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Министерство образования и науки РФ

Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования

«Сибирский федеральный университет»

Торгово-экономический институт

Отделение среднего профессионального образования

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Сборник иностранных текстов для студентов

специальности 080114 Экономика и бухгалтерский учет

очной и заочной форм обучения

Красноярск 2012

Английский язык : сборник иностранных текстов / ФГАОУ ВПО СФУ Торгово-экономический институт; сост. Н.А. Александренко. – Красноярск, 2012. – 18 с.

Сборник текстов составлен в соответствии с требованиями к обязательному минимуму содержания основной образовательной программы подготовки специалиста по специальности. Цель сборника – развитие навыков чтения литературы по специальности, накопление и усвоение лексического материала необходимого для чтения и навыков разговорной речи. Сборник текстов предназначен для аудиторной и самостоятельной работы студентов специальности 080114 Экономика и бухгалтерский учет. Данное пособие ставит своей целью развитие навыков устной речи. Пособие предназначено для студентов 2 курса очной и заочной формы.

ФГАОУ ВПО СФУ

Торгово-экономический институт, 2012

Содержание

  1. WHAT IS ECONOMICS?.....................................................................4

  2. PLANNED ECONOMICS.....................................................................5

  3. PLANNED ECONOMY........................................................................6

  4. THE QUALITY OF THE GOODS PRODUCED.................................7

  5. MARKETS.............................................................................................8

  6. MONOPOLIES......................................................................................9

  7. THE ROLE OF MARKET...................................................................10

  8. THE SELLER'S VIEWPOINT IN THE MARKET.............................11

  9. TYPES OF ADVERTISING................................................................12

  10. TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTERS......................................................13

  11. MONEY AND ITS FUNCTIONS........................................................14

  12. FUNCTIONS OF MONEY...................................................................15

  13. DIFFERENT KINDS OF MONEY.......................................................16

  14. WHAT IS BUSINESS?.........................................................................17

  15. FORMS OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATION........................................18

  16. MAIN FEATURES OF A SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP........................19

  17. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY......................20

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Read and translate the text:

WHAT IS ECONOMICS?

It is difficult to give a full and accurate definition of economics, but it is possible to indicate what problems economists are interested in. They are factors that affect prices of goods and services and also resources necessary to produce them. Economists are also interested in sellers' and buyers' behaviour in the market, in the relationship between "price system" and "market mechanism".

Now economics is more complex. There are three main approaches to economics: microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics. There are also several specialized areas of study. Among them are money economics, international economics, labour economics, industrial economics, agricultural economics, growth economic, mathematical economics, etc.

Like many other sciences, economics uses models to understand economic problems. A model often helps an economist to make correct predictions. The economist usually follows several rules when he makes a model of economic behaviour.

First, real life is complex and it is not possible for an economist to include all the details in a model. So, a model is an abstraction from real life. A model usually includes only essential elements and relationships of a particular economic situation.

Second, if an economist has two different models of one phenomenon, he always chooses the model that predicts the results of a particular phenomenon more accurately.

Third, although models are helpful in economic analysis, an economist always studies the actual economic situation before he makes decisions.

It is not enough to make models, it is also necessary to collect and study actual data in order to know how accurate a model is.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What problems are economists interested in?

  2. What are three main approaches to economists?

  3. What does economists use models for?

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PLANNED ECONOMICS.

Planned economies are sometimes called" "command economies" because the state commands the use of resources (such as labour and factories) that are used to produce goods and services as it owns factories, land and natural resources. Planned economies are economies with a large amount of central planning and direction, when the government takes all the decisions, the government decides production and consumption. Planning of this kind is obviously very difficult, very complicated to do, and the result is that there is no society, which is completely a command economy. The actual system employed varies from state to state, but command or planned economies have a number of common features.

Firstly, the state decides precisely what the nation is to produce. It usually plans five years ahead. It is the intention of the planners that there should be enough goods and services for all.

Secondly, industries are asked to comply with these plans and each industry and factory is set a production target to meet. If each factory and farm meets its target, then the state will meet its targets as set out in the five-year plans. You could think of the factory and farm targets to be objectives which, if met, allow the nation's overall aim to be reached.

