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I. Information for study Macroeconomics.

The Overall Picture. The Issues

Unit 5

I. Information for study

Macroeconomics:

The Overall Picture. The Issues

Text A

Прочтите следующую информацию и запишите основ- ные термины, связанные с тематикой текста.

1. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. Macroeconomics is concerned not with the details – the price of cigarettes relative to the price of bread, or the output of cars relative to the output of steel but with the overall picture. We shall study issues such as the determination of total output of the economy, the aggregate level of unemployment, and the rate of inflation or growth of prices of goods and services as a whole.

2.The distinction between microeconomics and macroeconomics is more than difference between economics in the small and economics in the large, which the Greek prefixes microand macrosuggest. The purpose of the analysis is also different.

3.A model is a deliberate simplification to enable us to pick out the key elements of a problem and think about them clearly. Although we could study the whole economy by piecing together our microeconomic analysis of each and every market, the resulting model would be so cumbersome that it would be hard to keep track of all the economic forces at work. Microeconomics and macroeconomics take different approaches to keep the analysis manageable.

4.Microeconomics places the emphasis on a detailed understanding of particular markets. To achieve this amount of detail or magnification, many of the interactions with other markets are suppressed. In saying that a tax on cars reduces the equilibrium quantity of cars we ignore the question of what the government does

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Английскийязык.

Лексические основы чтения текстов по экономике

with the tax revenue. If the government has to borrow less money, it is possible that interest rates and exchange rate will fall and that improved international competitiveness of UK car producers will actually increase the equilibrium output of cars in the UK.

5.Microeconomics is a bit like looking at a horse race through a pair of binoculars. It is great for details, but sometimes we get a clearer picture of the whole race by using the naked eye. Because macroeconomics is concerned primarily with the interaction of different parts of the economy, it relies on a deliberate simplification to keep the analysis manageable. Macroeconomics simplifies the building blocks in order to focus on how they fit together and influence one another.

6.Macroeconomics is concerned with broad aggregates such as the total demand for goods by households or the total spending on machinery and buildings by firms. As in watching the horse race through the naked eye, our notion of the individual details is more blurred but we can give our full attention to the whole picture. We are more likely to notice the horse sneaking up on the rails.

The Issues

7.We now introduce some of the main issues in macroeconomics.

8.Inflation. The annual inflation rate is the percentage increase per annum in the average price of goods and services. The Retail Price Index (RPI) is a weighted average of the prices households pay for goods and services. The percentage annual growth in the RPI is the most commonly used measure of inflation in the UK.

9.What causes inflation? The money supply? Trade Unions? Why do people mind so much about inflation? Does inflation cause unemployment? These are among the questions you must think over.

10.Unemployment. Unemployment is a measure of the number of people registered as looking for work but without a job. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed. The labour force is the number of people working or

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I. Information for study Macroeconomics. The Overall Picture. The Issues

looking for work. It excludes all those, from rich landowners to heroin addicts, who are neither working nor looking for work.

11.Unemployment is now high. Why has it increased so much recently? Is high unemployment necessary to keep inflation under control, or could the government create more jobs?

12.Output and Growth. Real Gross National Product (real GNP) measures the total income of the economy. It tells us the quantity of goods and services the economy as a whole can afford to purchase. It is closely related to the total output of the economy. Increases in real GNP are called “economic growth”.

13.What determines the level of real GNP? Does unemployment mean that real GNP is lower than it might be? Why do some countries grow faster than others?

14.Macroeconomic Policy. Almost every day the newspapers and television refer to the problems of inflation, unemployment, and slow growth. These issues are widely discussed; they help determine the outcome of elections, and make some people interested in learning more about macroeconomics.

15.The government has a variety of policy measures through which it can try to affect the performance of the economy as a whole. It levies taxes, commissions spending, influences the money supply, interest rates, and the exchange rate, and it sets targets for the output and prices of nationalized industries.

II.Practice

1.Переведите текст A на русский язык, используя словарь в конце урока, обращая внимание на перевод терминов.

2.Найдите в тексте ответы на поставленные вопросы и запишите их.

1)What does macroeconomics study?

2)What is the distinction between microeconomics and macroeconomics?

3)What can you say about a model as a tool of economic analysis?

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Английскийязык.

Лексические основы чтения текстов по экономике

4)What does microeconomics place the emphasis on in the course of analysis?

5)What example is used in the text to show the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics?

6)What is macroeconomics primarily concerned with in the course of analysis?

7)What are the main issues in macroeconomics?

8)What do economists most commonly use to measure inflation?

