Virtuous Circle and Vicious Circle

Virtuous Circle And Vicious Circle

A virtuous circle and a vicious circle (also referred to as virtuous cycle and vicious cycle) are economic terms. They refer to a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop. A virtuous circle has favorable results, while a vicious circle has detrimental results.

Both circles are complexes of events with no tendency towards equilibrium (at least in the short run). Both systems of events have feedback loops in which each iteration of the cycle reinforces the previous one (positive feedback). These cycles will continue in the direction of their momentum until an external factor intervenes and breaks the cycle. The prefix "hyper-" is sometimes used to describe these cycles if they are extreme. The best-known example of a vicious circle is hyperinflation.

Read more about Virtuous Circle And Vicious Circle:  Vicious Circles in The Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Other Examples

Famous quotes containing the words virtuous, circle and/or vicious:

    He stood, a soldier, to the last right end,
    A perfect patriot and a noble friend,
    But most a virtuous son.
    All offices were done
    By him, so ample, full, and round
    In weight in measure, number, sound,
    As, though his age imperfect might appear,
    His life was of humanity the sphere.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    Wise child, didst hastily return
    And mad’st thy mother’s womb thine urn.
    How summed a circle didst thou leave mankind
    Of deepest lore, could we the center find!
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    My companion assumes to know my mood and habit of thought, and we go on from explanation to explanation, until all is said that words can, and we leave matters just as they were at first, because of that vicious assumption.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)