Answer the following questions:

  1. Why are sometimes called command economies?

  2. Is planning of this kind obviously very difficult?

  3. Does the actual system employed vary?

5

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PLANNED ECONOMY.

A planned economy is simple to understand but not simple to operate. It does, however, have a number of advantages:

* Everyone in society receives enough goods and services to enjoy a basic standard of living.

* Nations do not waste resources duplicating production.

* The state can use its control of the economy to divert resources to wherever it wants. As a result, it can ensure that everyone receives a good education, proper health care or that transport is available.

Several disadvantages also exist. It is these disadvantages that have led to many nations abandoning planned economies over recent years:

* There is no incentive for individuals to work hard in planned economies.

* Any profits that are made are paid to the government.

* Citizens cannot start their own businesses and so new ideas rarely come forward.

* As a result, industries in planned economies can be very inefficient.

A major problem faced by command or planned economies is that of deciding what to produce. Command economies tend to be slow when responding to changes in people's tastes and fashions. Planners are likely to under produce some items as they cannot predict changes in demand. Equally, some products, which consumers regard as obsolete and unattractive, may be overproduced. Planners are afraid to produce goods and services unless they are sure substantial amounts will be purchased. This leads to delays and queues for some products.

Answer the following questions:

  1. Is a planned economy simple to operate?

  2. What advantages has a planned economy?

  3. What is a major problem faced by planned economies?

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THE QUALITY OF THE GOODS PRODUCED.

I'm Alan Severn, I'm the Quality Manager at Acam, and my re-sponsibilities are exactly that, for the quality of the product, the qual¬ity of the services, and the quality of all interfaces which involve the customer and our customers.

The word 'quality' is a very easy one that slips off the tongue, it's quite easy to say but it means an awful lot of things. I have a depart¬ment of three people, but in essence, everybody in the company works for me, because everybody works for the word 'quality'. Quality starts and must start with the conception of everything and goes through every department within the company. You can't pack qual¬ity into a box at the end of the line. You have to implant it at the start of the process, and it knocks on through every process until it goes into a box, into your home, into your living room, and you switch it on and you're a happy person.

The two aspects of quality are that we must reproduce, must, sorry, design to reproduce excellent hi-fi equipment, and that must be a design which has got quality built into it in terms of the performance of the product, but also must have the ability to be pro¬duced in volume. Er, now, that means the designers have to have restraints put on them, and that restraint means that they must work to quality standards to ensure that their designs are reproducible in volume. They must design for manufacture. That's one part of the quality aspect.

Then the designers hand the information on to the manufacturing departments. We have to then implant into our suppliers, and our manufacturing people, the quality standards which will achieve our aim, our goals. So, our message spreads then from our designers into our manufacturers and our subcontractors, who make the metal work, who make the printed circuit boards, etc., etc.

Quality is a very well-worn word and in this business, certainly in Arcam business, it is an ongoing activity within the company, and it's called TQM, Total Quality Management. We improve our quality on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. So we never stop refining the process. And we don't know what the ultimate quality is. I don't know when we're going to arrive there.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What does the word quality mean?

  2. What are the two aspects pf quality?

  3. What information do designers hand?

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MARKETS.

The term "market", as used by economists, is an extension of the ancient idea of market as a place where people gather to buy and sell goods. In former days part of a town was kept as the market or marketplace, and people would travel many kilometers on special market-days in order to buy and sell various commodities. Today, however, markets such as the world sugar market, the gold market and the cotton market do not need to have any fixed geographical location. Such a market is simply a set of conditions permitting buyers and sellers to work together.

In a free market, competition takes place among sellers of the same commodity, and among those who wish to buy that commodity. Such competition influences the prices prevailing in the market. Prices inevitably fluctuate, and such fluctuations are also affected by current supply and demand.

Whenever people who are willing to sell a commodity contact people who are willing to buy it, a market for that commodity is created. Buyers and sellers may meet in person, or they may communicate in some other way: by letter, by telephone or through their agents. In a perfect market, communications are easy, buyers and sellers are numerous and competition is completely free. In a perfect market there can be only one price for any given commodity: the lowest price which sellers will accept and the highest which consumers will pay. There are, however, no really perfect markets, and each commodity market is subject to special conditions. It can be said however that the price ruling in a market indicates the point where supply and demand meet.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What does the term “market” mean?

