- •Предисловие
- •Unit 1 What is it all about?
- •I. Answer the comprehension questions:
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English:
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations.
- •Russian Experience
- •In Search of Intellect and Wealth
- •1. Economic environment.
- •2. Economics.
- •3. Economy. Unit 2 Economics and Economy
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV.Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Gauging the True Size of Russia’s Economy
- •Russia No longer Among World Market’s Top Players
- •Unit 3 The Oil Price Shocks
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •World Experience
- •Cheap Oil! Good news for the world’s consumers, but bad news for struggling producers
- •More Money in Most Pockets
- •Income Distribution
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Shop assistance We’ve all heard of the New Rich in Russia, but what do they spend their money on? John Helmer digs into the latest consumer research and comes up with some unexpected answers.
- •Unit 5 The Role of the Market
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II. Vocabulary
- •III. Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •By Roy Medvedev
- •Unit 6 Demand, Supply, and the Market
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Citicorp Invests in Russia
- •Unit 7 What Do Governments Do?
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II. Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Russia Has Dropped Out of the Community of Developed Countries
- •Incomes and expenditures.
- •1. Transfer payments
- •2. Social security and unemployment benefits
- •3. Income tax
- •Unit 8 What Should Governments Do?
- •Most of the goods supplied by businesses and demanded by consumers are private goods
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice
- •Russian Experience
- •State Duma Rejects Welfare Package Again
- •Unit 9 Business Organization
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II. Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Common Profile of a Russian Enterprise
- •Unit 10 Market Structure and Imperfect Competition
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II. Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English:
- •IV. Situations and communication practice
- •Russian Experience
- •Russian Tobacco Manufacturers Lie Low
- •Unit 11 Factor Markets: Labour
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English:
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Recruitment in Russia: Still Climbing
- •Insufficient social integration.
- •Working Without Pay
- •Unit 12 Human capital
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •World Experience
- •Finding Opportunity in the Global Economy. By Bill Gates.
- •1. Human capital
- •2. Signalling and screening.
- •3. Pay differentials. Unit 13 Coping with Risk in Economic Life
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Reuters Eyes on Russia’s Risks
- •Unit 14 Taxes and Public Spending
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II. Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Taxes Higher in Russia Than Elsewhere
- •A Country Where People Pay Taxes
- •Unit 15 Money and Modern Banking
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Savings of “Very Rich” Families (Data of a quality interview)
- •The Battle of the Banks
- •The History of Russian Money (The ruble celebrates its 1000th birthday)
- •Unit 16
- •International Trade and Commercial Policy
- •I. Comprehension questions
- •II.Vocabulary
- •III.Translate from Russian into English
- •IV. Communicative practice. Situations
- •Russian Experience
- •Higher Excise on Imports
- •Contents
IV. Communicative practice. Situations
1. A person trades in a car when buying another. Is the used car a medium of exchange? Is this a barter transaction?
2. In what sense do commercial banks create money?
3. Would it make sense to include travellers’ cheques in measures of the money supply? Season tickets for British Rail? Credit cards?
4. What effect do you expect the widespread adoption of credit cards on the precautionary demand for money by households? Explain. Be sure to take account of the demand for cash. Do you posses a credit card? Speak about your own experience.
5. Speak about your banking experience. How were you choosing the right bank? Is it quite safe to be a client of a commercial bank in Russia nowadays? Why? What is safer? What was the reason for success of numerous financial pyramids in Russia. Speak about one of such pyramids.
6. Suppose banks raise interest rates on time deposits whenever interest rates on bank loans and other assets rise. Will a rise in the general level of interest rates have a large or a small effect on the demand for time deposits?
7. Show why the following statement is incorrect: Consumers must have gone crazy. Their take-home pay is down yet their spending is up.
8. Role play a family talk. The problem is where to deposit money. Discuss if it makes sense at all to reserve money or you had better spend it as quickly as it is only possible.
9. Why are accountants in great demand? Would you like to be an accountant? Who could make a good accountant?
10. Why do many Russians prefer to keep money in dollars?
11. Make up a dialogue between a Ruble and a Dollar. Present it in three styles: romantic, humorous and detective. It could as well be a story from the point of view of a banknote (coin).
Russian Experience
1. Think and say:
a) Are there many rich people in Russia? Give an approximate figure.
b) How much money do Russian people keep on deposits?
2. Examine the data below and see if you were right.
3. Comment on the table.
4. Make a report “Living Standard in Russia”.
5. Read the text “The Battle of the Banks” and make a report “Banking in Russia”.
6. Read the text “History of Russian Money” and say everything you know about Russian money.
In October 1996, on the order of the Central Bank of Russia , the Institute for Socio-Economic Problems of the population, Russian Academy of Sciences, conducted a nationwide survey, the savings of the population of the Russian Federation.
Savings of “Very Rich” Families (Data of a quality interview)
Types of savings |
Types of savings, % |
Average for one family, thousand rbs. |
Per capita Savings, Thousand rbs. |
Accounts in Russian banks |
21,0 |
115,5 |
48,0 |
Including corporate accounts |
17,8 |
98,2 |
40,6 |
Securities |
15,9 |
87,3 |
36,4 |
Cash |
33,6 |
184,2 |
76,8 |
Total savings in Russia |
70,5 |
387,0 |
161,2 |
Accounts in foreign banks |
29,5 |
162,0 |
67,5 |
Including personal accounts |
16,3 |
89,5 |
37,5 |
corporate accounts |
13,2 |
72,5 |
30,2 |
TOTAL |
100,0 |
549,0 |
228,7 |
The results of the survey show that in October 1996 the population’s domestic savings held on Russian territory amounted to 804.9 trillion rubles, or $141.2 billion.
Of the overall sum of domestic savings (not counting corporate investments, which are regarded by the respondents as personal savings — a purely Russian phenomenon), the banks account for a mere 13.4 percent (108 trillion rubles), and nearly half (49.9 percent, or 401.4 trillion rubles) is in the form of cash. Of this cash, 305.1 trillion rubles, or $53.5 billion, are in foreign currency.
The survey also explains why half of the savings are in cash. The population distrusts banks and financial institutions in general. This is not surprising, considering that 16 percent of the citizenry were victims of financial pyramids and bank failures.
This data conceals a glaring gap in their living standards: 71 percent of the population (the poor and those with low incomes) account for only 3.3 percent of total domestic savings, while 5 percent of the population (the rich and very rich) own 72.5 percent of this total. Moreover, more than half of the savings (52.9 percent) belong to a mere 2 percent of the population. And 5 percent of the population possess 82.5 percent ($44.1 billion) of the total amount of cash foreign currency.