Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, that is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings received... in a given period of time."
For firms, income generally refers to "net-profit"—what remains of revenue total after expenses have been subtracted. In the field of public economics, the term may refer to the accumulation of both monetary and non-monetary consumption ability, with the former (monetary) being used as a proxy for total income.
Read more about Income: Increase in Income, Economic Definitions, Income Inequality, Income in Philosophy and Ethics, Accountancy
Famous quotes containing the word income:
“I know everybody’s income and what everybody earns,
And I carefully compare it with the income-tax returns;”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; maybe you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Some rough political choices lie ahead. Should affirmative action be retained? Should preference be given to people on the basis of income rather than race? Should the system be—and can it be—scrapped altogether?”
—David K. Shipler (b. 1942)