  2. Does competition influence the prices?

  3. What is a perfeet market?

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MONOPOLIES.

Although in a perfect market competition is unrestricted and sellers are numerous, free competition and large number of sellers are not always available in the real world. In some markets there may only be one seller or a very limited number of sellers. Such a situation is called a monopoly, and may arise for a variety of different causes. It is possible to distinguish in practice four kinds of monopoly.

State planning and central control of the economy often means that a state government has the monopoly of important goods and services. Some countries have state monopolies in basic commodities like steel and transport, while other countries have monopolies in such comparatively unimportant commodities as matches. Most national authorities monopolize the postal services within their borders.

A different kind of monopoly arises when a country, through geographical and geological circumstances, has control over major natural resources or important services, as for example with Canadian nickel and the Egyptian ownership of the Suez Canal. Such monopolies can be called natural monopolies.

They are very different from legal monopolies, where the law of a country permits certain producers, authors and inventors a full monopoly over the sale of their own products.

These three types of monopoly are distinct from the sole trading opportunities which take place because certain companies have obtained complete control over particular commodities. This action is often called "cornering the market" and is illegal in many countries. In the USA anti-trust laws operate to restrict such activities, while in Britain the Monopolies Commission examines all special arrangements and mergers which might lead to undesirable monopolies.

Answer the following questions:

  1. Is competition unrestricted in a perfect market?

  2. What does state planning mean?

  3. When does a different kind of monopoly arise?

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Answer the following questions:

THE ROLE OF MARKET

Markets bring together buyers and sellers of goods and services. In some cases, such as a local fruit stall, buyers and se meet physically. In other cases, such as the stock market, business can be transacted over the telephone, almost by remote control. We need not go into these details. Instead, we use a general definition of markets.

A market is a shorthand expression for the process by which households' decisions about consumption of alternative go firms' decisions about what and how to produce, and workers' decision about how much and for whom to work an reconciled by adjustment of prices.

Prices of goods and of resources, such as labour, machinery and land, adjust to ensure that scarce resources are used to produce those goods and services that society demands.

Much of economics is devoted to the study of how markets and prices enable society to solve the problems of what, how, and for whom to produce. Suppose you buy a hamburger for your lunch. What does this have to do with markets and prices? You chose the cafe because it was fast, convenient and cheap. Given your desire to eat, and your limited resources, the low hamburger price told you that this was a good way to satisfy your appetite. You probably prefer steak but that is more expensive. The price of steak is high enough to ensure that society answers the "for whom" question about lunchtime steaks in favour of someone else.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is the market?

  2. What is the role of market?

  3. What is much of economics devoted to?

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Answer the following questions:

THE SELLER'S VIEWPOINT IN THE MARKET.

Now think about the seller's viewpoint. The cafe owner is in the business because, given the price of hamburger meat, the rent and the wages that must be paid, it is still possible to sell hamburgers at a profit. If rents were higher, it might be more profitable to sell hamburgers in a cheaper area or to switch to luxury lunches for rich executives on expense accounts. The student behind the counter is working there because it is a suitable part-time job which pays a bit of money. If the wage were much lower it would hardly be worth working at all. Conversely, the job is unskilled and there are plenty of students looking for such work, so owners of cafes do not have to offer very high wages.

Prices are guiding your decision to buy a hamburger, the owner's decision to sell hamburgers, and the student's decision to take the job. Society is allocating resources - meat, buildings, and labour - into hamburger production through the price system. If nobody liked hamburgers, the owner could not sell enough at a price that covered the cost of running the cafe and society would devote no resources to hamburger production. People's desire to eat hamburgers guides resources into hamburger production. However, if cattle contracted a disease, thereby reducing the economy's ability to produce meal products, competition to purchase more scarce supplies of beef would bid up the price of beef, hamburger producers would be forced to raise prices, and consumers would buy more cheese sandwiches for lunch. Adjustment in prices would encourage society to reallocate resources to reflect the increased scarcity of cattle.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is the seller's viewpoint in the market?

