Exercise 2. Complete the sentences with the correct form of these verbs.

affect control corner the market establish decrease determine fluctuate forbidden increase plough back produce reduce regulate run

 

1. Last year, most of our profits were _____ back into the company.

2. We expect staff numbers ______ during these uncertain times.

3. The most famous case in the last years was practiced by the Hunt Brothers, Oil Billionaires, who in the early 1980s tried to ______. It was said that at one time they owned more than a third of the silver in the whole world.

4. Stores are government _____ and wages are set by the government in the command economy.

5. Three variables _____ the demand for money; they are the price level, interest rates and real income.

6. As the price of crude oil falls the supply of gasoline will likely _____, and its price will likely _____.

7. Inflation _____ the store of value function of money.

8. The Bank of England supervises and _____ nation’s financial institutions.

9. As a potential economist, you are concerned with how society manages, _____ and distributes its wealth.

10. Governments have a number of policies that affect monopoly and market power. Two that are intended to _____ monopoly are regulation and antitrust policy.

11. In many countries, the postal system is _____ by the government and competition is _____ by law in some or all services.

12. The market price of a good is _____ by both the supply and demand for it.

 

 

Exercise 3. Word building

 

a. Complete the table.

 

VERB	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
nationalize		nation
innovate
	leading
grow	growing
		fluctuation
		product/production
	economic

 

b. Complete the sentences with the words from the table.

 

1. Replacing permanent staff with casual workers is a good way to _______ on salaries.

2. Most companies can benefit from strong _______.

3. Our new design is fresh and _______.

4. Portugal’s annual Gross _______ Product is increasing.

5. Over the next three years, we foresee enormous economic _______.

6. We need to _______ at a faster rate to keep up with demand.

7. It’s hard to predict profitability when the world market price _______ so dramatically.

 

 

Exercise 4. Economic Terms

 

a) Match the words(1-10) with their definitions (a-j).

 

1. employer a. what remains from a company’s income from sales after its expenses have been deduced

2. manufacturer b. a person or company who provides work for others

3. personnel c. a person or company who sells goods in the market

4. profit d. economic situation in which only a single seller or producer supplies a commodity or a service

5. loan e. any established operating means or exchange for business dealings between buyers and sellers

6. supplier f. the property and equipment and/or money used for carrying on a business

7. market g. an institution for the keeping, lending and exchanging, etc. of money

8. capital h. a person or company that makes goods from raw materials

9. monopoly i. an arrangement with a bank to borrow money with a promise to pay it back at a future date

10. bank j. all people who work for a company

b) Give definitions to the following words.

 

1. commodity 6. mixed economy

2. goods 7. utility

3. services 8. supply

4. basic needs 9. demand

5. property 10. money

 

 

Exercise 5. Collocations 1

 

a) Make word partnerships between verbs on the left and nouns on the right.

 

make the business

set up a service

obey capital

provide a company

undertake one’s choice

earn the law

satisfy the living

exercise work

render a want

run a profit

 

b) Now use some of the partnerships to complete the sentences.

1. Several factors contribute to Nebraska's rural depopulation. Agriculture is once again in crisis with prices too low to cover production costs, let alone _____ _____ _____.

2. They decided to _____ ____ by combining their capital.

3. According to the legal techniques, developed by the legal system of the European Union, EU judges must _____ the Community _____.

4. Under capitalism, producers are forced by competition to use their resources in ways that will best _____ _____ of consumers.

5. _____ _____ investors bear a risk of losing a part or all their money.

 

 

Exercise 6. Collocations 2

 

a) Make word partnerships between adjectives on the left and nouns on the right.

 

personal income

individual price

economic beings

basic sacrifice

human activity

national wants

political needs

maritime effects

current nations

financial economist

b) Now use some of the partnerships to complete the sentences.

 

1. _____ _____ is the total money earned (from wages, interest, rents, etc) by the residents of a state.

2. Resources identified as technically and economically recoverable with current technologies and at _____ _____, are called “proved reserves”.

3. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development makes available all information relevant to the formulation of national policy in every major field of _____ _____.

4. According to Marxist theory of communism people mustn’t have private property, although they may have _____ _____ (private or intimate possessions).

5. Abraham Maslov developed a theory of motivation describing the individual’s progression from _____ _____ to the fulfilment of one’s greatest human potential.

 

 

Exercise 7. Complete the following sentences with the correct word or phrase.

