VIII. Define which of the following items best completes

the statement:

1. A competitive market

a. has many buyers and sellers.

b. is dominated by a few large firms.

c. is regulated by the government.

d. includes monopolies and oligopolies.

2. A market with a few large firms is called

a. a monopoly.

b. pure competition.

c. an oligopoly.

d. monopolistic competition.

3. Competition in the marketplace is important because it

a. limits the effects of supply and demand.

b. eliminates the profit motive.

c. gives producers the incentive to be efficient.

d. creates a market where producers can control prices.

4. The American government

a. is not involved in influencing markets.

b. regulates various aspects of business activity.

c. owns most US businesses.

d. does not produce any goods and services.

5. Which of the following best explains why certain industries are

Dominated by large firms?

a. Large firms are always more efficient than small ones.

b. The American people have lost faith in the competitive market system.

c. Patent laws are easily ignored.

d. Only large firms can afford the necessary factories and equipment.

IX. Ask someone:

if markets can be classified according to certain structural characteristics that are shared by most firms in the market; each buyer or seller acts independently in the market; a firm may try to attract more customers and take over the economic market;

what questions economists ask; helps to determine market structure, or the nature and degree of competition among firms operating in the same market; is the difference between highly and less competitive market; names the economists have for different market structures; is pure competition; they depend on; «to monopolize» means; situation is called monopolistic competition; separates monopolistic competition from pure competition; may be the difference among the products;

when the price may be raised a little above the market price;

how economists classify markets.

X. Translate into English:

1. Вiдповiдь на певний ряд питань допомагає визначити ринкову структуру або її природу та ступiнь конкуренцiї мiж фiрмами, якi дiють на одному й тому ж ринку. 2. До ринкових структур належать: чиста конкуренцiя, монополiстична конкуренцiя, олiгополiя та монополiя.
3. Чиста конкуренцiя — це важлива категорiя економiчних ринкiв. 4. Кожен покупець чи продавець дiє на ринку незалежно. 5. Вони залежать вiд тих сил на ринку, якi визначають цiну. 6. Урiзноманiт­нюючи трохи свiй товар, фiрма може намагатися залучити бiльше по­купцiв i змiнити економiчний ринок. 7. Коли таке трапляється, ринкова ситуацiя називається монополicтичною конкуренцiєю.

 

XI. Retell the text A using the following words and

word-combinations:

to prevail; to enter the market; a highly competitive market; to determine market structure; in short; to depend on forces in the market; pure competition; monopolisic competition; oligopoly; monopoly; to determine price; to keep smth for oneself; to accept the price; to monopolize; to stand out from smth; to attract attention; to attract more customers; to take over the economic market; product differentiation; to do business; to have some influence over price.

READING DRILLS

1. Practise the pronunciation of the following words:

a) stress the first syllable:

gather, marketplace, simply, buyer, seller, influence, perfect, fluctuate, indicate, current, contact, fixed, agent;

b) stress the second syllable:

extension, location, condition, permit, communicate, completely, prevail, affect, accept, inevitably, commodity, consumer.

Text B

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 former days part of a town was kept as the market or marketplace, and people would travel many kilometres on special market-days in order to buy and sell various commodities.

Today, however, markets such as the world sugar market, the gold market¹ 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 market², competition takes place among sellers of the same commodity, and among those who wish to buy that commodity. Such competition influences the prices prevailing in the market. Prices inevitably fluctuate, and such fluctuations are also affected by current supply and demand.

Whenever people who are willing to sell a commodity contact people who are willing to buy it, a market for that commodity is created. Buyers and sellers may meet in person, or they may communicate in some other way: by telephone or through their agents. In a perfect market, communications are easy, buyers and sellers are numerous and competition is completely free. In a perfect market 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, and each commodity market³ is subject to special conditions. It can be said, however, that the price ruling in a market indicates the point where supply and demand meet.

 

COMMENTS

1. gold market — ринок золота

2. free market — ринок, вільний від обмежень; вільна торгівля

3. commodity market — ринок товарів; товарна біржа

VOCABULARY EXERCISES

I. Use the correct word in the sentences. Change the form

of the words if necessary:

- vary

1. Conditions on that market are stable and don’t __________ very much from year to year. 2. It is often difficult to classify the ______ types of economic system in the world. 3. Because prices on that market fluctuate considerably from week to week, we say that they are __________. 4. The managers of that company hope to increase the __________ of products which they offer for sale to the public. 5. There has been little ________ in price levels over the last five years. 6. That businessman handles a very ____________ selection of products, including bananas, toys, and cars.

- compete

1. Our firm is no longer __________ in world markets. 2. This company has better products than its ___________. 3. A loss of ___________ is usually signalled by increasing imports and falling exports. 4. Oligopolies exist because it is difficult for _________ firms to enter the market.
5. ___________ is one of the cornerstones of free enterprise.

- monopolize

1. Don’t __________ our guest — there are others who would like to talk to her. 2. In some countries tobacco is a government __________.
3. Imperfect competition includes both _____________ competition and oligopoly. 4. At the extreme of imperfect competition is the _______ — a single supplier who alone determines the price of a particular good.

 

II. Give the Ukrainian equivalents for the following words and

word-combinations. Use them in the sentences of your own:

market; to buy and sell goods; in former days; marketplace; the world sugar market; various commodities; the gold market; the cotton market; fixed geographical location; competition; the prices prevailing in the market; perfect market; free market; supply and demand; commodity market.

III. Paraphrase the following sentences as in the pattern:

Pattern: The term market is an extension of the ancient idea of

the marketplace. Economists use the term in a special way. The term market, as the term used by economists, is

an extension of the ancient idea of the marketplace. The term market, as used by economists, is an extension

of the ancient idea of the marketplace.

1. The term money refers not only to a means of exchange but also to a means of measuring the value of men’s labour. Economists understand the term in a special way. 2. The term labour means any work done for a known reward. Economists use the term in a special way. 3. The methods of controlling prices and wages will probably not succeed. The government described the methods in a special way. 4. The idea of a perfect market is a theoretical concept and not a practical reality. Economists present the idea in a special way. 5. The scheme for a new industrial complex will take fifteen years to complete.The planners discussed the scheme in a special way.