An economy without contacts with the rest of the world. No economy is entirely closed, but the various possible forms of contact with the outside are restricted in several ways. Trade in goods and services may be limited by poor transport facilities, or by human agency. Some of this, such as tariff and quota on trade, is deliberate; other restrictions are by-products of conditions making a country unattractive to foreign firms, including poor infrastructure, disorder, lack of a satisfactory legal system, and corruption. International movements of capital may similarly be hindered both deliberately and as the result of uncongenial conditions for foreign investment. International movement of labour is widely restricted, by lack of transport facilities, differences of language and culture between countries, and by deliberate legal restrictions. Finally, the international diffusion of ideas, information, and techniques is inhibited partly by the effects of illiteracy and poor communications, and partly by deliberate censorship and persecution making countries unattractive to intellectuals. No economy, even the most advanced, is entirely open in all ways to all comers.

• single-peaked preferences
• SITC
• size distribution of firms
• skewness
• skilled work
• skills
• slack
• slavery
• slump
• Slutsky equation
• Smithsonian Agreement
• Smithsonian parities
• smog
• Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
• snake in the tunnel
• social benefit
• Social Chapter
• social charges
• social cost
• socialism
• social opportunity cost
• social overhead capital
• social safety net
• social security benefits
• social security contributions