Useful terms and expressions

1. to capture – охватывать, отражать

2. to allow for – учитывать, принимать в расчет

3. standard of living/living standard – уровень жизни

4. to be well off – быть обеспеченным, состоятельным

to be better off / worse off – быть богаче/беднее; быть в лучшем/худшем положении

5. well-being – благосостояние

6. wealth – богатство, благосостояние, материальные блага

7. to take account of - учитывать

8. to quantify – производить количественную оценку

9. capital goods – товары производственного назначения, средства производства

10. depreciation – амортизация, износ, снижение стоимости

11. government services- государственные услуги

12. a gap – расхождение, разрыв, несоответствие

13. joblessness - безработица

syn. unemployment

the unemployed –безработные (субстантивированное прилагательное)

14. sustainable – 1) стабильный, сбалансированный 2) допустимый, приемлемый

15. to make an assumption – допустить, предположить

16. exhaustible resources – исчерпаемые природные ресурсы

17. to mitigate – уменьшить, ослабить, умерить

18. turmoil – неразбериха, хаос, кризис

1. Choose the correct answer

1. The GDP per capita is designed to measure

• the quality of life

• the value of goods and services produced by the population of this country

• the total output of a country divided by the total number of people

• the amount of money that is being earned per person in a country

2. The author considers GDP per head to be an inaccurate measure of quality of life in a country because

• it takes no account of depreciation of capital goods

• it only captures material wealth but excludes some phenomena which have an

increasing impact on the well-being of citizens

• it is based on market prices.

• it is normally revised after a certain period of time.

3. It can be inferred that had there been more awareness of the limitations of standard metrics, like GDP,

• the financial crises and recession could have been avoided

• bankers and borrowers would have felt worse-off

• there would have been less euphoria over economic performance in the years prior to the crisis

• the policymakers would have taken early measure to moderate the melt-down

4. The key message of the report is that the time is ripe

• to dismiss GDP and production measures

• to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being in the context of sustainability

• to focus on material living standards that are more closely associated with measures of real household income and consumption

• to ensure that statisticians are independent of governments

Exercise № 6.

Give English equivalents to the following word combinations.

доход домашних хозяйств, ВВП на душу населения, уровень безработицы, курс обмена валют, паритет покупательной способности валют, экономический спад, оценить уровень благосостояния, приобрести товары производственного назначения, стабильный рост благосостояния, повышать уровень жизни, скорректировать показатель с учетом инфляции, произвести количественную оценку уровня благосостояния, учитывать запросы потребителей.

Exercise №7.

Suggest the Russian for the following word combinations.

to mitigate the recession, sustainable economic activity, to examine well-being of future generations, to cut joblessness, to make assumptions, real GDP per person, to gauge personal income, government services, to take account of depreciation of capital goods, consumer demand, on average, at market exchange rate.

READING AND SPEAKING III.

Read the article and make a list of economic indicators suggested by The Economist readers.

Search the Internet for some other alternative indicators of economic health.