Writing

5. Answer the questions.

1. How do we call a society where markets do not exist?

2. What kind of economy can we nominate as a command one?

3. How were the decisions made under the command economy in the former USSR?

4. What is a free market?

5. What kinds of problems does a free market economy solve?

6. Who and what was Adam Smith?

7. What was the famous idea of Smith about?

8. What are the features of mixed economy?

9. What is the way government controls the output?

10. What are the examples of mixed economies?

11. What type of economy does the USA have?

6. Translate from Russian into English.

1. Сложно представить, как ресурсы могли бы распределяться, если бы не существовало рынков.

2. Командная экономика – это общество, где государство принимает все решения о производстве и потреблении.

3. Планирование экономики – очень сложная задача.

4. На свободном рынке государство не вмешивается в процесс распределения ресурсов.

5. Преследование собственных интересов может привести к созданию общества, принимающего разумные решения по распределению ресурсов.

6. В смешанной экономике государство и частный сектор взаимодействуют в решении экономических проблем.

7. Государство может контролировать объемы производства через налоги, трансфертные платежи и т.д.

Speaking

7. Read sentences and say if they are right or wrong according to the text.

1. A command economy is a society where the government makes all decisions about promotion and consumption.

2. The state owns factories and land, and makes most important decisions on allocation of different recourses in command economy.

3. All allocation decisions are much easier to make through government planning.

4. Consumers spend their incomes on the things that bring little satisfaction.

5. Although motivated by the government, you make society better off by creating new jobs and opportunities.

6. Just some countries are mixed economies, and most are close to command economies.

7. In a mixed economy the government controls a significant share of output through taxation, transfer payments etc.

8. Work in pairs. Choose any country with command or mixed type of economy and define some of its features giving examples.

To speak about command economy the following expressions can be of some use:

– to direct the country's entire economy through a series of five-year plans (about ruling party);

– to be under state control (about means of production);

– to be fully collectivized (about agriculture);

– to be nationalized (about industry);

– to be strictly forbidden (about private enterprise);

– to be prohibited (about seeking foreign aid, accepting loans, allowing foreign investments).

To speak about mixed economy the following expressions can be of some use:

– to contribute to economic development (about both state and private enterprise);

– to play the leading role in industrialization (about the state);

– to provide most of the capital for structural improvement (about railways, ports, mining, metallurgy, and chemicals industries);

– to remain self-contained (about economy).