- •Text 1. History of economic thought
- •1Complete each sentence with a word or phrase from the box.
- •2 Now read the text again and decide whether these statements are true or false.
- •Exercises
- •1 Choose the correct answer a, b or c from the list below.
- •3. Discuss these questions with your partner.
- •Exercises
- •1.Complete each sentence with a word or phrase from the box.
- •Exercises
- •1.Match the words and phrases with the definitions.
- •2.Now read the text again and answer these questions in your own words in the space provided below.
- •3.Now listen and tick which transactions in the list are mentioned.
- •Exercises
- •1. Choose the correct answer a, b or c from the list opposite.
- •2. Now read the text again and choose the sentence which best summarises each paragraph.
- •3.Discuss this question with your partner.
- •Exercices
- •1.Match the words and phrases with the definitions.
- •2. Now read the text again and decide whether these statements are true or false. If the statement is false, correct it.
- •3.Discuss this question with your partner.
- •4. Try to complete this paragraph about autarchies by using words from the box.
- •Exercises
- •1.Match the words with the definitions.
- •2.Now read the text again and match each paragraph with the correct heading.
- •Exercises
- •Match the words and phrases with the definitions.
- •3. Discuss these questions with your partner.
- •Exercises
- •1. Answer the questions.
- •2. Choose the necessary word and put in the sentence.
- •Exercises
- •1.Choose the correct answer a, b or c from the list opposite.
- •2. Now complete each sentence with words. Then listen and check your answers.
- •4. Discuss the following with your partner.
- •Exercises
- •1.Now read the text again and answer these questions in your own words in the space provided below.
- •2 Choose the correct answer.
- •In the real economy:
- •Exercises
- •I. Match the words with the definitions.
- •II.Now read the text again and complete the sentences below in your own words in the space provided.
- •III. Discuss these questions with your partner.
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •1.Choose the necessary word and put it in the sentence.
- •Answer the questions.
- •Make transformations according to the model.
- •Exercises
- •Answer the questions.
- •2. Choose the necessary word and put it in the sentence.
- •Exercises
- •1. Change the sentences according to the model.
- •Make up the conditional sentences.
- •3. Answer the questions.
- •Exercises
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •Exercises
- •1.Complete each sentence with a word or phrase from the box.
- •3 Now listen and complete the summary with words or numbers.
- •5. Give a two-minute talk on price. First make notes below on the following.
- •6. Imagine that you’ve got a good idea for an Internet commerce site (an Internet site which is also a business).Tell your friend what your idea is.
- •Dialogue
- •Change the sentences according to the model.
- •2. Change the sentences according to the model.
- •3. Answer the questions.
- •4. Make sentences interrogative and negative.
- •5. Choose the necessary modal verb and put it in the sentence.
- •1. Complete each sentence with a word.
- •Exercises
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •Change the sentences according to the model.
- •3. Answer the questions.
- •Exercises
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •I. Transform the sentences according to the model.
- •III. Answer the questions.
- •I. Answer the questions.
- •II. Select the necessary word in the sentence.
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises.
- •Exercises
- •I. Answer the questions.
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •III. Answer the questions.
- •Exercises
- •1. Answers the questions.
- •2. Choose the necessary word and put.
- •3. Put the verbs in brackets into the proper present tense
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •Transform the sentences according to the model.
- •Exercises
- •Exercises
- •II. Read the text again and choose the best answer or answers for each question.
- •Informal letter
- •Iy Work in groups of three or four. Imagine you and your friends are running the country.Things are not going well! Here are some of your problems.
- •Dialogue
- •Exercises
- •Give affirmative and negative answers to the questions.
Exercises
1.Match the words and phrases with the definitions.
|
|
1vertical |
A an exchange such as buying and selling |
2 horizontal |
B idea of being the same / eque |
3 equity |
C level, for example from left to right |
4 distribute |
D going straight up and down |
5 to be fair |
E someone who sets up a new business of their own |
6 investigate |
F’ punish |
7 an individual |
G income |
8 issue |
H to treat people reasonably and in the right way |
9 to be unjust |
I to treat people unreasonably or in the wrong way |
10 penalise |
J look into |
11 entrepreneur |
K share out |
12 economic transaction |
L effect |
13 impact |
M a person |
14 earnings |
N something important that people talk about |
15 externality |
O something that happens without being expected |
16 taxation |
P system of taking part of people’s earnings to give governments an income |
2.Now read the text again and answer these questions in your own words in the space provided below.
1 According to the text, what do people often forget about economics?
2 How do governments try to make the economy fair?
3 What is the difference between horizontal and vertical equity?
4 Why do some economists think equity is not important?
5 What are externalities?
3.Now listen and tick which transactions in the list are mentioned.
1 buying a new house
2 fixing up an old home
3 buying books
4 paying for a course at a local college
5 joining a gym
6 going on holiday
4. Discuss this question with your partner.
Welfare economics has been called economics with a heart. What does this tell you about welfare economics?
Text 6. Economic growth
Many millions of people enjoy a quality of life today that previous generations could not have dreamed of. Home ownership, private cars and holidays are now standard for most families in pecializingd countries. And yet at the same time, billions of people in other countries live without even clean drinking water. How can this be? The answer is that the fortunate few live in countries with sustained economic growth.
An economy is growing when the gross national product is increasing year after year. When economists calculate economic growth, though, they must take into account the effects of inflation. For example, imagine that the gross national product of a country increased from $500 billion to $510 billion from one year to another. That’s an increase of two per cent in output. Very impressive! However, if the rate of inflation was two per cent, then there has been no real growth at all.
The other thing to remember about economic growth is that not all growth is good. Governments want steady, sustainable growth. Sudden, sharp increases in growth – a boom – can cause the economy to overheat and fall into recession. For many economies, the long run growth over many years is steady, but the short run is a roller-coaster ride of boom and depression. For instance, the long run growth of the UK economy since 1950 has been a steady 2.5% per year. However, if you look closely at any decade you’ll see that there is a cycle of growth, recession and recovery. The truth is, steady growth in the short term is very hard to achieve.
Nevertheless, many countries are still struggling to achieve any kind of growth at all. Why is this? What is necessary for growth to happen? Many economists have tried to find the answer to this question, and there are plenty of theories to choose from. However, most economists agree that three things are essential for economic growth to occur: capital growth, savings and technological progress.
Capital refers to the factories and machinery that the labour force uses to turn raw materials into products. More workers and more raw materials will only lead to a certain amount of growth. Eventually, the economy needs more capital for the labour to use. Capital growth can also include training and education for the labour force. This makes the workforce more efficient, creative and productive.
Of course, someone has to pay for the new machines and training. In other words, capital growth needs investment. Money for investment needs to be borrowed from banks. Banks can only lend if customers make savings. This is why savings are so important for growth. However, the economy will not grow if everyone is saving and no one is spending. Getting the right balance between consumption and saving is another part of the challenge of economic growth.
But above all, technology is the real miracle worker of economic growth. An advance in technology can increase productivity from the same amount of capital and resources: just what the chancellor ordered!