History of Economic Thought

Economic issues have occupied people's minds since ancient times. The Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato wrote about problems of wealth, property, and trade. Both felt that to live by trade was undesirable.

The Romans borrowed their economic ideas from the Greeks and showed the same contempt for trade. During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church condemned usury (the taking of interest for money loaned) and regarded commerce as inferior to agriculture.

The development of modern nationalism during the 16th century shifted economic attention to increasing the wealth and power of the various nation-states. The economic policy of the time was known as mercantilism. Mercantilists valued gold and silver because with these metals a ruler could hire and outfit mercenaries, thus increasing the country's power. Many European nations began colonizing other parts of the world and siphoning precious metals and raw materials from their colonies.

A school of thought known as physiocracy arose in France during the second half of the 18th century. The physiocrats believed that all wealth originates in agriculture; wealth is then distributed from farmers to other groups. The physiocrats promoted free trade and laissez-faire.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 13

I. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения. Выпишите слова с окончанием -s и определите, чему оно соответствует:

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. Peter’s mother is a good doctor.

2. He goes in for winter sports.

3. My brother drives very well.

II. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения, поставив прилагательные в скобках в нужной по смыслу форме; укажите степень сравнения прилагательных:

1. Where is it (beautiful) near the lake or the sea?

2. This article is not so (interesting) as that one.

3. It is (old) building in the town.

III. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения. Подчеркните и выпишите все глаголы и укажите их видовременную форму, залог и инфинитив.

1. Fairs and exhibitions are usually held under various mottoes.

2. We have just written the composition.

3. I small be watching TV at 8 o’clock tomorrow.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. Future innovations in technology will decrease employment in some industries.

2. They would have stayed at home if they had known he was coming.

3. I don’t believe it because I know it isn’t true.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Types of Economies

Throughout history, every society has faced the fundamental economic problem of deciding what to produce, and for whom, in a world of limited resources. In the 20th century, two competing economic systems, broadly speaking, have provided very different answers: command economies directed by a centralized government, and market economies based on private enterprise.

Market economies are, by their very nature, decentralized, flexible, practical and changeable. The central fact about market economies is that there is no center. Indeed, one of the founding metaphors for the private marketplace is that of the «invisible hand».

Market economies may be practical, but they also rest upon the fundamental principle of individual freedom: freedom as a consumer to choose among competing products and services; freedom as a producer to start or expand a business and share its risks and rewards; freedom as a worker to choose a job or career, join a labor union or change employers.

Market economies are not without their inequities and abuses -many of them serious - but it is also undeniable that modern private enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with political democracy, offers the best prospect for preserving freedom and providing the widest avenues for economic growth and prosperity for all.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 14

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. Her mother teaches English.

2. The town’s park was hear the theatre.

3. These pencils are mine.

1. The more you study the (good) for you.

2. Clyde is (clever) boy in his group.

3. Which is (big) city in Great Britain?

1. This film is much spoken about.

2. They closed the bank at 7 yesterday.

3. We shall know the results in a week.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. That the matter should have taken such a turn is not surprising.

2. I came while they were packing their things.

3. It is necessary that the company should buy new equipment.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics is one of the two major fields of standard economics. It is the branch of economics that examines and explains economic facts in the aggregate, i.e. in totals for the whole community or nation. It is concerned with the study of whole economies or systems, including such aspects as government income and expenditure, the balance of payments, interest rates, fiscal policy, investment, inflation, money, consumption, employment, and unemployment.

Macroeconomics seeks to understand the influence of all relevant economic factors on each other and thus to quantity and predict aggregate national income. Its main purpose is to explain the alternating periods of expansion and contraction known as the business cycle.

Macroeconomics emphasizes the interactions in the economy as a whole. It deliberately simplifies the individual building blocks of the analysis in order to retain a manageable analysis of the complete interaction of the economy. For example, macroeconomists typically do not worry about the breakdown of consumer goods into cars, bicycles, television, and calculators. They prefer to treat them all as a single bundle called «consumer goods» because they are more interested in studying interaction between household's purchases of machinery and buildings.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 15

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. We have walked ten kilometers already.

