The paper discusses term formation in the domain of economics. The authors oppose the traditional perspective of terminology handbooks according to which variation does not normally affect terms in the domain under scrutiny and metaphor is not a usual phenomenon in term formation. As a matter of fact, the authors argue that variation and metaphor play a crucial role in the process of term formation. Basically, the main concern of the authors is to present a new line of research for future contributions from a linguistic perspective which will encourage linguists, philologists, and computer specialists to work together in order to obtain better results in the field of terminology for specific purposes. The paper discusses term formation in the domain of Economics. The authors oppose the traditional perspective of terminology handbooks according to which variation does not normally affect terms in the domain under scrutiny and metaphor is not a usual phenomenon in term formation. As a matter of fact, the authors argue that variation and metaphor play a crucial role in the process of term formation. Basically, the main concern of the authors is to present a new line of research for future contributions from a linguistic perspective which will encourage linguists, philologists, and computer specialists to work together in order to obtain better results in the field of terminology for specific purposes. (Elena Ruiz Gil and Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza)