4)…Английский для Горных Инженеров

файл принадлежит сайту www.crypower.ru

Unit_10_ТЕКСТ А

Some Concepts of Economics

Economics is the allocation of the scarce means of product toward the satisfaction of human wants. The basic principle of economics is scarcity, which means that we cannot ever haw we want of every goods and service. It means that our demands for goods and services are unlimited, while resources on earth are limited. Without the problem of scarcity, there would be no need for the subject of economics.

Societies need a system to organize and coordinate economic activities. Every economic system — whether free-market, government-controlled or mixed — must answer the three fundamental economic questions:

1. What goods and services will be produced?

2. How will they be produced?

3. For whom will they be produced?

These are three principal types of economic systems, but modern economies are a mixture. Because scarcity does confront us, the answers are crucial to our material well-being and to our social and political environment.

In theory, scarce resources can be allocated among alternative users without the employment of markets and prices. This is the so-called command economy or centrally-directed economy in which the government would decide what would be produced, how it would be produced, and for whom it would be produced.

In free-market economies all decisions about resource allocation are made by households and businesses interacting in markets free of any sort of government intervention. Individuals in market economies pursue their own interests. But there are no completely free-market economies, all real governments affect decisions about resources allocation in many ways and for many reasons.

All modem economies are mixed — intermediate between the com­mand and fre-market extremities. In economies, both govern­ment decisions and market forces affect the allocation of resources.

It should be noted that there are four primary economic goals that a society aims to achieve: efficiency, price stability, full employment and growth. In addition, there are socio-economic goals which include environment protection, financial security, equity, justice and economic freedom.

Economic resources are often referred to as "the means of production" to produce an output of goods and services. These include land, labour, capital and entrepreneurial ability.

Land. All natural resources including fields, forests, mineral deposits, the sea, water as well as the ground in which these resources are found. Land is used not only for the extraction of minerals but for farming as well.

Labour. All human resources including manual, clerical, technical, professional and managerial labour.

Capital. The physical means of production including factories, office buildings, tools and equipment. Alternatively: financial capital.

Entrepreneurial ability. The entrepreneur sets up a business, risks his or her own money, gets or loses the profits.

We may consider land, labour and capital passive resources which are combined by the entrepreneur to produce goods and services. A successful undertaking is rewarded by profit, an unsuccessful one is penalized by loss.

Economics operates on two levels, the macrolevel and the microlevel.

Macroeconomics deals with national output, employment, the money supply, bank deposits, and government spending, and how we can deal with inflation and recession.

Microeconomics operates on the level of the individual business firm, as well as that of the individual consumer.

And so what exactly is economics? Basically, economics is a set of tools that enables us to use our resources efficiently. The end result is the highest possible standard of living.

Английский для Горных Инженеров файл принадлежит сайту www.crypower.ru

Unit_10_ТЕКСТ А