2. Nick plays chess well.

3. You shouldn’t take Nell’s dictionary.

1. Buying things from stall holders is (old) from of market.

2. This woman is as (pretty) as that one.

3. There is it (warm): in Italy or Sweden?

1. In 2002 Government of Belarus enacted a decree on higher education levels.

2. It will have stopped snowing by noon.

3. They were waiting for us.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. As he was late he had to excuse himself.

2. I whish you didn’t lose so much time.

3. Markets bring together and sellers of gods and services.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Macroeconomics and GNP

Macroeconomics is the branch of economics Concerned with the aggregate, or overall, economy. Macroeconomics deals with economic factors such as total national output and income, unemployment, balance of payment, and the rate of inflation. It is distinct form microeconomics, which is the study of the composition of output such as the supply and demand for individual goods and services, the way they are traded in markets, and the pattern of their relative prices.

At the basis of macroeconomics is an understanding of what constituted national output, or national income, and the related concept of gross national product (GNP). The GNP is the total value of goods and services produced in an economy during a given period of time, usually a year. The measure of what a country's economic activity produces in the end is called final demand. The main determinants final demand are consumption (personal expenditure on items such as food, clothing, appliances, and cars), investment (spending by business on items such as new facilities and equipment), government spending, and Ml exports (exports minus imports).

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 16

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. Cuckoos use the nests of other birds.

2. Samuel’s mother is a good dentist.

3. She always looks very well.

1. Britain is one of the (wealthy) places in the world.

2. Friendship is (strong) then steel.

3. He is as (tall) as his father.

1. They will never forgive him.

2. This book is other referred to.

3. He came at 12 last night.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. The car had nobody in but the engine was running.

2. I shouldn’t have gone there if I had been you.

3. He works as quickly as I do.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Microeconomics

Microeconomics is one the two major fields of standard economics. Microeconomics is the study of the economic behavior of individual consumers, firms, and industries and the distribution of total production and income among them. It considers individuals both as supplies of labour and capital and as the ultimate consumers of the final product.

The central components of microeconomics are demand, supply, and market equilibrium. Demand refers to how individuals or households form their demands for different goods and services. Supply refers to how firms decide which and how many goods or services they will supply and what combination of factors of production they should employ in supplying them. Market equilibrium refers to how markets enable these supplies and demands to interact. Other important subsections of microeconomic theory include welfare economics and public finance.

Unlike macroeconomics, microeconomics looks at how individual markets work and how individual producers and consumers make their choices and with what consequences. This is done by analyzing how relevant prices of goods are determined and the quantities that will be bought and sold.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 17

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. I’ll never forget my school years.

2. As a rule she makes a lot of mistakes.

3. That was my brother’s car.

1. The US people have one of (high) standards of living.

2. Summer is (warm) than spring.

3. Minsk is (large) then Vitebsk.

1. Who handles the financing nowadays.

2. The child is begin looked after.

3. By that time I had prepared dinner.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. To enter this market requires a lot of hard work.

2. Here is the book you want to read.

3. Being busy he refused an invitation.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Unemployment

We say that unemployment exists where people capable and willing to work are unable to find suitable paid employment. But where an economy is adapting to changing conditions, there will always be some persons unemployed as they change jobs or as seasonal work come to an end

Unemployment may occur for many different reasons. There will always be some people changing jobs. In certain occupations, e.g. unskilled labour in the construction industry, workers are rid employed regularly by one employer. When a contract is completed labour is not required. Occasionally workers are discharged when и factory is being reorganized.

Unemployed workers usually register at the local employment exchange from which employers can hire them. The unemployed are paid certain benefits.

Employment in some industries, e.g. building, fruit picking is seasonal in character. Seasonal employment can be reduced out оf «season» and admit such persons as students and housewives during the busy period. Sometimes there are unemployed workers of a particular occupation in one part of the country but a shortage of the same type of work in one other part.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 18

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. Mr. White lives on the second floor.

2. You may take Lucy’s card, I think.

3. She gave her address to her pupils.

1. Which is (old) of all English Universities?

2. The (many) I read the more I know.

3. Health is (good) then wealth.

1. The doctor has been sent for.

2. We were discussing the plain at the meeting.

3. It will be raining tomorrow evening.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. There was a lot to discuss at the meeting.

2. We know market to be a place where goods are sold and bought.

3. I had no hope of getting a promotion.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Inflation

Prices of nearly all goods and services have moved in recent history. Inflation is the process of rising prices or, what is the same thing - a fall in the value of money. Each of us is becoming adjusted to inflation.

