Steps in mastering Economics (intermediate). (Изучаем экономику шаг за шагом (продвинутый уровень))

278 Pages·2.026 MB·English-Russian

by  Процуто М.В., Маркушевская Л.П.

StepS in
maStering
economicS
(intermediate)
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКИЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ, МЕХАНИКИ И ОПТИКИ

М.В. Процуто, Л.П. Маркушевская, С.А. Ермолаева,
О.В. Моисеева, Н.В. Никифорова, Ю.А. Цапаева

Steps in mastering Economics
(intermediate)

Изучаем экономику шаг за шагом
(продвинутый уровень)

Учебное пособие по английскому языку для студентов
гуманитарного факультета

Санкт-Петербург

2013
1
Steps in mastering Economics (intermediate). - (Изучаем экономику шаг за
шагом (продвинутый уровень)). – СПб: НИУ ИТМО, 2013. – 273 cтр.

Составители: доцент Процуто М.В.
проф. Маркушевская Л.П.
ст. преп. Ермолаева С.А.
ст. преп. Моисеева О.В.
ст. преп. Никифорова Н.В.
ст. преп. Цапаева Ю.А.

Данное учебное пособие предназначено для студентов - бакалавров
экономических специальностей и может быть использовано как на
аудиторных занятиях, так и для самостоятельной работы студентов.
В данном пособии представлены оригинальные тексты по специальности,
знакомящие студентов с основными экономическими законами, правилами
международной торговли, квотами, тарифами, субсидиями и т.д.
В пособии использована и объяснена наиболее частотная
терминологическая лексика. Грамматические задания, представленные в
каждом уроке, коррелируются с текстовым материалом, включающим в себя
частотные структуры с неличными формами глаголов, условными
предложениями, сослагательным наклонением.

Утверждено к изданию Ученым Советом Гуманитарного факультета.
Протокол №_6_ от 18_.06.2013 г.

В 2009 году Университет стал победителем многоэтапного конкурса, в
результате которого определены 12 ведущих университетов России,
которым присвоена категория «Национальный исследовательский
университет». Министерством образования и науки Российской Федерации
была утверждена программа его развития на 2009–2018 годы. В 2011 году
Университет получил наименование «Санкт-Петербургский национальный
исследовательский университет информационных технологий, механики и
оптики».
 Санкт-Петербургский национальный исследовательский университет
информационных технологий, механики и оптики, 2013

 Процуто М.В., Маркушевская Л.П., Ермолаева С.А., Моисеева О.В.,
Никифорова Н.В., Цапаева Ю.А. 2013
Contents

Unit I 4
Unit II 13
Unit III 23
Unit IV 32
Unit V 43
Unit VI 54
Unit VII 64
Unit VIII 74
Unit IX 82
Unit X 94
Unit XI 111
Unit XII 124
Unit XIII 155
Unit XIV 176
Unit XV 193
Unit XVI 209
Unit XVII 227
Unit XVIII 245
APPENDIX I 262
APPENDIX II 268
Literature 272
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Unit I
Economics as a Science. History of Economic Thought.

LEAD-IN

Task 1. Discuss the following with your partner.
1. What is the difference between economics and economy?
2. Do you agree that economy may be defined as follows: “the study of how
society chooses to allocate its scarce resources to the production of goods and
services to satisfy unlimited wants”?
3. Hold a discussion with your partner and comment on the quote by T. Sowell
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to
fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard
the first lesson of economics.”

Task 2. Study the following terms and expressions. Match them to correct
definitions.

1. budget a) institution performing the administration of a state

2. business b) information

3. convenience c) a company that sells goods or services

4. data d) easiness

5. demand e) the amount of money you have for something

6. government f) the amount of a commodity that consumers are
willing to buy

7. inflation g) the percentage or number of people who
involuntarily have no job
8. resources h) a source of economic wealth, especially of a country
(mineral, land, labour, etc.)
9. unemployment i) rising prices

j) giving away something in exchange for something

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READING I

Summarize your knowledge on economics as a science. Read the text and do
the following tasks.

