Variable Cost Ratio
What is the 'Variable Cost Ratio' The variable cost ratio is an expression of a company's variable production costs as a percentage of sales, calculated as variable costs divided by total revenues. It compares costs that change with levels of production to the amount of revenues generated by production. This contrasts with fixed costs that remain constant...
Lead Underwriter
What is 'Lead Underwriter' A investment bank or other financial outfit that has the primary directive for organizing an initial public stock offering, or a secondary offering for companies that are already publicly traded. The lead underwriter will usually work with other investment banks to establish a syndicate, and thereby create the initial sales force for the...
Lawful Money
What is 'Lawful Money' Gold coins, silver coins, Treasury notes, and Treasury bonds are all examples of currency that is not issued by the Federal Reserve System but rather by the Treasury Department of the United States. Lawful money differs from fiat money, which is money that has been assigned value by the government despite the fact that it has...
Leakage
What is a 'Leakage' Leakage is a situation in which capital, or income, exits an economy or system rather than remaining within it. In economics, leakage refers to outflow from a circular flow of income model. In a two-sector model exhibiting a circular flow, all individual income is sent back to employers when goods and services are...
Last Mile
DefinitionThe last mile or last kilometer is a colloquial phrase widely used in the telecommunications, cable television and internet industries to refer to the final leg of the telecommunications networks that deliver telecommunication services to retail end-users. More specifically, the last mile refers to the portion of the telecommunications network chain that physically reaches the end-user's premises. Examples are...
Land Rehabilitation
DefinitionLand rehabilitation is the process of returning the land in a given area to some degree of its former state, after some process has resulted in its damage. Many projects and developments will result in the land becoming degraded, for example mining, farming and forestry. Land Rehabilitation What is 'Land Rehabilitation' A re-engineering process that attempts to...
Lease Balance
What is 'Lease Balance' The amount of money that a customer owes under the terms of a vehicle lease contract. The lease balance becomes important in two main situations. The first is in the event that a car is stolen and not recovered, is totaled in an accident or is otherwise destroyed. The second situation is if...
Land Value Tax (LVT)
What is 'Land Value Tax - LVT' A tax on the value of a piece of land. Land value tax inherently makes up a portion of all real estate property tax; however, land value tax takes only the fair value of the land into account. The taxation of land is very straightforward, requiring only a valuation of...
Leading Lipstick Indicator
What is 'Leading Lipstick Indicator' An indicator based on the theory that a consumer turns to less expensive indulgences, such as lipstick, when she (or he) feels less than confident about the future. Therefore, lipstick sales tend to increase during times of economic uncertainty or a recession. Also known as the "lipstick effect." ...
Last-Sale Reporting
What is 'Last-Sale Reporting' An electronic entry, to the Nasdaq stock market, of the amount and price of shares involved in a transaction's not less than a board lot. Explaining 'Last-Sale Reporting' Trades reported must be submitted to Nasdaq within 90 seconds of the execution of the trade. Further Reading Method and...