Economics study

Contents.

Unit 1

What does economics study?.........................4

History of economic thought..........................6

Unit 2

Econometrics.................................................9

The law of demand.......................................11

Unit 3

The traditional economy..............................14

The market economy...................................16

Unit 4

The planned economy.................................19

The mixed economy.....................................21

Revision Vocabulary Units 1 to 4...................24

Unit 5

Consumer choices.......................................25

Costs and supply..........................................27

Unit 6

Market structure and competition................30

Monopolies..................................................32

Unit 7

The labour market........................................35

Supply of labour...........................................37

Unit 8

Factors of production...................................40

Division of labour........................................ 42

Revision Vocabulary Units 5 to 8...................45

Unit 9

Surplus.........................................................46

Price discrimination.....................................48

Unit 10

Welfare economics......................................51

Government revenue and spending.............53

Unit 11

Wealth, income and inequality.....................56

Poverty........................................................ 58

Unit 12

Macroeconomics..........................................61

Aggregate demand and aggregate supply.. 63

Revision Vocabulary Units 9 to 12................ 66

Unit 13

Money..........................................................67

Banks...........................................................69

Unit 14

Fiscal policy.................................................72

Monetary policy...........................................74

Unit 15

Interest rates and the money market............77

Economic shocks.........................................79

Unit 16

Inflation........................................................82

Unemployment.............................................84

Revision Vocabulary Units 13 to 16...............87

Unit 17

Economic growth.........................................88

The business cycle.......................................90

Unit 18

The open economy......................................93

Exchange rates............................................95

Unit 19

Exchange rate mechanisms..........................98

International trade.....................................100

Unit 20

Less developed countries..........................103

The Russian economy in the 19th century ...105

Unit 21

Contemporary Russia: the fall and

rise of the market economy........................108

Russia's foreign trade.................................110

Revision Vocabulary Units 17 to 21.............113

Translation work........................................114

Glossary....................................................

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Дорогие друзья!

Представляем Вам учебно-методический комплект (УМК) "Мacmillan Guide to Economics", цель которого - помочь Вам приобрести навыки владения английским языком в области экономики и познакомить Вас с основополагающими темами экономической теории.

Из курса Вы узнаете, что изучают  экономическая теория и эконометрика, в чём разница между микроэкономикой  и макроэкономикой, какие экономические  системы существуют в современном  мире, как функционирует рынок  и какую роль на нём играют спрос  и предложение, какими особенностями обладает рынок труда, какие факторы производства используются в экономике, а также о монополии, общественных благах, экономике благосостояния, экономической политике государства, деньгах, инфляции и банках, процентных ставках и финансовых рынках, циклах деловой активности и многом другом.

Материал курса изложен в  увлекательной форме, хорошим и  доступным языком.

Книга для учащихся имеет чёткую организационную структуру: она  состоит из двадцати одного урока, каждый из которых включает в себя два тематических текста, сопровождаемых аудиозаписями, активной лексикой, вопросами по теме урока, упражнениями и заданиями.

В курсе предусмотрены упражнения на развитие основных видов речевой  деятельности - чтения, письма, аудирования  и говорения. При этом форма отдельных упражнений меняется из урока в урок для того, чтобы избежать монотонности в обучении. Особого внимания заслуживают творческие задания на развитие навыков письменной речи. Освоив материал курса, Вы научитесь писать письма, статьи, эссе, сочинения, составлять доклады, отчёты, рекламные проспекты.

Данный курс - хорошая база для  дальнейшего изучения английского  языка в области экономики (английский для специальных целей - English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

"Масmillan Guide To Economics" может быть использован как на аудиторных занятиях, в группах и при индивидуальном обучении, так и при самостоятельном изучении материала.

Мы желаем Вам больших  успехов в изучении английского  языка, а также в освоении актуальной экономической тематики, необходимой профессионалам во многих областях деятельности.

 

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UNIT 1.

 

Before you read

 

Discuss the following with your partner.

 Do you know much about economics?

 Tick which of these statements you think are true.

 Then explain to your partner why.

1)Economics is only the study of money.

2 )economics is something governments take care of.

3) An economist basically decides how money is spent.

 

A Vocabulary

 

Match the words with the definitions.

 

 budget

 business 

convenience

 data 

demand

 government

 inflation

 resources

trade-off 

unemployment

 

A. the people who control a country and make laws

B. information

С. company that sells goods or services

D. easiness

E. the amount of money you have for something

F. how much people want something

G. the number of people without work

H. something such as money, workers or minerals belonging to an organization, country, etc which can be used to function properly

I. rising prices

J. giving away something in exchange for something

 

Reading 1

 

What does economics study?(4)

 

What     you think of when you hear the word economics? Money, certainly, and perhaps more complicated things like business, inflation and unemployment. The science of economies studies all of these, but many more things as well

Perhaps you think that economics is all about the decisions that governments and business managers take. In fact, economists study the decisions that we all take every day.

