Text 3 (G) Markets and Monopolies

Text 3(F) Capital

Labour is any work performed for an employer at a negotiated rate while profit is the surplus, which accumulates as a result of productive work. The employer obtains this surplus after he pays the necessary expense of his business and the wages of his employees. He may be required to share the surplus with others who have provided the capital with which he started his business.

Most businesses need capital in order to start productive work, and the capital pays for the accommodation, machinery and other items, which the business needs.

There is always an element of risk in providing capital and starting a business. The business may not be successful. The employees of the business do not bear this risk, but the employers and the providers of capital do bear it. If the business is successful, the risk has been justified and the invested capital earns part of the profits as a return on the investment.

The capital, which people provide to help new business, is an accumulation of previous surpluses on previous business activities. In this way the past is used to Finance the future. Such capital is accumulated by a deliberate policy of saving surpluses. This policy may be personal, or it may be collective. As such, it is common to many economic systems. A certain part of the profit is "ploughed back" into the system in order to create capital.

In general, capital can be defined as (1) a factor of production (for example, machinery or cash); (2) the assets possessed by a person, a company or a nation. Land, houses and shares in a business are capital. All railways, docks, airports and state funds of money are part of the nation's capital.

The term market, as used by economists, is an extension of the ancient idea of a market as a place where people gather to buy and sell goods. In those days part of a town was kept as a market, and people would travel long distances on special market-days in order to buy and sell various commodities. Today, markets such as the world sugar market, the gold market and the cotton market do not need to have any fixed geographical location. Such a market is simply a set of conditions permitting buyers and sellers to work together.

In a free market, competition takes place among sellers of the same commodity, and among those who wish to buy that commodity. Such competition influences the prices prevailing on the market. Prices fluctuate, and such fluctuations are affected by current supply and demand.

In a perfect market, communications are easy, buyers and sellers are numerous and competition is completely free. There can be only one price for any given commodity: the lowest price, which sellers will accept, and the highest, which consumers will pay. There are, however, no really perfect markets. It can be said that the price ruling in a market indicates the point where supply and demand meet.

In some markets there may only be one seller or a very limited number of sellers. Such a situation is called a monopoly, and may arise from many different causes. It is possible to distinguish in practice four kinds of monopoly: (a) state monopolies, (b) natural monopolies, (c) legal monopolies and (d) sole traders.

State, natural and legal monopolies are distinct from the sole trading which takes place because certain companies have obtained complete control over particular commodities. This action is often illegal in many countries. In the USA anti-trust laws operate to restrict such activities, while in Britain the Monopolies Commission examines all special arrangements and mergers, which might lead to understand monopolies.

ВАРИАНТ 1

1. Перепишите и письменно переведите следующие предложения, принимая во внимание, что инфинитив в функции определения и особенно Complex Object и Complex Subject часто соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1. There is no time to be lost with the delivery. 2. The manufacturers expected their goods to be in great demand. 3. Basic human needs seem to be very simple, but individual wants may be very complex. 4. New brands were reported to have been sold well. 5. We believe our people to restore the level of economic development during the shortest time period. 6. Labour power is man's ability to work. 7. Though abolished in America slavery did not disappear.

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