These men and their colleagues made up the "Chicago School" (who some say practised the "Commercial Style"), which stressed economy, simplicity and function.

BBC: The infamous architecture of Chicago

Communications technologies of all kinds function as an economic lubricant, reducing friction in the economy and thus accelerating economic growth.

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The global economy is a complex system and is a function of millions of individual actors making decisions for both rational and irrational reasons.

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Also, given that both GDP and employment are a direct function of capital investment, our economy will not recover strongly as long as our corporate income tax is globally uncompetitive.

FORBES: Watching With Horror As The U.S. Plumbs The Depths Of Austerity

Guy told me that the demand for high-yield debt is a function of the improving economy, declining returns for the debt market, and the fact that the weakest issuers were effectively shaken out by the last recession.

FORBES: Are Bond Investors Taking On More Risk?

Not only are our children not able to keep up with the better-equipped competition coming from India and China, but if things don't change very soon, all these tens of millions of our sons and daughters will grow up to be adults unable to even function in our economy, let alone compete.

NPR: Seeking Solutions for the Nation's Broken Schools

Needless to say, adults with low levels literacy are less able to help their children and increase household income due to their limited ability to function efficiently within a market economy.

UNESCO: Literacy Through Distance Learning

Central banks' second function is macroeconomic stabilisation, setting interest rates to keep inflation in check without causing the economy to stop and start.

ECONOMIST: CSI: credit crunch | The