Very simply, economies studies the way people deal with a fact of life: resources are limited, but our demand for them certainly is not. Resources may be material things such as food, housing and

heating. There are some resources, though, that we cannot touch. Time, space and convenience, for example, are also resources. Think of a day. There are only 24 hours in one. and we have to choose the best way to spend them. Our everyday lives are full of decisions like these. Every decision we make is a trade-off. If you spend more time working, you make more money. However, you will have less time to relax. Economists study the trade-offs people make. They study the reasons for their decisions. They look at the effects those decisions have on our lives and our society.

 

What are

microeconomics and macroeconomics?(5)

 

Economists talk about microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics deals with people, like you and me, and private businesses. It looks at the economic decisions people make every day. It examines how families manage their household budgets. Microeconomics also deals with companies - small or large - and how they run their business. Macroeconomics, on the other hand, looks at the economy of a country - and of the whole world. Any economist will tell you, though, that microeconomics and macroeconomics are closely related. All of our daily microeconomic decisions have an effect on the wider world around us.

Another way to look at the science of economics is to ask, what's it good for? Economists don't all agree on the answer to this question. Some practise positive economics. They study economic data and try to explain the behaviour of the economy. They also try to guess economic changes before they happen. Others practise normative economies. They suggest how to improve the economy. Positive economists say, this is how it is. Normative economists say, we should ... .

So what do economists do? Mainly, they do three things: collect data, create economic models and formulate theories. Data collection can include facts and figures about almost anything, from birth rates to coffee production. Economic models show relationships between these different data. For example, the relationship between the money people earn and unemployment. From this information, economists try to make theories which explain why the economy works the way it does.

 В Comprehension

 

Now read the text again and match each paragraph with the correct heading.

PARAGRAPH 1 .......................

PARAGRAPH 2.......................

PARAGRAPH 3.......................

PARAGRAPH 4.......................

PARAGRAPH 5.......................

A How economists work

В Making deals every day

С Various ideas about economics

D Two areas of economics

E Two types of economist

 

Before you listen

 

Discuss these questions with your partner.

 If you live in a modern economy, life is quite easy.

 Before the Industrial Revolution, life was much harder.

In what ways was life more difficult?

 

 С Listening

 

Listen to someone talking about life before the Industrial Revolution. Which of these things are mentioned?

1 length of life

2 housing

3 illnesses

4 work

5 food

6 having children

 

Now listen again and match the descriptions with the numbers.

 

1 life expectancy          A about 250

2 number of children who died  B 1 in 10

3before they reached five years old number of women who died when they were giving birth                                                                C 26

4 years since the Industrial Revolution                             D 1is 3

 

 

 

Before you read_(6)

 

Discuss these questions with your partner.

 

Do you have any ideal where   the word economics comes from?

Do you know the names of any famous economists from the past or anything about their ideals?

 

1) abundance	2) concept	3) consumer	4) firm
5) Industrial    Revolution	6) population	7) precious metals	8) production process
9) profit	10) raw materials	11) satisfaction	13) scarcity

 

    

             

 

1The.......................began m the late 18th century  when machines started to replace human workers.

2Sand and limestone are the.......................  needed to make glass.

3 The.......................to make a car involves many  people and machines

4 The extra money a company makes is called…………….

5People want.......................from the products  they buy.

6.......................is when there is very little  of something.

7....................... is when there is lots of something.

8Gold and silver are examples of........................

9Another word for idea is........................

10 The.......................is the number of people a  country has.

11 A business or company is sometimes called a 12en we buy things or use services we are a………………

 

 Reading 2

 

History of economic thought

 

Economic thought goes back thousands of years. The ancient Greek, Xenophon, used the word oikonomikos (from oikos. meaning family household, estate, and nomes, for usage, law). He was talking about skilful or clever ways to manage land and households. We could call many of Aristotle's political writings economics, although he did not use the word The English word economies first appeared in the l9th century -two and я halt thousand years after Xenophon.

Early economic thought was all about the meaning of wealth or being rich. These early thinkers ashed, what makes a state or a country wealthy? For nearly 2,000 years, the answer was wry simple: gold. A country or nation's wealth depended on its owning precious metals this simple view of the economy remained unto medieval limes.

During medieval times - roughly the period

Between 1100 and 1500 AD, trading between nations grew, and a new social class appeared. These were merchants, people who made their money through the buying and selling of goods, and they began to write their own thoughts on the economy. They saw the economy as a way wealth depended on stocks of gold and the size of the population. More people meant bigger armies and a stronger state.

These were still simple ideas. However, daily experience had also taught people many basic economic concepts. For example, they understood the importance of trade with other states. They realised that scarcity makes things more expensive and abundance makes them cheaper.

Modern economics was really born in the 19th century. At this time, thinkers like Adam Smith wrote down ideas that are still important today. Adam Smith is often called the Father of Modern Economics, although the science was called political economy then. Smith realised that a nation's wealth depended on its ability to produce goods. The value of these goods depended on the cost of production. The cost of production depended on the cost of workers, raw materials and land. This was really the first example of macroeconomics.

