Exercise 1. Similar or Opposite

Are these words similar or opposite (S or O)?

 

To manufacture – to produce 11. private – public

Rigidly – strictly 12. countries – nations

Agricultural – manufactured 13. landowner – factory-owner

Goods – services 14. anarchy – lawleness

Famous – eminent 15. to rise - to increase

Essential – basic 16. collective – individual

Community – society 17. government – authority

Shelter – housing 18. quantity – amount

Complex –simple 19. to obey the law – to conform to the law

Necessity – need 20. limits – restrictions

Exercise 2. Word partnerships

Set 1 Match each verb on the left with a noun on the right to form common partnerships. Use each word once only.

 

1. to buy a. services

2. to earn b. prices

3. to provide c. facts of economy

4. to make up d. the law

5. to describe e. essential commodities

6. to satisfy f. production targets

7. to obey g. great difficulties

8. to create h. basic needs

9. to set up i. economic system

10. to charge j. a living

 

 

Set 2 Match each adjective on the left with a noun on the right to form common partnerships. Use each word once only.

 

1. economic a. planning

2. personal b. sector

3. private c. freedom

4. government d. prices

5. central e. policy

6. planned f. anarchy

7. communist g. economy

8. public h. industries

9. nationalized i. supplies of capital

10. fluctuated j. countries

Exercise 3. Economic Vocabulary Quiz

Form the correct version of the word using the word root to the right of thephrase.

 

1 The _____ of that factory has gone down over the last five years. to produce

2 The _____discussed important issues at the meeting. to plan

3 This quality will be most _____. to suit

4 This quantity shall be _____. to produce

5 The _____ considered the new budget. to govern

6 These conditions will affect the international _____ system

in the next ten years. economy

7 These _____ will be made next year. to change

8 The _____ decided to grow corn. to farm

9 The _____ did not discuss these things with workers

at the meeting. to employ

10 That factory is not as _____ now as is was five years ago. to produce

11 The council gave us _____ to go forward with our building plan. to permit

12 These days, the typical _____ vehicle is the Internet. to distribute

13 The _____ could not agree on these economic things. economy

14 It was a _____ decision. to collect

15 _____ ahead in a mixed economy is not particularly difficult. to plan

16 It is not possible to plan ahead with any certainty even in

a rigidly _____ economy. to control

17 The ____ industries are in the public sector of British economic life. nation

Exercise 4. Put prepositions in the blanks of these sentences.

 

1. Coal and steel industries are among the activities controlled____ the government.

2. The science ____ economics is concerned ____ all our needs.

3. The economic system____ the USA differs greatly ____ the system in Cuba.

4. The American system is based ____ private enterprise.

5. In all communities, of course, limits are imposed ____ personal freedom.

6. ____ capitalism the prices ____ goods and services are related____ supply and demand.

7. Governments usually require all individuals to conform____ the laws which they make.

8. In communistic system the individual is subordinated____ the needs ____ the collective State.

9. The government policy ____ both employees and employers will depend very much ____ the political and economic ideology adopted ____ the government.

10. The government policy may be biased____ employers and capital ____ the one hand, or workers and the problems ____ labour ____ the other hand.

11. Sometimes economic laws protect the interests principally ____ the workers, while ____ other times they may be beneficial____the employers.

12. Economists focus ____ the way ____ which individuals, groups, business enterprises, and governments seek to achieve efficiency.

13. Britain is similar ____ the USA

14. The company capital was finally reduced ___ nothing.

15. In communistic system the emphasis is ____ collective effort and not ____ personal effort.

16. The rates charged ____ the three different levels ____ advertising vary sharply, particularly in newspapers.

17. The advertiser produces a limited quantity ____ the new product and introduces it ____a test market.

 

 

Exercise 5. Read the text and complete it with the following sentences.

 

a. The individual who comes closest to being the originator of contemporary capitalism

b. Capitalism, economic system in which private individuals and business firms

c. Society's interests are met by

d. The term capitalism was first introduced

e. Sometimes the term mixed economy

f. From Europe, and especially from England

Capitalism

1._______________________________ carry on the production and exchange of goods and services through a complex network of prices and markets. Although rooted in antiquity, capitalism is primarily European in its origins; it evolved through a number of stages, reaching its zenith in the 19th century.

2. _______________________________, capitalism spread throughout the world, largely unchallenged as the dominant economic and social system until World War I ushered in modern communism (or Marxism) as a vigorous and hostile competing system.

3. _______________________________ in the mid-19th century by Karl Marx, the founder of communism. Free enterprise and market system are terms also frequently employed to describe modern non-Communist economies.

4. _______________________________ is used to designate the kind of economic system most often found in Western nations.

5. _______________________________ is the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith, who first set forth the essential economic principles that undergird this system. In his classic An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Smith sought to show how it was possible to pursue private gain in ways that would further not just the interests of the individual but those of society as a whole.

6. _______________________________ maximum production of the things that people want. In a now famous phrase, Smith said that the combination of self-interest, private property, and competition among sellers in markets will lead producers “as by an invisible hand” to an end that they did not intend, namely, the well-being of society.

