Microeconomics and macroeconomics. Comprehension check

UNIT 2

Comprehension check.

SCARCITY, CHOICE AND THE TASKS OF THE ECONOMY

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

SPEECH PRACTICE

1. Tell your group-mates why you have chosen the profession of economist and who or what influenced your decision.

2. Imagine yourself a graduate student. What would be your career plans? What would you like to achieve in 5 years?

3. What other courses besides economics would you like to study to become a professional in your field?

4. Speak about the importance of the profession of economist.

The discipline of economics studies decisions made in a society to allocate scarce resources among alternative uses. Resources such as labour, structures, equipment, and raw materials are scarce. In any given year limited resources are available in an economy to satisfy the unlimited desires for their use. Also in any given year technology, which is the knowledge of how to use resources to produce goods and services, is limited. Over time, growth in the quantity and quality of resources and improvements in technology help alleviate the problem of scarcity by increasing the productive capacity of an economy.

The problem of scarcity compels persons to make choices. The opportunity cost of a choice to use resources is the next best alternative use that is sacrificed. For example, in allocating your own labour between study and recreation you must grapple with the fact that the more time you devote to one the less time you will have for the other. If the best alternative to studying for an hour is an hour of tennis, then the opportunity cost of that hour of study is the loss of an hour of tennis.

In making choices persons must weigh the gains of using resources for a particular purpose against the opportunity cost of doing so. Daily decision making by workers, managers, investors, and households using scarce resources makes the economy function. In any society scarcity requires choices to deal with the following basic problems:

1. What to produce?

2. How are chosen items to be produced?

3. Who gets what is produced?

4. How much production is for future consumption compared with current consumption?

Modern microeconomics studies the decisions that must be made to answer these four questions.

1. How is the problem of scarcity alleviated over time?

2. What is the opportunity cost?

3. What are the basic economic problems any society deals with?

Grammar: Expressing the past action. Reported speech

Assignment 1. Read and learn the following words and word combinations.

Economics – економіка (наука, навчальна дисципліна); labour ~ – економіка праці; urban ~ –економіка міст; rural ~ – економіка сільського господарства;

macroeconomics – макроекономіка;

microeconomics – мікроекономіка;

to determine – визначати;

to allocate – розміщувати,розподіляти;

to solve – розв’язувати; вирішувати;

scarcity – нестача, брак (чогось), дефіцит;

branch – галузь;

approach – підхід (до вивчення);

to distinguish – розрізняти, відрізняти;

to view – розглядати; as viewed (by…) – як розглядається; з точки зору (когось);

treatment – трактування, розгляд;

particular – певний, особливий;

behaviour – поведінка;

opportunity cost – витрата внаслідок прийняття альтернативного рішення, оскільки прийнявши певне рішення ми поступаємось чимось іншим;

to emphasize – підкреслювати, надавати особливого значення;

emphasis – підкреслення, наголос; to give principle ~ to … – приділяти основну увагу; зосереджуватись на;

to respond – відповідати, реагувати, відгукуватись;

response – відгук, відповідь, реакція (на щось);

to tend – мати тенденцію; бути схильним (до);

to ignore – ігнорувати; не звертати увагу;

to preserve – зберігати;

interaction – взаємодія;

to generate – виробляти, утворювати; породжувати (напр., ідеї);

output – обсяг виробництва;

to seek – шукати;

solution – рішення; розв’язок;

efficiency – ефективність;

employment – зайнятість (робота); employee – працівник, найманий робітник;

utilization – використання; застосування

Assignment 2. Read and translate the text.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29