What does economics study?
What do you think of when you hear the word «economics»? Certainly, and
perhaps more complicated things like business, inflation and unemployment. The
science of economics studies all of these, but many more things as well. Perhaps
you think that economics is all about the decisions that governments and business
managers take. In fact, economists study the decisions that we all take every day.
Very simply, economics studies the way people deal with a fact of life:
resources are limited, but our demand for them certainly is not. Resources may be
material things such as food, housing and heating. There are some resources,
though, that we cannot touch. Time, space and convenience, for example, are also
resources. Think of a day. There are only 24 hours in one. And we have to
choose the best way to use them. Our everyday lives are full of decisions like
these. Every decision we make is a trade-off. If you spend more time working,
you make more money. However, you will have less time to relax. Economists
study the trade-offs people make. They study the reasons for their decisions.
They look at the effects those decisions have on our lives and our society.

What are microeconomics and macroeconomics ?
Economists talk about microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Microeconomics deals with people, like you and me, and private businesses. It
looks at the economic decisions people make every day. It examines how
families manage their household budgets. Microeconomics also deals with
companies - small or large - and how they run their business. Macroeconomics,
on the other hand, looks at the economy of a country - and of the whole world.
Any economist will tell you, though, that microeconomics and macroeconomics
are closely related. All of our daily microeconomic decisions have an effect on
the wider world around us.
Another way to look at the science of economics is to ask, ‘what's it good
for?’ Economists don’t all agree on the answer to this question. Some practise
positive economics. They study economic data and try to explain the behaviour of
the economy. They also try to guess economic changes before they happen.
Others practise normative economics. They suggest how to improve the
economy. Positive economists say, «this is how it is». Normative economists
say,«we should ...».
So what do economists do? Mainly, they do three things: collect data, create
economic models and formulate theories. Data collection can include facts and
figures about almost anything, from birth rates to coffee production. Economic
models show relationships between these different data. For example, the
relationship between the money people earn and unemployment. From this
information, economists try to make theories which explain why the economy
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works the way it does.

COMPREHEHENSION CHECK

Task 3. Find suitable heading for each paragraph of the text.
1. How economists work
2. Making deals every day
3. Various ideas about economics
4. Two areas of economics
5. Two types of economist

Task 4. Explain in your own words:
1. What does economics study?
2. What is a trade-off? Illustrate your answer with an example.
3. What is the difference between micro- and macroeconomics?
4. Explain the difference in positive and normative economics practices.

READING II
Read the text and do the following tasks.

History of Economic Thought
Economic thoughts goes thousands of years. The ancient Greek,
Xenophon, used the word oikonomikos (from “oikos”, meanmg family,
houshold, estate and “nomos” for use and law). He was talking about
skilful or clever ways to manage land and households. We could call many
of Aristotle's political writings economics although he did not use the
word. The English word economics first appears in the 19th century – two
and a half thousand years after Xenophon.
Early economic thought was all about the meaning of wealth or being
rich. Early thinkers asked, «what makes a state or economy wealthy?». For
nearly 2,000 years, the answer was very simple - gold. A country or
nation’s wealth depended on its owning precious metals. This simple view
of the economy remained until medieval times.
During medieval times - roughly the period between 1100 and 1500
AD, trading between nations grew, and a new social class appeared. These
were merchants, people who made their money through the buying and
selling of goods, and they began to write their own thoughts on the
economy. They saw the economy as a way to make a state strong. For
them, a nation's wealth depended on stocks of gold and on the size of the
population. More people meant bigger armies and a stronger state.
These were still simple ideas. However, daily experience had also taught
people many basic economic concepts. For example, they understood the
importance of trade with other states. They realised that scarcity makes things
more expensive and abundance makes them cheaper.
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Modern economics was really born in the 19th century. At this time, thinkers
like Adam Smith wrote down ideas that are still important today. Adam Smith is
often called the Father of Modern Economics, although the scicnce was called
political economy then. Smith realised that a nation’s wealth depended on its
ability to produce goods. The value of these goods depended on the cost of
production. The cost of production depended on the cost of workers, raw
materials and land. This was really the first example of macroeconomics.
Smith and other classical economists were writing at a time of great change.
The industrial revolution had begun. Paper money began to replace precious
metals. The middle classes were growing stronger. Economists’ theories echoed
these changes. They wrote about the division of labour (each worker taking their
part in the production process). They discussed the problems of population
growth. They influenced thinking about social classes.
For classical economists, the value of goods depends on the cost of
production. However, the price of goods is not always the same as their real cost.
Later economists developed new theories to explain this weakness in classical
economies. These are known as the neoclassical economists and they were
writing at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In neoclassical economies, supply and demand make the economy work. In
other words, the price of goods depends on how much people want them and how
easily they can be found. Consumers want satisfaction from their resources (time
and money). Firms want profit. In neoclassical economics, this is the basic
relationship in the economy. These ideas are still the basis of economic thinking
today.