9)What is unemployment and unemployment rate?

10)What is labour force?

11)Who is excluded from the labour force?

12)What does Real Gross National Product (GNP) measure?

13)How are increases in real GNP called?

14)What are the policy measures through which the government can try to affect the performance of the economy as a whole?

3. К выделенным жирным шрифтом словам в тексте под- берите слова, противоположные по значению, из следующего списка слов:

demand, to increase, in the large, income, in detail, to pay attention

4. Образуйте существительные от данных глаголов при помощи суффиксов -ance, -ing, -ion, -th. Проверьте по тексту. Переведите их:

to perform, to spend, to determine, to magnify, to interact, to simplify, to grow, to build

5. Подчеркните в тексте A предложения, соответствующие по смыслу данным ниже.

1)Безработица – это показатель количества людей, кото- рые ищут работу, но не имеют ее.

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I. Information for study Macroeconomics.

The Overall Picture. The Issues

2)Валовый национальный продукт определяется общим доходом хозяйства страны.

3)Индекс розничных цен – это средняя цена, которую покупатели платят за товары и услуги.

4)Мы могли бы изучать экономику всей страны, объеди- няя микроэкономический анализ отдельных рынков.

5)Макроэкономика изучает взаимодействие различных отраслей экономики.

6)Увеличение валового национального продукта называет- ся экономическим ростом.

7)Люди, которые не работают и не ищут работу, не вхо- дят в состав рабочей силы.

8)Возрастание суммы денег в обращении вызывает рост инфляции.

6.Изложите краткое содержание текста A на английском языкев письменной форме.

7.Прочтите список ключевых слов к тексту B.

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Английскийязык.

Лексические основы чтения текстов по экономике

8.Прослушайте текст В на кассете 2-3 раза и постарайтесь понять его.

9.Дайте краткое изложение текста B на русском языке.

10.Прочтите утверждения и выберите те, которые соответст- вуют содержанию текста B:

1)Macroeconomic concepts refer to the economy as a whole.

2)Microeconomic concepts are of more public interest than macroeconomic concepts.

3)Gross National Product is the value of all goods and services produced in the economy over a given period.

4)The prices of different goods should always move in line with one another.

5)The Aggregate Price Level tells us what is happening to prices on average.

6)When the price level is falling, we say that the economy is going through an inflation.

7)By the labour force we mean the people who are of working age.

III. Vocabulary to Text A

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Английскийязык.

Лексические основы чтения текстов по экономике

IV. Test

1. Выберите из колонки справа по смыслу слова, пропу- щенные в предложениях.

3)The equilibrium output of cars in the UK d) household will increase if international ... of UK car e) concerned

7)The government can affect the ... of the economy by means of policy measures.

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I. Information for study Macroeconomics.

The Overall Picture. The Issues

8)Some economists say that high ... is necessary to keep inflation under control.

9)Microeconomics is ... with detailed understanding of particular markets.

10)Many macroeconomic ... are often discussed in newspapers and on TV.

2.Выберите существительное, которое может следовать за данным глаголом.

3. Выберите из приведенного списка термины, соответст- вующие данным определениям.

e)a measure of the number of people registered as looking for work but without a job

f)a weighted average of the prices households pay for goods and services

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Английскийязык.

Лексические основы чтения текстов по экономике

Unit 6

I. Information for study.

The Role of the Market

Text A

Прочтите следующую информацию и запишите основ- ные термины, связанные с тематикой текста.

1.Markets bring together buyers and sellers of goods and services. In some cases, such as a local fruit stall, buyers and sellers meet physically. In other cases, such as the stock market, business can be transacted over the telephone, almost by remote control. We need not go into these details. Instead, we use a general definition of markets.

2.A market is a shorthand expression for the process by which households’ decisions about consumption of alternative goods, firms’ decisions about what and how to produce, and workers’ decisions about how much and for whom to work are all reconciled by adjustment of prices.

3.Prices of goods and of resources, such as labour, machinery and land, adjust to ensure that scarce resources are used to produce those goods and services that society demands.

4.Much of economics is devoted to the study of how markets and prices enable society to solve the problems of what, how, and for whom to produce. Suppose you buy a hamburger for your lunch. What does this have to do with markets and prices? You chose the café because it was fast, convenient and cheap. Given your desire to eat, and your limited resources, the low hamburger price told you that this was a good way to satisfy your appetite. You probably prefer steak but that is more expensive. The price of steak is high enough to ensure that society answers the ‘for whom’ question about lunchtime steaks in favour of someone else.

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