Vocabulary

To comprise – включать

Total – общий

Densely populated – густонаселенный

Highlands – возвышенность

Lowlands - низменность

Mild – мягкий

Power – держава

To possess – обладать

Aircraft – авиационный

Equipment – оборудование

Custom – оборудование

Cross – крест

Field – поле

Weave – переплетение

Might – могущество

Monarchy – монархия

Head – глава

The Queen – королева

To limit – ограничивать

The House of Commons – палата общин

Government – правительство

Majority – большинство

Influential – влиятельный

The economy of Great Britain

The United Kingdom has a developed mixed private and public-enterprise economy and ranks among the top industrial countries in growth rates, productivity, and competitiveness. The gross national product (GNP) per capita is among that of most other European countries.

The state sector was reduced during the 1980s and 1990s owing to policies of privatization , denationalization , of publicly owned corporations. There was also an improvement in the standart of living. Unemployment and inflation rates were gradually reduced but remained high.

Nowadays, government policies include the close monitoring and frequent adjustment of interest rates; a gradual reduction in the level of direct personal taxation; a reduction in the levels of power and influence of national trade unions in national labour negotiations; the encouragement of wider home ownership and of individuals’ share holdings in companies. Considerable emphasis is placed on increased exposure of the economy to market forces. The government controls the production of coal, steel, and ships; it also runs certain utilities, the railways, and most civil aviation.

Manufacturing industries account for one-fifth of GNP. Agriculture accounts for less than 2 percent of GNP and employs some percent of the work force. Chief crops include barley, wheat, sugar beets and potatoes.

The mineral industry accounts for approximately 6 percent of the GNP but employs less than 1 percent of the work force.

Chief imports of Great Britain are: metallic ores, except ore, food. Chief exports are: chine, automobiles and other vehicles, wooden goods, steel, electrical and mechanical machinery, tractors, scientific instruments, chemicals, petroleum.

Just under half of the total population is in the labour force. The highest proportion of employees (more than two-thirds) is in the service sectors, financial services and distribution. Manufacturing, although it has declined, employs more than one-fifth of all workers. Smaller numbers are in construction, energy, agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Vocabulary:

Barley – ячмень

Sugar beets – сахарная свекла

Competitiveness – конкурентоспособность

Considerably – значительно

Crop – культура, урожай, зерно

Decline – спад

Equipment – оборудование

Exposure – подвергать воздействию чего-либо

Gross national product – валовый национальный продукт

Manufacturing industry – обрабатывающая промышленность

Ore - руда

Owing to – благодаря

Productivity – производительность

Market economies

Economics is a science that analyses what, how, and for whom society produces. The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict between people’s unlimited demands with society’s ability to produce goods and services.

In industrial countries markets are to allocate resources. The market is the process by which production and consumption are coordinated through prices.

In a command economy, a central planning office makes decisions on what, how, and for whom to produce. Economy cannot rely entirely on command, but there was extensive planning in many Soviet bloc countries.

A free market economy has n government intervention. Resources are allocated entirely through markets. The system is based on private enterprise with private ownership of the means of production and private supplies of capital, which can be defined as surplus income available for investment in new business activities. Workers are paid wages by the employers according to how skilled they are and how many firms wish to employ them. They spend their on the products and services they need. Consumers are willing to spend more on products and services, which are favored. Firms producing these goods will make more profits and this will persuade more firms to produce these particular goods rather than less favored ones.

Firms tend to be highly competitive in such an environment. New advanced products and low prices are good ways to increase salesman profits. Not surprisingly there are also problems. Some goods would be underpurchased if the government did not provide free or subsidized supplies. Examples of this type of good and service are heath and education, defence and policing. A cornerstone of the market system is that production alters swiftly to meet changing demands.

Modern economies are mixed and rely mainly on the market but with a large dose of government intervention. The optimal level of government intervention remains a problem which is of interest to economists.

The degree of government restrictions differs greatly between countries that have a command economy and countries that have free market economies. In the former, resources are allocated by central government planning. In the latter, there is not any government regulation of the consumption, production, and exchange of goods. Between the two main types lies the mixed economy where market and government are both of importance.