1. Nowadays, I eat out at restaurants regularly and often go abroad for holidays. My _____ is much higher than it used to be.

a. cost of living c. lifestyle

b. standard of living d. way of life

2. Writing reports is not a _____ that everyone enjoys.

a. duty b. work c. job d. function

3. This machine uses much less fuel than the previous one. It is far more _____.

a. sparing b. economic c. effective d. economical

4. The management has worked out a _____ to improve our market share.

a. policy b. strategy c. target d. planning

5. Many of the staff in the Personnel Department are part-time _____.

a. people b. workforce c. manpower d. workers

6. Our company developed a new _____ to increase sales by 10% a year.

a. objective b. system c. scheme d. project

7. Various products _____ our needs in different ways.

a. answer b. satisfy c. please d. suit

8. Companies like Unilever and IBM have huge financial _____.

a. condition b. services c. aid d. resources

9. He is sure that the bank will _____ him the money for future development.

a. borrow b. obtain c. lend d. donate

10. Most companies _____ a part of their profits to expand business operations.

a. reserve b. plough back c. convert d. invest

11. Individuals and families with a certain regular _____ usually live on a budget, which decides how much money each month can be spend on food, housing, recreating, etc.

a. pay b. profit c. incomings d. income

12. A capitalism is also called free _____.

a. interest b. initiative c. enterprise d. business

13. Many businesses thrive on _____, trying to be the best and to attract the most customers in their market.

a. competition b. investment c. capital d. state

14. Our resources – our natural resources, our available labour and _____ (plants, factories, equipment), along with existing technology - are in limited supply.

a. wealth b. stock c. capital d. fortune

15. With this new product, we can break our competitor's _____.

a. profit b. monopoly c. success d. share

16. It was a big _____ for her to give up her acting career to look after her family.

a. sacrifice b. trial c. test d. loss

17. Cash flow is a big problem for people who are _____.

a. self-governed c. self-commanded

b. self-managed d. self-employed

18. It costs a huge amount to pay our _____.

a. workload b. workhandlers c. workforce d. workheads

19. My annual salary is paid directly into my bank _____.

a. reserve b. statement c. account d. certificate

20. Savings that are put to work to earn more money are called _____.

a. capital b. investments c. funds d. stocks

21. How much does she _____ in her position?

a. gain b. profit c. earn d. pay

22. The old couple had only a small ___ to live on.

a. wage b. pay c. wealth d. pension

23. They wouldn't have been able to buy their camper without a bank ____.

a. loan b. lend c. borrow d. reserve

24. The dime is such a small _____ that everyone dislikes it.

a. coin b. tip c. note d. money

25. I can't help you – I've got three complex _____ I'm working on already.

a. products b. projects c. actions d. priorities

 

 

Exercise 8. Crossword Puzzle: Economics

 

Read the given definitions and fill in the crossword puzzle.

Across 4. money paid out for consuming goods or services6. the sector of the economy which is state-owned9. a kind of economy that existed in the former Soviet Union10. a kind of supply that increases or decreases as the price of an item goes down or up11. more than is needed, desired or required13. the assets possessed by a person, a company or a nation14. a financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the money into lending activities15. means of exchange Down 1. a kind of goods that deteriorate easily2. measure of satisfaction gained by consuming different goods or services3. any work performed in return for a fixed payment5. people who come to a market to buy something7. system based on private enterprise with private ownership of the means of production8. tangible, are produced, consumed, having been purchased in a market12. a set of transactions in which a particular commodity is exchanged

 

 

Exercise 9. Read the text below. Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D below. There is an example at the beginning. 0).

 

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

Human activity can be broken 0)__ B __ into two component parts, producing and 1)_____. When there is production a process of transformation takes place. Inputs are converted into an output. The inputs are classified and referred to as, land, labour, and capital. Collectively the inputs are called 2)_____ of production.

When land, labour, and capital are combined in order to produce something, a fourth factor is required. Goods and services do not 3)_____ themselves but need some conscious thought process in order to plan and implement manufacture. This thought process is often called 4)_____. Bill Gates the founder of ‘Microsoft’ the successful software company is an entrepreneur. It is hard to say what it is that makes Bill Gates more financially successful than say the local 5)_____ of computers.

The difficulty of classifying and quantifying entrepreneurship leads some economists to leave it out when listing the factors of production. Others prefer to include entrepreneurship as a factor, whilst recognizing the problems that doing so presents. Entrepreneurship however, might be defined as 6)_____ taking.

Land – the land itself, and 7)_____ materials such as oil and minerals beneath it. Trees grown by foresters are not classed as land because they have been deliberately grown. Trees in a natural rainforest are a natural resource and thus classified as land. The reward for letting others use land is called 8)_____.