С. найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты для следующих русских слов и фраз: слои населения; общая рентабельность; распределение ресурсов; экономическая эффективность; экономический субъект; дефицитный; лицо, принимающее решение; распределение ограниченных ресурсов; обмен, производство, распределение и потребление товаров и услуг.
Have you ever wondered why some countries are rich and some countries are poor? Why do people save money? What causes unemployment? Have you ever questioned how the market sets the price of goods? Why do prices rise and fall? If you have tried to find answers to the questions above, then you have already been interested in economics.

It is not a secret that since the beginning of time human desire has been shaping the world. The more people get, the more they want. Infinite desire leads to a constant need to develop, to invent, and to discover new things. This, in turn, means that desires are not satisfied as there are much more things to want and to buy. Since we live in a world of limited resources, we have fewer resources than are needed to satisfy all our wants and needs. This gap between limited resources and limitless human wants describes the basic economic problem, the problem of scarcity. Subsequently, economics can be defined as the study of scarcity. Economists try to resolve scarcity so that people could best satisfy their wants and needs.

All the countries in the world face the problem of how to make the best use of scarce resources, such as fuels, money, time, labour, land, etc. Economists try to solve the problem of distribution of both scarce resources among producers and scarce goods and services among consumers. The main criteria of resource allocation are meeting the basic requirements of all segments of population, maintaining the balance among different sectors of the economy and increasing aggregate profitability of the economy. Correspondingly, resource allocation is associated with economic efficiency. Economic efficiency, also called allocative efficiency, is achieved when every resource is optimally allocated generating the largest welfare total from all available resources. Reallocation may be profitable for one entity. However, it may harm another resulting in loses. Resource allocation is one of the major subjects of economics. Hence, economics is the study of how people use resources.

Since the allocation of scarce resources is closely linked to making choices between the alternative options, economics is known as the study of decision-making. Economists study choices, i.e. how economic agents choose to allocate scarce resources, and their consequences, i.e. how those choices affect the society. An economic agent is an individual or a group (a firm, a sports team, a political party, a government, etc) that makes choices. Economists may treat the groups as a single decision maker, without taking into consideration the details of how the different individuals in the group contributed to the decision.

In brief, economics is a social science analyzing how individuals, businesses, governments, and other organizations make choices that influence the allocation and distribution of scarce resources. It explains how people interact to get what they want. Therefore, economics deals with the exchange, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. There is a misconception that economics is all about money. Despite the fact that economics is preoccupied with such topics as wealth, recessions, banking, finance, it is a much broader discipline. It can help us understand historical trends, evaluate current world events, and predict future developments.

Duna383292928282    2   13.04.2020 17:05    21