Microeconomics and macroeconomics

The development of modern economics began in the 17^th century. Since that time economists have developed methods for studying and explaining how individuals, businesses and nations use their available economic resources. The central problem of economics is to determine the most efficient ways to allocate the factors of production and solve the problem of scarcity created by society’s unlimited wants and limited resources.

We can classify branches of economics according to the approach or methodology that is used. Many economists specialize in a particular branch of a subject. What distinguishes them is the segment of economic life in which they are interested. Labour economics deals with the problems of the labour market as viewed by firms, employees, and society as a whole. Urban economics deals with city problems: land use, transport, and housing.

Economists have two ways of looking at economics and the economy. One is the macro approach, and the other is the micro. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole; microeconomics is the study of individual consumers and the business firm.

Microeconomic analysis offers treatment of individual decisions about particular commodities or services. It is the study of the behaviour of people and organizations in particular markets. Microeconomics is concerned with things such as scarcity, choice and opportunity costs, and with production and consumption. Microeconomics gives principal emphasis to the study of prices. It looks at how prices are determined and how people respond to changes in the market (for example, changes in the demand for and the supply of products).

Microeconomics tends to offer a detailed treatment of one aspect of economic behaviour, but ignores interaction with the rest of economy in order to preserve the simplicity of the analysis.

Macroeconomics emphasizes the interactions in the economy as a whole. Macroeconomics examines the questions such as how fast the economy is running; how much overall output is being generated; how much total income is. It also seeks solutions to such macroeconomic problems as unemployment and inflation. Economic growth, employment and inflation are important factors that characterize the overall state of the economy and the efficiency of the available resources’ utilization.

Assignment 3. Answer the following questions:

1. When did modern economics begin to develop?

2. What is the central problem of economics?

3. How can we classify branches of economics?

4. What distinguishes different branches of economics?

5. What is the main difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics?

6. What problems does microeconomics study?

7. Why does microeconomic analysis ignore interactions in the economy?

8. What problems does macroeconomics examine?

9. What do such important factors as economic growth, employment and inflation characterize?

Assignment 4. Transcribe the following words and group them according to their stress pattern: ●○ (first syllable stressed), ○●(second syllable stressed),●○●(main stress falls on the third syllable)

Economics, distinguish, scarcity, behaviour, opportunity, emphasis, emphasize, interaction, utilization, efficiency, output, preserve

Assignment 5. Match the words with their definitions. Translate and learn them.

Economics (n)	Using money, time, goods, etc., without waste
Economy (n)	The science and principles of the ways in which industry and trade produce and use wealth.
Economic (adj)	Cheap, intended to save money.
Economical (adj)	The economic life or system of the country; operation of the country’s money supply, industry, and trade.
Economy (adj)	To save (money, time, goods, etc.); to avoid waste.
To economize (v)	Connected with trade, industry, and wealth; of or concerning economics; profitable.

Assignment 6. Translate the following sentences.

1. The country is in a bad economic state. 2. She sold her house at an economic price. 3. She decided to major in economics. 4. A small car is more economical than a large one, because it uses less petrol. 5. An economy class ticket costs much less. 6. We have to economize to save some money for the holidays. 7. WTO membership offers a lot of opportunities to the economy of the country.

Assignment 7. Translate into English.

Розробляти методи/методологію; розв’язувати проблему; певна галузь дисципліни; пропонувати детальний розгляд; поведінка людей та організацій; визначати ціну; аспекти економічної поведінки; для того, щоб зберегти щось; ефективність використання ресурсів; загальний обсяг виробництва.

Assignment 8. Translate into Ukrainian.

Factors of production; to classify the branches according to the approach that is used; to deal with the problem; individual decision; production and consumption; how people respond to the changes in the market; to ignore interactions with the rest of economy; the simplicity of the analysis; to seek solutions to macroeconomic problems.

Assignment 9. Match the pairs of synonyms. Use any 5 words in the sentences of your own.

A: to offer; to stress; to respond; to generate; to look at; overall;

B: to answer; to view; total; to produce; to emphasize; to propose.

Assignment 10. Find in the text the opposites to the following words, write them in pairs.

Plenty, rural, difficulty, to pay attention, unemployment, limited, general, inefficient.

Assignment 11. Insert the words from the pairs of opposites (see as.10) in the proper sentences below.

1. He gave us a … information on the … state in the industry. 2. To preserve the … of the analysis microeconomic approach … the interaction in the economy as a whole. 3. Natural resources are …, while people’s needs are …. 4. In the period of full … people can find jobs without any … 5. Please, give special emphasis to the importance of the … resource utilization. 6. … economics examines the city problems, while … economics concentrates on the agrarian problems.

Assignment 12. State whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). If you agree, begin with:You are quite right; I quite agree with you; Exactly; Quite so.

If you partially disagree, begin with: You are not quite right; True, but…; It is true in a way, but…

If you find the sentence completely wrong, begin with: I’m afraid, that’s wrong; I think you are mistaken; On the contrary; That’s not quite so.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29