28. Подготовьте краткое сообщение на тему «Что такое рыночная эконо­ мика».

29. А) Прочитайте текст без словаря. Кратко суммируйте его содержание по-русски.

б) Сделайте письменный перевод части текста, описывающей экономиче­скую теорию Адама Смита.

Слова для понимания текста

coincidence — совпадение

gospel — проповедь

genesis — возникновение

solely — только, исключительно

guess — догадка, предположение

rival — конкурирующий

opulence — изобилие, богатство

bedrock — основной принцип

Today, most people have a hard time understanding what economists are talking about, but everyone knows what an economist is — a specialist in a recognized branch of academic knowledge. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the term was nothing like as specific. In England it was applied to anyone who a^prcteched problems by putting⁰every argument and doctrine on wMtever subject tojhe test of facts.

It was no_r coincidence that England gave birth to the first industrial revolution and what has since-become known as the classical school of economics at the same time. The three most important gospels of this school are Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), and James Mill's Political Economy (1821),.

Of these books, the most important is that by Adam Smith. It is the first great classic of economic theory and one of the first known

attempts, to describe economic life as at whole.

The^^rgenesis of The Wealth of Nations exactly mirrors the industrial revolution. Adam Smith was born in 1723, and was a

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student at Glasgow University ia Scotland from 1737 to 1740. Between 1764 and 1766 Smith 'toured Europe. While in France Smith met Voltaire and was greatly influenced by a group of philosophers. On his return from France, Adam Smith sat down to write his great book.

The first key question the book Addresses is what is, wealth? Real wealth mVasured' by the availabiliti consumable goods, and the labour, which produces them. Дп inciease in wealth» equals an increase in goods., and plenty means heap goods. Anything that restricts the availability of goods iteoucei a nation's wealth. National wealth can only increase as trade dees between and within^ nations. For trade to grow you need a market and how the market works is the cdre of Smith's book.

What.makes markers_csuch important creators of wealth is that

they enccmrage the 'drvision'of labour and specialisation.

• _? An effective market _reconomy and_n the civjsed society that it

supports — depends on^a ^erwdrk^o^cb-oper^pn tiiat is neither

""planned ^^.directe^by^a political power. The operation of market

force^lilce^trje dlytsjon of labour, brings great Benefits to society

and 'raises lhe_t sianaa'rd^.pf living, but this benefit ^cannpt be

planned. Buyers and lifersЪ,a market are motivatedjilmost solely

^f inten'ded 'it' If the seller is the sole producer of a popular product,

. J^P/t.o 7 ^r ^jJ-Zc* ^ЭТ-оы lic^

push its price up as high as the market will bear. But, a his

he wnl push _yits price up Д8 high as Ле market will bea^. But_:,a high price ^wm^attract^Hv^ prb^uper^'dnce^tfieir goods are available in the market, the price will naturally fall. Thus the market is a self-regulating mechanism ^uiqecl not by a government, but by what Smith called "the invisible hand".

One of the bedrocks of ^Smith's philosophy is that no government or group of men is'Wile enqugh tp do a better job at managing trade than a market which reflects the guesses and knowledge of millions. Sn^i^i,didn't believe that governments would ever allow trade !p^e_rcpmpietely free and he wrote that the interests of national idefence are always "more important than

7T_f-> in "ГгТ ^ - 9 Q f Qfn «7,F,. *

opulence . Under the^ final heading Smith was thinking, of infrastructure projects like rpadj,bndges_; canals and^ajrbours which are expensive and often unprofitable to build but lead to an increase in trade and hence of national wealth.

Smith's achievement was Immense: the science Smith discovered was called the modern economy.

by sel.f-interest, but serve "uje public interest without Having

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