Раздел II
Прочитайте и переведите текст “Theory of Demand”.
Theory of Demand
Consumer demand is the quantities of a particular good that an individual consumer wants and is able to buy as the price varies, if all other factors influencing demand are constant.
That is, consumer demand is the relationship between the quantity demanded for the good and its price. The factors assumed constant are prices of other goods, income, and a number of noneconomic factors, such as social, physiological, demographic characteristics of the consumer in question (о котором идет речь).
The theory of demand is based on the assumption that the consumer having budget constraint seeks to reach the maximum possible level of utility, that is, to maximize utility, but he usually prefers to obtain more rather than less. The consumer has to solve the problem of choice. Provided he is to maintain a given level of utility, increases in the quantity of one good must be followed by reductions in the quantity of the other good. The consumer has to choose the specific goods within the limits imposed by his budget.
The concept of marginal utility is of great importance for solving the utility maximization problem. The marginal utility of a good is the additional utility obtained from consuming an additional unit of the good in question. The marginal utility from consuming a good decreases as more of that good is consumed. The income should be allocated among all possible choices so that the marginal utility per dollar of expenditure on each good is equal to the marginal utility per dollar of expenditure on every other good.
A price increase will result in a reduction in the quantity demanded. This relationship between the quantity demanded of a good and its price is called the law of demand. As the marginal utility from each additional unit of the good consumed decreases, the consumer will want to buy more of this good only if its price is reduced.
Market demand is the quantities of a good that all consumers in a particular market want and are able to buy as price varies and as all other factors are assumed constant. Market demand depends not only on the factors affecting individual demands, but also on the number of consumers in the market. The law of demand also works with market demand.
Вставьте пропущенные предлоги, где это необходимо.
1. … Russia, real income … capita fell … 57 percent … 1998.
2. People must keep their purchases … their incomes, often making hard choices … small budgets.
3. The consumption … ice-cream … Russia is … five times lower than … the USA.
4. An increase … the price … an input will result … a reduction in the quantity … that input demanded.
5. How much can be produced … week … each industry depends … how workers are allocated … the industries.
6. The economist is to explain what demand is and how it affects … the market price and quantity.
7. It is not always easy to explain why consumers prefer one good … another, but producers have to examine consumer preferences carefully as they depend … them.
Напишите русские эквиваленты следующих интернациональных слов. Сгруппируйте их по частям речи.
Reserve, traditionally, to finance, industrialization, to exploit, textile, politician, quota, strategy, exports, imports, tariff, protectionism, statistics, licence, energy, dynamic, equivalent, dividend, subsidy, corruption, specific, special, partner, to calculate, calculation, migration, investment, rent, real, indicator, privatization, standard.
3. Выберите подходящее по смыслу слово из предлагаемых в скобках вариантов.
1. An increase in food prices greatly (affects / follows) consumer real income because food is a large part of consumer (expenditure / budget).
2. We (prefer / assume) that the consumer always decides that one good is better than, worse than, or as good as another.
3. This model of consumer (expenditure / choice) can show different behaviour (поведение) of different consumers.
4. Importers often must first (follow / obtain) an import licence.
5. Economic development is the process of raising the income (per / within) head of the people of a country.
6. Statistics show that (the budget constraint / the number) of working women with young children is constantly growing in the USA today.
7. An increase in consumer expenditure usually (follows / results in) an equivalent rise in the income of consumers.
5. Выучите наизусть слова и подготовьте устный пересказ темы “Theory of demand”
Demand спрос
Economic forces экономические силы
Quantity количество
To increase возрастать
The law of demand закон спроса
Theory of demand
Demand and supply are economic forces that make market economy work. Demand is the quantity of a good that a consumer wants and is able to buy at each price. It is the relationship between the quantity demanded for the good and its price. When price increases, demand falls. This relationship is called the law of demand.
Раздел III
Прочитайте и переведите текст “Theory of Supply”.
Theory of Supply
The theory of supply is the theory of how much output firms choose to produce. The principal assumption of the supply theory is that the producer will maintain the level of output at which he maximizes his profit.
Profit can be defined in terms of revenue and costs. Revenue is what the firm earns by selling goods or services in a given period such as a year. Costs are the expenses which are necessary for producing and selling goods or services during the period. Profit is the revenue from selling the output minus the costs of inputs used.
Costs should include opportunity costs of all resources used in production. Opportunity cost of a commodity is the amount an input can obtain in its best alternative use (best use elsewhere). In particular, costs include the owner’s time and effort in running a business. Costs also include the opportunity cost of the financial capital used in the firm.
Aiming to get higher profits, firms obtain each output level as cheaply as possible. Firms choose the optimal output level to receive the highest profits. This decision can be described in terms of marginal cost and marginal revenue.
Marginal cost is the increase in total cost when one additional unit of output is produced.
Marginal revenue is the corresponding change in total revenue from selling one more unit of output.
As the individual firm has to be a price-taker*, each firm’s marginal revenue is the prevailing market price. Profits are the highest at the output level at which marginal cost is equal to marginal revenue, that is, to the market price of the output. If profits are negative at this output level, the firm should close down.
An increase in marginal cost reduces output. A rise in marginal revenue increases output. The optimal quantity also depends on the output prices as well as on the input costs. Of course, the optimal supply quantity is affected by such noneconomic factors as technology, environment, etc**.
Making economic forecasts, it is necessary to know the effect of a price change on the whole output rather than the supply of individual firms.
Market supply is defined in terms of the alternative quantities of a commodity all firms in a particular market offer as price varies and as all other factors are assumed constant.
Пояснения к тексту:
* to be a price-taker – зд. принимать сложившиеся на рынке цены
** etc. – и так далее, и тому подобное