XXIV. Put questions to the sentences of the exercise XXIII.

XXV. Answer the questions.

1. What does the survival of any society depend on?

2. What are all societies faced with?

3. What do all societies have in common?

4. What are the major kinds of an economic system?

5. Who makes most of What, How and Whom decisions in a command economy?

6. What does the command economy require?

7. Who answers the questions What, How and Whom to produce in a market economy?

8. Who will stay in business in a market economy?

9. What advantages does the market economy have?

10. What are the main features of the mixed economy?

11. Which term “ mixed”, “market” or “command” can be applied to most of the countries of Europe?

UNIT III

Topic. Production Text A. Production Text B. Factors of production

I. Practise the pronunciation of the following words.

a) stress the first syllable:

inputs, process, concept, measure, aspect, temporal, spatial, saleable, further, handle, blade, category, purchase, ultimate, maintenance, tangible, vehicle, servant, hairdresser, agent, industry, produce;

b) stress the second syllable:

conversion, resources, commodity, occur, extractive, processing, complete, example, assemble, intent, determine, distinguish, intangible, importance, admire, contribute, to transport, exporter, produce.

II. Answer the questions before reading the text.

l. What economic products do you know?

2. What does the productive activity depend on?

3. Is the process of production complex?

III. Read and memorize the following words and word combinations.

chain of distribution – мережа реалізації

extractive industry – видобувна промисловість

intangible goods – нематеріальні товари

manufacturing industry — виробнича промисловість

packaging — упакування

processing industry – переробна промисловість

public services – державні служби

shipping – перевезення вантажу, відвантаження

storing – зберігання товару

tangible goods – матеріальні товари

vehicle – засіб, спосіб

IV. Text А

Production

In microeconomics, production is simply the conversion of inputs into outputs. It is an economic process that uses resources to create a commodity that is suitable for exchange. This can include manufacturing, storing, shipping and packaging. Some economists define production broadly as all economic activity other than consumption.

Production is a process, and as such it occurs through time and space. Since it is a flow concept, production is measured as “a rate of output per period of time”. There are three aspects of production processes:

1. the quantity of the commodity produced;

2. the form of the good produced;

3.the temporal and spatial distribution of the commodity produced.

There are three stages in the process of making saleable products from raw materials:

1. Extractive industry.

The raw materials are extracted from natural resources, for example the miner mines iron ore and the farmer grows wheat.

2. Processing industry.

The raw materials are processed into a form suitable for further use, for example iron is made into steel and the wheat is made into flour.

3. Manufacturing industry.

The results of the processing stage are made into semi-finished and finished goods, for example the steel is made into knives and the flour is made into bread. Finished goods are goods which are complete in themselves, for example steel spoons. Semi-finished goods must be assembled before they can be used, for example wooden knife handles and steel knife blades.

All the goods can be grouped into two general categories – consumer and industrial. Goods purchased to satisfy personal and family needs are consumer goods. Goods bought for the use in a firm's operations or to make other products are industrial goods. The buyer's intent – or the ultimate use of the product – determines the classification of an item. An electric drill is a consumer good if you use it at home. At the same time an electric drill is an industrial good if you use it in the maintenance of your business.

Normally the word good brings to mind a physical object, such as an automobile, a television set, or a soft drink. And we usually use the expression goods and services to distinguish between physical objects and intangible ones. But in thinking about physical products, their importance lies not so much in owning them as in using them to satisfy our wants. We don't buy a car to look at but because it supplies a transportation service. We don't buy a blender to admire but because it supplies a cooking service. Thus, physical products are really vehicles that deliver services to us.

Services are also supplied by other vehicles, such as persons. These people do not contribute directly to production, but are needed for example to transport the goods from the manufacturer to the customer, to insure the goods etc. These people render services. There are several types of services:

1. Public services

People in public services are employed by the government, for example civil servants and teachers.

2. Private services

Private services are rendered by skilled people with their own organizations, for example lawyers and doctors in private practices.

3. Consumer services

Consumer services are services used by people in their everyday life, e.g. electricians and hairdressers.

4. Commercial services

Commercial services are rendered by people who are needed for the efficient distribution of goods, for example exporters, bankers, agents.