Outstanding Economists.

Sen ¹bore/ was born/ has been born in 1933 and ²sees/saw/was seeing famine firsthand at an early age in his native India. He ³has graduated/was graduating/graduated from the University of Calcutta in India and earned/⁴has earned/was earning his doctorate at Cambridge University in England. He ⁵has been/was/was being an adviser to the United Nations (UN) and a host of other organizations. Sen ⁶has taught/taught/ was teaching at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 1980s and 1990s. He was recently named master of Trinity College at Cambridge University. Indian-born economist Amartya Sen was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in economic science on October 14. The 64-year-old Sen, who ⁷devoted/was devoting/has devoted much of his career to the study of poverty and economic inequality, ⁸gets/got/was getting the Nobel Prize for his "key contributions to the research on fundamental problems in welfare economics". The award ⁹was being/has been/was notable because it ¹⁰went/was going/has gone to an economist whose work was not solely theoretical and who was concerned with ethical issues in the field. Some of Sen's key work ¹¹dealt/was dealing/has dealt with causes of and solutions for famines, alternative ways to measure poverty and economic prosperity, and economic inequalities between men and women. His 1981 book Poverty and Famines ¹²was making/made has made an impact on how relief agencies and governments respond to famine conditions. Sen also was ¹³documenting/documented/has documented the impact of economic discrimination against girls and women in developing countries. By comparing the ratio of men to women in developed nations to the ratio that exists in poorer countries, he ¹⁴was finding/has found/found that about 100 million women were "missing" in the developing nations – dying prematurely as a result of such inequities as inferior nutrition and health care.

Exercise 3. Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the word.

1. price:

• On the eve of big holidays shops usually appoint discount … .

• Not money run the world, but … , said one of popular politicians.

• To his mind his assets … too low.

2. Value:

• Insurance … of the car completely satisfied the buyer.

• Money … of a unit of a good is called price.

• The Hesketh family … their kin pile in $90m.

3. market:

• He works in the advertising office and he develops out the process of getting customers to buy a firm’s product, he is engaged in … .

• It’s rather shy but we should admit the existence of slavery … even in our days.

4. consume:

• Western nations in their pursuit of welfare suffer from … , the disease of rich countries.

• Private … is divided between spending on non-durables and spending on durables.

• Dealers consider that markets of the third world … everything they will be proposed.

• The average … spends the less part of his salary on food in western countries, but in Ukraine he has to spend almost all his money for it.

5. sale:

• Overcrowded streets, impossibility to park anywhere, stirring – all these are signs of … on the eve of Christmas.

• The client was explained all advantages of the car by a young … who tried his best.

• He was lucky to find the discontinued scent and the beautiful … wrapped him the perfume, with smile.

6. respond:

• Usually the demand for necessities is very … to any changes in price.

• Nobody noticed the disappearance of D & J Ltd and none of the stock exchanges … to it.

• His morbid honesty and … attracted many new clients and his firm thrived.

• Blue collars were … for the order in the trade halls and white collars tried to do their best to attract as many potential buyers as possible.

7. success:

• A lot of … techniques are used in commodity promotion.

• Business is always between … and failure and price plays one of the main roles in it.

8. advertise:

• If you are looking for a job, read … in “The Economist”.

• Some producers … their merchandise at suggested retail prices.

• … becomes the business bringing colossal gains.

Exercise 4. Give the definitions of the underlined words.

1. The Board of Directors decided to allocate 10% of the sales revenue to allowances for elderly people.

2. What happens when the increase in price is cancelled out by the decrease in demand?

3. This company is very successful in the market because their marketing department is well aware of fine tuning the price.

4. Sometimes to get rid of old stock owners introduce price lining on it.

5. There should be a great number of alternatives in the market because of the difference in incomes of citizens.

6. I consider psychological pricing to be targeted at naïve customers with unstable mind.

Exercise 5. Chose appropriate substitutes from the box for the underlined words.

trigger greed unprofitable moron mad bees canny

lucky bargain psychosis earlier clients

a bit of a lie – in a thriving business frenetic shopping are hunting owners

1. Instead of going out for sales some people prefer to stay in bed and to relax a little.

2. The other people like blind kittens are looking for a deal.

3. Sales become prospering business for shop possessors.

4. In their turn customers consider themselves very sly and successful buying old stock with little discount.

5. Elderly people refuse of fast and energetic shopping on the eve of holidays and do it beforehand.

6. Every new sales is a start for a sort of collective madness.

7. If mean and excess run the society, it risks to turn into the herd of crazy people suffering from consumerism.

8. A lot of dubious dealers are looking for money making not less dubious bargains and ventures without any profit for anybody.

Let’s ponder!

Read the rhyme of Robert Frost (from “Money”, Poetry,, 1936). “Never ask of money spent. Where the spender thinks it went. Nobody was ever meant to remember or invent. What he did with every cent.“

• What do you think about money?

• Did the above quotation become outdated or are they still contemporary?

Exercise 6. Write a composition (200 – 250 words) where you reveal your understanding and your attitude to money. The following words may be helpful:

• I would find it extremely easy/difficult to decide …

• I personally feel that …

• It seems to me that …

• It is also my opinion that …

• I would certainly not wish for …

• Still in my opinion (to my mind) …

• So, for that reason, I have come to conclusion that …

• My third and final word would be …