VOCABULARY
&
COMPREHEHENSION CHECK

Task 5. Read the following statements. Some of them are incorrect.
Correct these.
1. Aristotle did not use the word economics, but he did write about economic
ideas.
2. Early economists thought that a nation without gold was poor.
3. People in medieval times didn‘t understand anything about economics.
4. In classical economics, the value of something was measured in gold.
5. Later economists found a problem with the classical model.
6. In neoclassical economics, supply and demand control the price of goods.

Task 6. Complete each sentence with a word or phrase from the box.
Abundance / concept / consumer / firm / Industrial Revolution / population
precious metal / 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.
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3. The _________________ of making a car involves many people and
machines.
4. The extra money a company makes is called _________________.
5. People want ____________ from the products they buy.
6. _________________ is when there is a limited amount of something.
7. On the contrary, _________ means plenty of something.
8. Gold and silver are examples of ____________.
9. Another word for “idea” is ____________.
10. The _______ is the number of people inhabiting a country, city, or other
specified place.
11. A business or a company is sometimes called a ______________.
12. When you buy things or use services you are a ______________.

FLUENCY WORK

Task 7. In this unit you learnt about Adam Smith, a famous thinker from
Scotland. What other influential economists can you name? Discuss it with a
partner. Make two top-three lists of the most influential Russian and foreign
economists.

Task 8. Prepare a report about a famous economic thinker. Use the following
guide to organize your speech:
1. Who is the thinker and what is he best known for?
2. Biographical information, important points of life.
3. What is his or her message? What do the most influential thoughts consist in?
4. Your attitude to this figure.

GRAMMAR CHECK

General Overview of English Grammar Tenses
In English, tenses are formed by conjugating an auxiliary verb plus a
standard form of the principal verb (the base form, the present participle form, or
the past participle form). It is important to focus on the variations in the auxiliary
verb to use English tenses properly.
Time can be split into three periods the Present, the Past and the Future. The
tenses we use to show what time we are talking about are split into the Simple,
Continuous and Perfect.
Simple Tenses
The simple tenses are used to show permanent characteristics of people and
events or what happens regularly, habitually or in a single completed action.
Continuous Tenses
The continuous tenses are used when talking about a particular point in time.
Perfect Tenses
Sometimes you need to give just a little bit more information about an action
or state...and that is where the perfect tenses come in.
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The perfect tenses are used when an action or situation in the present is
linked to a moment in the past. It is often used to show things that have happened
up to now but aren't finished yet or to emphasize that something happened but is
not true anymore. When they end determines which of them you use.
Perfect tenses are never used when we say when something happened i.e.
yesterday, last year etc. but can be used when discussing the duration of
something i.e. often, for, always, since etc..

TIMELINE
CONTINUOUS CONTINUOUS
SIMPLE ACTIVE SIMPLE PASSIVE
ACTIVE PASSIVE

She had already The painting had been I had been waiting for
eaten when I sold twice before it was four hours when he
arrived. destroyed. PAST finally arrived. Not used
PERFECT
Had+V3/Ved Had+been+V3/Ved Had+been+Ving

The problem was
I bought a new car The book was written in I was watching
being solved when I
last week. 1876 by Mark Garland. TV when she arrived.
arrived late for class.
PAST
V2/Ved Was/were+V3/Ved Was/were+Ving
Was+being+V3/Ved

She has lived in The company has been She has been
Somerset for many managed by Neil Haines working at Countdown
years. for the last two years. PRESENT for six months. Not used
PERFECT
Have/has+V3/Ved Have/has+been+V3/Ved Have/has+been+Ving
The work is being
He works five days Those shoes are made in I am working at the
done by John.
a week. Poland. moment.
PRESENT
Am/is/are+being+V
V/Vs Am/is/are+V3/Ved Am/is/are+Ving
3/Ved
I will have She will have been
The translation will have
completed the working here for two
been finished by FUTURE
course by the end of years by the end of next
tomorrow afternoon. PERFECT Not used
next week. month.
Will have been+V3/Ved
Will+have+V3/Ved Will have been+Ving
The sun will The food will be He will be teaching
shine tomorrow. brought later. FUTURE tomorrow at six o'clock.
Not used
SIMPLE
Will/shall+V Will be+V3/Ved Will be+Ving
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