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The Economy

2.5.2018, , Zdroj: Verlag Dashöfer

101
The Economy

Edward Thomas

1. THE BASICS

Look at the following vocabulary. Can you match the terms with the definitions given?

 

1. Economics a) Produces basic materials.
2. The economy b) Where things are directed by central command.
3. Primary sector c) The study of economies.
4. Secondary sector d) Where things are directed by consumer request.
5. Tertiary sector e) All kinds of physical and non-physical products, constructed units.
6. Goods f) Deals with human and social needs, brings products to people.
7. Services g) Where central command and consumer request are mixed.
8. Free market economy h) Develops goods from basic materials.
9. Planned economy i) A place where economic activities happen.
10. Mixed economy j) Activities offered to meet needs.

Correct answers are here1

Now answer the following questions:

1. What is the best description of the economy that operates in your country?

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2. What sector of it do you work in?

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3. When do you have contact with areas of the economy outside the one you work in?

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4. What do you think is the most exciting kind of economy to work in?

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5. What is the most exciting sector?

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6. Which jobs in each sector could you imagine enjoying?

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7. Which sector did you want to work in as a child?

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2. WALLS BETWEEN US

„Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself”. Milton Friedman

Most countries today use some kind of mixed economy, where the Government limits some of the activities of the free market and provides some services outside the free market. But there are also some limits that happen internationally. Trade barriers, for example, may make it difficult to export goods from one country and import them into another.

Look at the questions 1 - 5 below. Match them with the answers A - E (answers in italic are below).

1. What are trade barriers?

2. What are the reasons for trade barriers?

3. What are the negative effects of trade barriers?

4. What are „developing countries”?

5. What are the economic problems of developing countries?

A. Trade barriers are one of the big ones! But another is debt - when a country's Government takes money in the form of loans from banks or other Governments but cannot find the money to repay it later.

B. The negative effects are clear: according to the UN Millenium goals, „Lower trade barriers would bring hundreds of billions of dollars in extra income - spread across all nations, but benefiting especially the developing countries.”

C. Developing countries are countries whose economies have not fully developed - many are in South America and Africa. Most of their economic activities are part of the primary sector - for example mining and especially agriculture.

D. All kinds of things, including taxes on foreign goods and regulations that make it harder for imports to enter an economic market.

E. Generally they protect the manufacturers or service providers of a country or a group of countries from the cheaper or more effective competitors of in other countries. Such a way of helping companies is known as protectionism.

Correct answers are here2

3. PRECISE ECONOMICS

Match the words with the definitions:

 

1. Manufacturer a) Regulations or taxes which make entering a market harder.
2. Mining b) The state of the economic system, how many and how good its facilities are.
3. Agriculture c) Money paid to governments by all citizens from their wages / salaries or from the things they buy.
4. Debt d) Rules that tell you what you can and can't do, and how this must / must not be done.
5. Tax e) Part of the primary sector, growing plants for food or other uses.
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