1Complete each sentence with a word or phrase from the box.

■ abundance ■ concept ■ consumer ■ firm ■ Industrial Revolution ■ population ■ precious metals ■ production process

■ profit ■ raw materials ■ satisfaction ■ scarcity

1 The.......................began in the late 18th century when machines started to replace human workers.

2 Sand and limestone are the.......................needed to make glass.

3 The.......................to make a car involves many people and machines.

4The extra money a company makes is called

5 People want.......................from the products they buy.

6.......................is when there is very little of something.

7.......................is when there is lots of something.

⁸ Gold and silver are examples of........................

9 Another word for idea is........................

10 The.......................is the number of people a country has.

11A business or company is sometimes called a ………………

12 When we buy things or use services we are a ………………

2 Now read the text again and decide whether these statements are true or false.

1Aristotle did not use the word economics, but he did write about economic ideas.

2Early economists thought that a nation without gold was poor.

3People in medieval times didn't understand anything about economics.

4 In classical economics, the value of something was measured in gold.

5 Economists later found a problem with the classical model.

6 In neoclassical economics, supply and demand control price.

Text 2. The Russian economy in the 19th century

The Russian empire grew enormously during the 19th century, covering land from Poland in the West to the Pacific coast in the East. The population also grew quickly. In economic terms, this meant an increase in two of the four factors of production: land and labour. You might think then, that the Russian economy at this time was booming. But until the 1860s, this was not true at all. Compared to other important powers like Britain, France and America, Russia's economy was hopelessly underdeveloped. Why was this so?

The main problem was Russia's feudal economic system. Almost 80 per cent of the population were peasants. They either worked on land owned by the state, or they were serfs. Serfs worked land that belonged to a small number of wealthy landlords. In return for a small piece of land and a place to live, serfs had to work for their landlords. In fact, the serfs didn't just work for their landlords - they belonged to them.

This system did not encourage economic growth. Peasants' labour was used in subsistence farming for their families or working to maintain their landlord's estate. Without surplus goods, there were no profits or savings. With no savings, domestic investment for growth was not possible. Russian agriculture still used the most basic technology, and almost the whole workforce was unskilled and illiterate.

In addition, the empire's industrial base was poorly developed. Before 1850, there were relatively few factories, mostly producing textiles. Some factories were run by the state, but many were run on the estates of landlords. Industrial technology was basic, and engineering education was not encouraged by the authorities.

To make matters worse, the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856 had weakened the Russian economy even more. Eventually, the Russian authorities realised that they had to do something about the economy. The empire was now surrounded by modern industrial powers. Russia had to make an economic leap into a new age.

The first step was the emancipation of the serfs. Tsar Alexander II finally made this happen in 1861. This meant that the population was no longer tied to the land and could provide labour for industry. With foreign investment, Russia began to build up its industries. The iron and steel industries grew rapidly. Mining of raw materials increased and industrial centres developed along the Don and Dnepr rivers. The output of the iron and steel industries helped to build a huge railway network, including the Trans-Siberian railway.

Growth continued and by the 1890s the Russian economy was experiencing a real boom. From five per cent in the 1860s, annual growth reached nine per cent in the 1890s - higher than anywhere else in Europe at the time. However, much of the growth was built with foreign debt. Agricultural methods and technology were still primitive. And what about the economy's human capital? The exploited serfs had now become exploited factory workers. The majority of the population remained totally illiterate and desperately poor. With the turn of the new century, how much longer could the boom continue?

Exercises

1 Complete each sentence with a word from the box.

■ authorities ■ emancipation ■ engineering ■ estates ■ feudal

■ illiterate ■ landlord/landlady ■ leap ■ peasant ■ serf

■ subsistence ■ textile

1 In a......................system, landowners owned the land and the people who worked on it.

2 The Eiffel Tower is an amazing piece of ……………

3 A person who makes their living from farming a small piece of land is often called a.......................

4 People who cannot read or write are......................

5 Someone who owns property and rents it to others is a.......................

6 A......................was a person who belonged to the owner of land.

7 The aristocracy own large areas of land called

8......................farming means you only just

manage to survive on what is produced.

9 The......................industry produces cloth, cotton and wool.

10 The people who rule the country are sometimes called the.......................

11......................is another word for jump.

12 People have to be free – their......................is necessary.

2. Now read the text again and answer these questions in your own words in the space provided below.

1 What aspects of the Russian economy increased in the 19^th century?

2 Give three reasons why Russia’s economy was underdeveloped.

3 What two things helped the Russian economy grow?

4 How did ordinary people’s lives change after pecializingdon?

Text 3. The traditional economy

It’s hard to imagine our lives without coins, banknotes and credit cards. Yet for most of human history people lived without money. For thousands of years human societies had very simple economies. There were no shops, markets or traders. There were no employers, paid workers or salaries. Today, we call this kind of economy the traditional economy, and in some parts of Asia, South America and Africa this system still exists.

People who live in a traditional economy don’t have money because they don’t need it. They live lives of subsistence. That means they hunt, gather or grow only enough food to live. There is almost no surplus in the traditional economy, and there is almost no property. Families may own simple accommodation, but land is shared by all the tribe. Economic decisions are taken according to the customs of the tribe. For example, every family may need to give some of the crops they grow to the tribal leader, but keep the rest for themselves. They don’t do this because it makes economic sense. They do it because the tribe has always done it. It’s simply a custom.

Custom, also, decides what jobs people do in the traditional economy. People generally do the jobs that their parents and grandparents did before them.

Anyway, there aren’t many jobs to choose from in the traditional economy. Men are hunters, farmers or both. The woman’s place is at home looking alter children, cooking and home-making.

This division of labour between men and women is another characteristic of the traditional economy. Whatever the work is, and whoever does it, you can be sure it’s hard work. This is because traditional have almost no technology. Physical strength and knowledge of the environment are the survival.

Like any other economic system, the traditional economy has its benefits and drawbacks. Probably the biggest benefit is that these are peaceful societies. People consume almost everything they and own practically nothing. They are equally poor. For all these reasons, war is almost these societies.

However, pecia who live in traditional societies bt poorest people in the world. Because custom decides what people do, nothing ever changes. Because there is no technology, people depend on nature to survive, protection from environmental disasters like droughts and floods. They are always in danger of hunger and disease.

But the traditional economy is in danger itself. There are only a few examples left on the from now, it may have disappeared forever.