I. Give the English equivalents to:

Родственная дисциплина, факторы производства, обмен, экономическое исследование, в условиях рынка, обеспечивать торговлю, определять стоимость, метод анализа, альтернатива, масштаб, основное направление.

II. Find words with similar meanings in the text:

Resources required for production, to promote commerce, the way people act, academic discussion, economic research, to remain, a related science, the first of two, to develop, a definite set of concepts, a dominant tendency.

III. Answer the following questions:

1. Why can economics be called a science?

2. What kind of science is economics? Why?

3. What other social sciences do you know?

4. What is the difference between economics and other social sciences?

5. What are the two sets of questions connected with modern economics?

6. What questions were addressed by the mainstream economists?

7. Can Marx be regarded as a mainstream economist?

8. What evidence is there that economics continues to develop?

9. What are the main areas of disagreement among contemporary economists?

IV. Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones:

1. To build understanding all economists use the same tools as carpenters and printers do.

2. Modern economics studies problems connected only with the market.

3. Economics is based on a set body of principles.

4. There are a lot of authors addressing both sets of questions mentioned in the text.

5. Most scientists agree on the methods and scope of economic research.

V. Render the text in English:

Экономика, подобно родственным социальным наукам (например, социологии), изучает поведение человека. Однако, в отличие от других дисциплин, экономика анализирует поведение человека в условиях рынка. Рынок – это институт, обеспечивающий торговлю и обмен.

Исследованием вопросов, связанных с рынком, занимались многие ученые. Некоторые из них рассматривали проблемы функционирования рынка (данное направление получило название основного, или ортодоксального), другие искали альтернативы рынку. В работах Карла Маркса затрагиваются оба аспекта.

Экономика – постоянно развивающаяся наука: среди экономистов не прекращается полемика по ряду ключевых моментов, таких как место экономики среди других социальных наук, методы экономического исследования и др.

VI. Give a summary of the text. Macroeconomics and microeconomics

“Macro” is derived from the Greek word makros meaning “large”. Macroeconomics considers the whole economy from a national point of view. In studying macroeconomics we turn our attention to the major forces acting and interacting within the economy. Macroeconomics in a modern economy is largely a study of government economics. Central and local governments play such a significant role in the formation and application of economic policies that it has become essential for businessmen to appreciate the bases of government economic policy. In former times, and in a very few countries perhaps still today, the free play of market forces was left to decide the level of national income, and the rate of growth of the economy. As a result of this policy of laissez-faire (“let the thing work itself out”) the economy tended to grow in spiral-like movements of business activity. Years of rapid expansion, called “booms”, were followed by years of consolidation and slower progress, called “slumps”. The economy was always growing, but it suffered from cycles of activity spiraling upwards. The more exposed members of society, the poor, and the immigrant, suffered great misery. A cry went out for more conscious control of business activity, and eventually Keynesian^ economics showed the way to achieve it.

Under this final group of studies we must consider:

a) The national income; what it is, how it may be increased, and how it may be fairly shared;

b) Business cycles; their causes and cures. This involves a study of deflation, inflation, and equilibrium levels of activity in the economy;

c) Problems associated with full employment, structural unemployment, and regional under-employment;

d) The public sector of the economy; its conflict with the private sector and their reconciliation with one another;

e) Public finance;

f) The balance-of-payments problem presents itself mainly at macroeconomics levels;

g) The international implications of national policies and co-operation with other countries.

Though macroeconomics has been defined as the study of the whole, or of the aggregate, of a national economy, the central problem of it in the second half of the twentieth century is the management of prosperity to maximize individual welfare. In fact, the whole economy stands or falls by what is achieved for the individual. If I am not prosperous, what use is it to me that society as a whole is prosperous? What satisfaction do I get, when I am poor, to know that others are rich? If I am unemployed, high levels of general employment do me no good, and what use is the general security if I am insecure?

The application of economic theory to the aggregate level is a process subject to a reasonably high degree of uncertainty. No one can be absolutely sure what the outcome of a particular macroeconomic policy will be. There is though, in practical terms, every reason for the study of macroeconomics. That a point cannot be made 100% clear ought not to detract from the achievement of a highly probable prediction. Business itself is founded upon the principle of exploiting uninsurable risk. Those who operate businesses ought to appreciate what is likely to happen within the national and international economy so that they can reduce the risk element in their own businesses.

Microeconomic analysis offers a detailed treatment of individual decisions about particular commodities. For example, we might study why individual households prefer cars or bicycles and how producers decide whether to produce cars or bicycles. We can then aggregate the behavior of all households and all firms to discuss total car purchases and total car production. Within a market economy we can discuss the market for cars. Comparing this with the market for bicycles, we may be able to explain the relative price of cars and bicycles and the relative output of these two goods. The sophisticated branch of microeconomics known as general equilibrium theory extends this approach to its logical conclusion. It studies simultaneously every market for every commodity. From this it is hoped that we can understand the complete pattern of consumption, production, and exchange in the whole economy at a point in time.

Microeconomists tend to offer a detailed treatment of one aspect of economic behavior but ignore interactions with the rest of the economy in order to preserve the simplicity of the analysis. A microeconomic analysis of miners’ wages would emphasize the characteristics of miners and the ability of mine owners to pay. It would largely neglect the chain of indirect effects to which a rise in miners’ wages might give rise. When microeconomic analysis ignores such indirectly induced effects it is said to be partial analysis.

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