The resources necessary to satisfy the wants are limited.

VI. Read and translate the text

Since there is not enough of everything, everyone-individuals, business firms, and government— needs to make choices from among the things they want. In the process they will try to economize, to get the most from what they have. With this in mind, we can define economics as the social science that describes and analyzes how society chooses from among scarce resources to satisfy its wants.

The need to choose is imposed on us all by our income, wealth and ability to borrow. Individuals and families are limited by the size of their personal income, savings and ability to borrow. Similarly, business firms are limited by their profits, savings and borrowing power, and governments by their ability to tax and borrow.

Income, savings, profits and taxes enable people, institutions and government to purchase goods, products you can see or touch, and services, work performed for pay that benefits others. The problem that each must face, however, is that once the decision has been made to choose one set of alternatives, one loses the opportunity to choose the other. Economists describe these kinds of trade-offs as opportunity costs. The opportunity cost of something is its cost measured in terms of what you have to give up getting it. Business is also faced with the problem of choices and opportunity costs.

VII. Complete the sentences

1. In the process they will try to economize …

2. We can define economics as ….

3. … is imposed on us all by our income.

4. Similarly, business firms are limited by ….

5. … as opportunity costs.

VIII. Read and translate the text and then answer the question: What do economics do?

Economics deals with the problems of scarcity and choice that have faced societies and nations throughout history, but the development of modern economics began hi the 17^th century. Since that time economists have developed methods for studying and explaining how individuals, businesses and nations use their available economic resources.

Large corporations use economists to study the ways they do business and to suggest methods for making more efficient use of their employees, equipment, factories, and other resources.

IX. Write a composition called “The economics” using the information from the texts in this unit and your own point of view

X. Retell your composition unit 2 lexical material: The economy of Russia

1. Read and translate into Russian

A

The Russian national economy experiences cardinal transformations. This sometimes happens in the process of transforming a country from a command into a market economy.

Nowadays Russian national economy is functioning in new market conditions. But the experience of working in these conditions is not enough yet. Transition to new economic conditions affects all spheres including the financial one, which is the most important.

Besides these problems there is another one – the taxation system. Poor tax collections forced Russian authorities to raise funds to cover its expenses. It has been floating short-term treasury bonds, which provided 240 percent interest. Although the state attracted billions of dollars, it needed to borrow more to pay off the short-term bonds. But without tax revenue, the government would not be able either to pay the international bill or maintain essential services.

B

Another thing, which increases the crisis, is a drop in world oil prices. Russian is a third-largest oil producing country in the world and oil is the great hope of Russian economy, but unfortunately its production level is not good enough to let Russian huge natural resources be sold out in high prices.

The other problems are Soviet-era debts. And Russia is trying to reschedule them to make their negative influence weaker. The Russian government made an agreement with “London club” for rescheduling of $32 billion of Soviet-era debts. And now it is trying to negotiate for $42 billion debt owed to “Paris Club”. Russia’s private sector creditors agreed to write off more than a third of the debt.

C

A preliminary study of the economic situation in Russia is closely connected with the peculiarities of the territorial economic development and of the functioning or regions in the structure of the national economy demand:

• Improve legislation, normative and legal base;

• Elaborate methods of analysis and of evaluating national development prospects;

• Form a regulation mechanism and a set of state regulatory instruments.

There is no doubt that adoption of experience accumulated in other countries in matters of national studies and elaboration of purpose-oriented governmental programs will promote not only understanding of general problems of social and economic development in the Russian Federation, but also will be of use in the development strategy of Russia.