Smith and other classical economists were writing at a time of great change. The industrial revolution had begun. Paper money began to replace precious metals. The middle classes were growing stronger. Economists' theories echoed these changes. They wrote about the division of labour (each worker taking their part in the production process). They discussed the problems of population growth. They influenced thinking about social classes.

For classical economists, the value of goods depends on the cost of production. However, the price of goods is not always the same as their real cost. Later economists developed new theories to explain this weakness in classical economics. These are known as the neoclassical economists and they were writing at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In neoclassical economies, supply and demand make the economy work. In other words, the price of goods depends on how much people want them and how easily they can be found. Consumers want satisfaction from their resources (time and money). Firms want profit. In neoclassical economics, this is the basic relationship in the economy. These ideas are still the basis of economic thinking today.

 

 E Comprehension

 

Now read the text again and decide whether these statements are true or false.

1 Aristotle did not use the word economics, but he did write about

economic ideas. T/F

2 Early economists thought that a  nation without gold was poor. T/F

3 People in medieval times didn't understand anything about

economics. T/F

4 In classical economics, the value of something was measured in gold. T/F

5 Economists later found a problem  with the classical model. T/F

6 In neoclassical economics, supply  and demand control price. T/F

 

Before you listen(7)

 

Look at this fact file about Adam Smith. Can you fill in any of the information?

Born in Scotland in (1).............

Lost his father at the age of (2). Kidnapped at the age of (3).....

Went to University of Glasgow at the age of (4)........................

Went to Oxford University at the age of (5)........................

Most famous book is The Wealth of (6)........................

Influenced Karl Marx and the founding fathers of (7)........................

 

 

F Listening

 

Now listen and complete the information about Adam Smith's life.

 

 

(8)G Speaking

 

Discuss these questions with your partner.

What use is the study of economics?

What trade-offs do you make every day?

How do the decisions we make affect the rest of the world?

 

Task.

 

Give a two-minute talk on the history of economic thought.

First, read text 2 again and make notes below on the following.

early economic thinking the classical economists

neoclassical economics

Notes:

Pronunciation guide

Convenience                               

Data

Society

Behaviour                       

 Abundance                   

Scarcity  

Xenophon                         

Aristotle                      

Medieval                             

Precious

 

H Writing

 

In this unit you learnt about Adam Smith, a famous thinker from Scotland. Who are the most famous thinkers from your country?

Work with a partner and decide which Russian thinkers have been most influential. Choose from the following: Kondratyev, Leontyev, Stolypin, Lenin.

 

Magazine article

 

Write a magazine article about one famous thinker from Russian history. Use the guide to help you organize your article.

 

 

 

Before you read

 

Discuss the following with your partner.

Econometrics is a term that economists use.

Look at the word: econo + metrics

What do you think it means?

 

A Vocabulary

 

Choose the correct word.

1 Prices usually increase / save from one year to  the next.

2 People work in order to measure / earn money.

3 My grandmother's only income / salary is  her pension.

4 Einstein is famous for his theory / analysis of relativity.

5 The police search for evidence / variables to help them find the criminal.

6 If you increase / combine blue with red you got purple.

7 Government statistics / evidence show that  crime is rising.

8 People their money in  bank accounts.

9 You can use a ruler to measure / earn the size  of things.

10 A person's  income / salary is the money they  earn each month from work.

11 His theory/analysis of the problem is very good.

12 In experiments, scientists try to find out what makes a variable / evidence change.

13 An expert in a subject who works and teaches at a university is known as an individual / academic .

 

 Reading 1

 

 

Econometrics(9)

 

Economists like to make theories. They theorise about why inflation happens, for example, or what causes unemployment. Hut theories are not useful if you cannot test them. This is true for all sciences, and the same for economies

To test a theory, you first need to gather what scientists call empirical evidence . That's evidence that can be measured, like money spent or babies born. When you have collected the evidence, you're ready to do the maths and statistics to test your theory. Economists call their maths econometries.

Let's lake an example. Imagine that you want to find out why some people save more money than others. You may think that this depends on two things: how much money they earn (their income) and how happy they generally are about saving money. We can express your theory as an amount someone saves = their income x their happiness to save

Of course, we can't measure happiness to save exactly, hut with econometric mathematics we can give it a value. Then we can see how that value differs between groups of people or cultures. Econometrics is about finding relationships between variables - in other words relationships between values that change. Economists try to find out if variable Л changes every time value В changes. They want to find out if variable A is dependent on variable B. This is called analysis, and there are two main kinds of econometric analysis: time-series analysis and cross-sectional analysis.

Time-series analysis shows how variables change over a period of time. How salaries increased over the last century, for example. Cross-sectional analysis compares variables at one point in time. The salaries of men compared to women right now, for example. Of course, economists like to make things more complicated than that. Sometimes they combine cross-sectional with time-series analysis, and this is called panel data analysis.

As we said earlier, econometrics is good for testing economic theories. However, there is also a practical side to econometrics. The same maths and statistics are used by governments and business managers, as well as academics. Econometrics can help governments and companies find out how well they are doing. With the data from all this mathematics, they can make better decisions and plan better for the future.