Comments

4. ... on the grounds — ... на підставі

5. when negotiating for wages — коли домовляються про зарплату

U n I t 14

Text A

Just as economists study the amount of goods and services brought to market by a single producer, they also study the total amount of goods and services produced by the economy as a whole. Thus, they examine aggregate supply — the total amount of goods and services produced by the economy in a given period, usually one year.

A number of factors affect an economy’s aggregate supply. Two of these are the quantity of resources used in production and the quality of those resources. For example, an economy must have an adequate supply of natural resources and capital goods to be productive.

It also needs a skilled and highly motivated labour force. A third factor affecting aggregate supply is the efficiency with which the resources are combined. If they are combined in a productive way, aggregate supply will increase.

In order to measure aggregate supply, statistics must be kept. To keep with this task economists use national income accounting — a system of statistics, that keeps track of production, consumption, saving and investment in the economy. National income accounting also makes it possible to trace long-run trends in the economy and to form new public policies to improve the economy.

The most important economic statistics kept in the national income accounts is Gross National Product (GNP). This is the dollar measure of the total amount of final goods and services produced in a year. It is one of the most important and comprehensive statistics kept on the economy’s performance.

Comments

1. aggregate supply — сукупна пропозиція

2. to be productive — щоб бути продуктивною

3. national income accounting — розрахунок національного прибутку

4. ... keeps track of production — слідкує за виробництвом

5. ... kept on the economy’s performance — яка продовжує характерис­тику економіки

Text B

An advanced country like the United States is very complex. It involves millions of individual decision-making units — individuals, business and governments make billions of decisions daily.

Microeconomics is the branch of economics that deals with decision-making and other behaviour by these individual units. Another branch of economics, known as macroeconomics, deals with large groups or aggregates. Because GNP deals with the output of the country as a whole, it is macroeconomic concept.

As a first step in understanding the macroeconomy we think of the economy as being made up of several different parts called sectors. These sectors represent individuals, business, government and foreign markets. The sum of expenditures of these sectors is known as aggregate demand. When aggregate demand or spending falls over a period of one to two years, the economy tends to go into recession, while a rise in aggregate demand tends to lead to booms in the economy.

One sector of the macroeconomy is the consumer sector. The basic unit in this sector is the household, which is made up of all persons who occupy a house, apartment, or room.

A second sector is the business, or investment sector. It is made up of proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. It is the productive sector responsible for bringing the factors of production together to produce output.

A third sector in the macroeconomy is the government, or public sector. It includes the local, state and federal levels of government.

The foreign sector is the fourth sector of the macroeconomy. It includes all consumers and producers external in the United States.

The United States, for example, exports computers, airplanes, and farm products to foreign buyers. It also imports a large number of different items from foreign countries. It makes no difference whether foreign buyers are governments or private investors or if purchases are made from governments or private individuals. They are all part of the foreign sector.