 

 

Exercise 6. Eight words can be formed from the basic word capital. This table shows how to do it. Make a list of the words, and put each word in its suitable place in the sentences below.

 

stem	suffix
capital
ist
ism
ist	ic
ize	ation
d
	ly

 

1. An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market is called _________.

2. A town or city that is the official seat of government in a political entity, such as a state or nation, is ________.

3. An investor of capital in business, especially one having a major financial interest in an important enterprise is called _________.

4. To use as or convert into capital means _______

5. You understand every word I mean, so you understand me _________.

6. Wealth in the form of money or property, used or accumulated in a business by a person, partnership, or corporation is called _________.

7. An important figure in the ___________ system began to emerge: the entrepreneur, or risk taker.

 

 

Exercise 7. Circle the “odd one out” in each of these groups of words.

 

1. a) property b) landowner c) ownership d) authority

2. a) USA b) marxist c) communism d) central planning

3. a) salary b) pay c) earn d) income

4. a) staff b) personnel c) product d) workforce

5. a) public b) private c) enterprise d) capitalistic

6. a) target b) aim c) reach d) objective

7. a) firm b) company c) enterprise d) owner

8. a) client b) customer c) consumer d) employee

9. a) rise b) fluctuate c) charge d) plan

10. a) food b) cinema c) clothes d) shelter

Exercise 8. Write down in your notebooks and complete the wordmap with the following words and phrases given below.

 

· economic system of Cuba

· capitalistic

· property can be owned by individual citizens

· in theory all property should belong to the state

· communistic

· mixed

· based on the principles of Karl Marx

· In the public sector are the nationalized industries like coal and steel, in the private sector are the majority of the nation’s industries, both large and small.

· economic system of America

· based on private enterprise

· clear distinction between the public sector and the private sector of economy

· planned

· economic system of Great Britain

· form of capital is surplus income available for investment in new business activities

· the prices of goods and services are related to supply and demand

· emphasis is collective and not individual

· based on private supplies of capital

· private property and private enterprise are reduced to a minimum

· in practice, however, the citizens are permitted to have personal effects

· State organizes the whole economic effort of the nation

Exercise 9. Read the text and fill in the gaps with words from the box:

Free-Market Economy

 

private property	communism	social values	the economic situation
economic system	planned economy	Public goods	economist
mixed economies	government	investment	wealth
industries	economic freedom	economic decisions	consumption

 

Free-Market Economy, 1)_____ _____ in which individuals, rather than government, make the majority of decisions regarding economic activities and transactions. Individuals are free to make 2)____ _____ concerning their employment, how to use or accumulate capital, what expenditures to make, and whether to use their resources now or to save them for later 3)_______. The principles underlying free-market economies are based on laissez-faire (non-intervention by 4)________ economics and can be traced to the 18th century British 5)________ Adam Smith. According to Smith, individuals acting in their own economic self-interest will maximize 6)_______ ______ of society as a whole, as if guided by an “invisible hand.” In a free-market economy the government's function is limited to providing what are known as “public goods” and performing a regulatory role in certain situations.

7) ______ ______, which include defence, law and order, and education, have two characteristics: consumption by one individual does not reduce the amount of the good left for others; and the benefits that an individual receives do not depend on that person's contribution.

Government's role in a free-market economy also includes protecting 8) ______ _______, enforcing contracts, and regulating certain economic activities. Governments generally regulate “natural monopolies” such as utilities or rail service. These industries require such a large 9) ________ that it would not be profitable to have more than one provider. Regulation is used in place of competition to prevent these monopolies from making excessive profits. Governments may also restrict 10)_______ ______ for the sake of protecting individual rights. Examples include laws that restrict child labour, prohibit toxic emissions, or forbid the sale of unsafe goods.

Free-market economies are also criticized. Opponents believe that a free-market economy cannot ensure basic 11) ________ _______, such as alleviating poverty, or that the income distribution that results from a free-market economy may not be equitable. A free-market economy may also permit the accumulation of vast 12)______ and powerful vested interests that could threaten the survival of political freedom.

Alternative economic systems include 13) _____ and 14) ________ _______. In communism, the government plans the economy and all means of production are publicly owned. The economy of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was an example of a 15)______ ______: all decisions regarding production and distribution were made by the government. In contrast, a mixed economy is one where the government does some planning and owns or controls more industries than in a free-market economy. Governments may own key 16) _____ such as steel, aviation, and banking, while the individual still plays an important role. Sweden and France are examples of mixed economies.

Exercise 10. Provide examples for each of the following.

1. Non-essential commodities are such things as

__________, __________, __________, __________.

2. Basic needs are

__________, __________, __________.

3. The economist's methods must be

__________, __________.

4. Central authority decides

__________, __________, __________, __________.

5.Most people produce

__________, __________.

6.Goods can be

__________, __________.

7. Services are such things as

__________, __________, __________.

8.Еconomics is a social science concerned with

__________, __________, __________, __________ of goods and services.

9. Еconomists say a person is 'economically free' if he can do what he wishes with his own

__________, __________, __________.

10. In the whole economy of a country economic anarchy could cause

__________, __________, __________.

11. Contracts between employers and employees are sometimes concerned with

__________, __________, __________, __________.