At the beginning a rising price level may not be considered dangerous. It improves the climate for investment, reduces payments of the National Debt.

The problem, however, is that when the rise in prices starts, it is difficult to stop it. Gradually the rate of inflation increases, it may lead to hyperinflation.

Inflation reduces the standard of living of persons dependent on fixed incomes, as pensioners. But on the other hand it is easier to pay debts. Not all the prices are rising. Even during rather rapid inflation some prices may be constant and others even fall.

Inflation may occur for many different reasons. Traditionally changes in the price level have been explained by an excess of total demand. The essence of this kind of inflation may be expressed in the phrase «too much money chasing too few goods».

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 19

I. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения.

Выпишите слова с окончанием -s и определите, чему оно соответствует:

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. My grandmother lives in Moldova.

2. Shakespeare wrote a lot of plays.

3. Jake’s composition seems to be very interesting.

1. The Baltic Sea is not so (warm) as the Black Sea.

2. Which is (short) month of the year?

3. Many washing powders are sold through the idea that they “wash (white) than white”.

1. At last he understood everything.

2. This memorial complex will be set up in 2012.

3. Now she is traveling round Europe.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. In spite of being tired, he continued working.

2. What are the phases of the marketing process?

3. He used to work every day.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

Money and banking

Banks are as likely as any other business to suffer the consequences of an economic recession. Their business customers will suffer from falling sales and losses which will reflect in a surge of bad debts as business loans fail to be repaid. Their private customers are unlikely to fare better. For them the problem becomes redundancy and meeting the normal household bills.

The problem is compounded because banking is becoming increasingly international. The banks' customers are not confined to these shores. They are spread across the world. Even the resources of a giant banking group like Midland or National Westminster are not enough to finance oil exploration or the development of satellite communication systems and this explains the growth of banking consortia. Banks from all the developed countries of the world join forces to supply the capital required for some of the most ambitious (and risky) projects. Unless these international ventures are successful the banks are faced with the problem of collecting debts from customers in countries which are often politically unstable.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Вариант 20

I. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения.

Выпишите слова с окончанием -s и определите, чему оно соответствует:

а) имени существительному в притяжательном падеже;

б) имени существительному во множественном числе;

в) глаголу 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite:

1. I must attend all lectures on mathematics.

2. She usually drinks tea with sugar.

3. As for me? I like Susan’s cakes.

1. The United Kingdom coal industry remains one of (large) in Europe.

2. Some counties are (close) to free market economies.

3. Jack is (tall) of all.

1. He will finish the novel next month.

2. They are supposed to be at home by eight.

3. The bus leaves at 11.

IV. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения:

1. She seems to have asked him about it.

2. Grammar is the art of speaking, reading and writing.

3. I wish I knew his address.

V. Перепишите и письменно переведите текст.

The World Bank

The World Bank exists to encourage poor countries to develop by providing them with technical assistance and funding for projects and policies that will realize the counties' economic potential. The Bank views development as a long-tem, integrated endeavor.

During the first two decades of its existence, two thirds of the assistance provided by the Bank went to electric power and transportation projects. Although these so-called infrastructure projects remain important, the Bank has diversified its activities in recent years as it has gained experience with and acquired new insights into the development process. The Bank gives particular attention to projects that can directly benefit the poorest people in developing countries. The direct involvement of the poorest in economic activity is being promoted through lending for agriculture and rural development, small-scale enterprises, and urban development. The Bank is helping the poor to be more productive and to gain access to such necessities as safe water and waste-disposal facilities, health care, family-planning assistance, nutrition, education, and housing.

VI. Поставьте и запишите 5 вопросов разных типов к тексту.

Литература.

1. В.Ф. Толстоухова, Г.Ц. Сидоренко “Английский язык”. Бизнес-курс:

М. Тетра Системс, 2001г.

2. Л.В. Бедрицкая “Английский для экономистов” М. Книжный дом, 2004г.

3. Л.В. Хведченя, Р.В. Хорень “ Английский язык для поступающих в ВУЗы”

М. Выш. школа, 1999г.

4. Л.В. Доронина “ Ситуационные диалоги” М. Красико -Принт, 1999г.

Темы для подготовки ИКР.

1. Этика делового общения.

2. Рабочий день делового человека.

3. Экономика Великобритании.