Whether speculation tends to stabilize or destabilize markets is controversial.

• control of a company
• convenience, flag of
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
• convergence
• convergence criteria
• convergent series
• convertibility
• convertible currency
• convertible debenture
• convexity
• co-operation
• co-operative society
• coordinates
• co-ordination failure
• co-ordination, policy
• copyright
• core
• core inflation
• corner
• corner a market
• corner solution
• corporate equity
• corporate income tax
• corporate sector
• corporation