Упражнение № 3.

THE PLANNED ECONOMY

Прочитайте и переведите текст на русский язык.

A planned economy is an economic system in which the state or the government controls the factors of production and makes all decisions about their use.

Planned economies are in contrast to a market economy. In the planned economy the government decides what to produce, how much to produce and the methods of production and the price. The planned economy is controlled.

The government sets prices, so as everyone can afford basic commodities.

A planned economy may either consist of state own enterprises, private enterprises, directed by the state, or a combination of both.

It is simple to understand a planned economy, but it isn’t very easy to operate it. However, it has some advantages.

Everyone in society:

-gets education, healthcare;

-receives enough goods and services, so that people can have proper

standard of living;

-has a job and gets money for it.

But the planned economy has many disadvantages.

-People do not have any incentive to work hard in planned economies.

-The government gets profits.

-There is no place for free enterprises and for new ideas.

-There are problems with supply.

-Shortages of goods often happen because the government can’t meet demand.

During the 20-th century, the planned economy became the standard for socialist countries like the USSR and China.

Although most economies today are market economies or mixed economies, planned economies exist in very few countries such as Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, and Myanmar.

Упражнение № 4.

Ответьте на вопросы.

1. Who sets prices in a planned economy?

2. Who controls the planned economy?

3. What does a planned economy consist of?

4. What are the benefits of the planned economy?

5. What are the drawbacks of the planned economy?

Упражнение № 5.

Заполните пропуски словами и переведите предложения.

1. The company plans to win the . . . by developing two new products.

2. Planned economies have problems with supply as it is difficult to . . . how much to produce and how high the demand to expect.

3. . . . which are easy to transport are generally in great demand.

4. There was a great . . . of qualified workers.

5. He kept money in the bank. He wanted to . . . it for a rainy day (на чёрный день).

6. In a . . . there is usually very little central planning.

7. The company is . . . to open eight stores in the city before the end of the year.

8. They plan to . . . the energy consumption (потребление) next year.

9. He came to Moscow to . . . in the exhibition.

10. The . . . are the starting point for all economies.

take part; save; calculate; reduce; expected; commodities; competition; factors of production; shortage; free economy.

Control work.

Переведите текст на русский язык, пользуясь словарем.

The opposite to a market economy is a planned economy where the government controls almost everything. It decides what to produce, in what quantity, and to be sold at what price. The government regulates prices and wages. All resources are owned and managed by the government.

Planned economies are difficult to run in countries with large population. The government doesn’t know exactly how much to produce to meet demand.

In the planned economy supply and demand don’t decide everything. Planned economies have problems with supply as it is difficult to calculate how much to produce and how high demand to expect. People have to hoard different goods and shortages of goods become common. When shortages happen, governments usually either ration goods or raise prices. Prices are kept under control and thus everybody can afford to consume goods and services. But consumers cannot choose much because only the goods and services decided by the government are produced.