2. Read the following definitions for the term ‘money’. Which one from your point of view is the most appropriate?

1. a means of payment, especially coins and banknotes using for buying and selling;

2. a particular form of currency;

3. something that is used for wasting;

4. a means of exchange and a means of measuring;

5. wealth.

3. Read the text and check your answers:

Money is not only a means of exchange but is also a means of measuring the value of men’s labour. In the economic theory, “labour” is any work, which people undertake in return for a fixed payment. The work that mother undertakes caring for her children may be a hard work, but she receives no fixed payment. It is not therefore labour in the strict economic sense.

As a scientist, the economist is interested in measuring the services that people render to each other. Although he is aware of the services that people provide for no financial reward, he is not concerned with these services. He is interested essentially in services that are measurable in terms of money payments of a fixed and/or regular nature. In economics, money is the standard by which the economists judge about the value of things. This standard is not a religious or subjective standard, but an objective and scientific one.

Human labour produces both goods and services. The activities of a farm worker and a nurse are very different, but both are measurable in terms of payment they receive. Labour in this sense is not concerned with distinctions of social class, but simply with the payment of wages in return for work. When we talk about “ the national labour force”, however, we are thinking of all those people who are available for work within the nation, i.e. the working population.

It is necessary to note that any person engaged in private business is not paid a fixed sum for his activities. He is self-employed and his activities are partly those of an employer and partly those of an employee. If however he employs an assistant, to whom he pays a fixed wage, his new employee provides labour in return for payment. He receives his wages, while his employer receives the surplus (large or small) from the whole business. This surplus is the reward of private enterprise. Economists call this surplus “profit”.

PRACTICE

1. In the text find single words in italics for which these words can be substituted:

unchanging	earnings	work	prize
employee	looking after	criterion	cost

2. Say whether these statements are true (t) or false (f), and if they are false say why.

1. ( ) Money is both a means of exchange and a means of measuring labour.

2. ( ) A mother’s work in caring for her children is not labour because it is seldom very hard work.

3. ( ) Services which are measurable in terms of money concern the economist very much.

4. ( ) The money standard as used by economists is scientific and strictly objective.

5. ( ) Economists say that the activities of farm workers and nurses are the same.

6. ( ) Labour in the economic sense is also concerned with the payment of higher wages to the national labour force.

7. ( ) If an employer engages an assistant, his own work can be classified as labour.

3. Answer the questions:

1. What does the term ‘labour’ refer to?

2. What does the economist measure?

3. How do economists define the term ‘money’?

4. What term is used to describe a person engaged in his own private business?

5. What is the reward of private enterprise called?

4. Look through the text again and give Ukrainian/Russian equivalents to the following English words and word combinations:

National labour force, a means of measuring, to undertake work, in the strict economic sense, to be aware, in terms of money, a regular nature, value of things, distinctions of social class, to be engaged in private business, in return, the whole business.

5. Give English equivalents to the following words and word combinations from the text:

Засіб обміну, вартість людської праці, фіксована платня, отримувати, надавати послуги, важка праця, фінансова винагорода, вимірний, грошові виплати, судити, працездатне населення, працювати на себе, помічник, прибуток.

6. Cross out an odd word:

1. reward / value / payment / prize

2. work / labour / employment / job

3. aware / render / receive / undertake

4. provide / render /supply / make

5. care / be concerned / notice / think about

6. wages / activities / salary / payment

7. force / profit / income/ benefit

7. Complete the following sentences with words or word combinations from the text:

1. The total … population of Poland in 2002 was about 11 million: some 66% of the total population.

2. The proportion of women in the … labour … was much lower last year.

3. The great majority of the working population worked for a private … or … but 7% were employers or self-employed.

4. About 90% of the men were … in productive work while the remaining 10% were students and private individuals without the need to work.

5. The money standard is not religious and … , but … and objective.

6. … is a means of exchange as well as means of … the value of men’s labour.