  2. Are prices guiding your decision to buy anything?

  3. What guides resources into hamburger production?

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TYPES OF ADVERTISING.

1. There are basically three types of advertising, namely:

Consumer advertising is advertising aimed at the ordinary consumer and is typified by what is seen on TV, heard on the radio or read in newspapers, magazines and so forth. This is mass communication aimed at large numbers of potential purchasers in an effort to pre-sell advertiser’s products to them and to create demand from targeted consumers.

2. Trade advertising, i.e. advertising aimed at wholesalers, retailers, brokers, agents and those who are part of an advertiser's distribution system. Wholesalers buy from the advertiser, retailers buy from me wholesaler and sell to the consumer. The purpose of trade advertising is to persuade wholesalers and retailers to stock the advertiser's products, which in turn is easier for the consumer to find and purchase the advertiser’s product.

3. Business to users advertising, i.e. advertising directed at industrial consumers. Here, advertisers' products are bought by industrial customers, who use them as suppliers of services, e.g. raw materials, or as consumers, e.g. buyers of disposable hats.

4. The basic principles of advertising are common to each type of advertising, apart from the fact that orientation and media selection will tend to be more specialised for the second and third types of advertising.

5. There are five stages through which a potential consumer passes before adopting a new product. We might call these acceptance stages, as follows. Each individual is likely to go through the process at a different rate and many will not become regular users.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is consumer advertising?

  2. What is trade advertising?

  3. What is business tu users advertising?

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TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTERS.

There are lots of different types of business letters. There are letters of information, invitation, congratulation, gratitude, apology, condolence, covering, enquiry, offer, order, request, guarantee, confirmation, notification, advice, complaint and claim.

Sending a letter of invitation first of all you are to remember that the invitation should be sent about two or three weeks before the event. You may choose the very formal way and write it as a friendly letter. The form of reply is determined by the form of invitation.

A letter of congratulation should be sent as soon as you get information about the event. In a letter of apology you apologize for your mistake, express your regrets and assure that it won't happen again.

A letter of condolence is the most difficult letter to write. It should be sent promptly and written with sincerity and restraint. Condolence is only written to those who knew the deceased personally.

A covering letter is sent out with contracts, specifications, catalogues, samples of goods. It gives additional information on the document, explains the purpose of sending the document.

When we need some samples of goods or reference materials, when we want to find out some terms and conditions of selling the goods we send an enquiry letter.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What are different types of business letters?

  2. What is a letter of condolence?

  3. Is a covering letter sent out with contrects?

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MONEY AND ITS FUNCTIONS.

Although the crucial feature of money is its acceptance as the means of payment or medium of exchange, money has three other functions. It serves as a unit of account, as a store of value, and as a standard of deferred payment. We discuss each of the four functions of money in turn.

The Medium of Exchange

Money, the medium of exchange, is used in one-half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour services for money. People buy or sell goods in exchange for money. We accept money not to consume it directly but because it can subsequently be used to buy things we do wish to consume. Money is the medium through which people exchange goods and services.

To see that society benefits from a medium of exchange, imagine a barter economy.

A barter economy has no medium of exchange. Goods are traded directly or swapped for other goods.

In a barter economy, the seller and the buyer each must want something the other has to offer. Each person is simultaneously a seller and a buyer. In order to see a film, you must hand over in exchange a good or service that the cinema manager wants. There has to be a double coincidence of wants. You have to find a cinema where the manager wants what you have to offer in exchange.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is the crucial feature of money?

  2. How money is used?

  3. Has a barter economy medium of exchange?

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FUNCTIONS OF MONEY.

The unit of account is the unit in which prices are quoted and accounts are kept.

In Britain prices are quoted in pounds sterling; in France, in French francs. It is usually convenient to use the units in of account as well. However there are exceptions. During the rapid German inflation of 1922-23 when prices in marks were changing very quickly, German shopkeepers found it more convenient to use dollars as the unit of account. Prices were quoted in dollars even though payment was made in marks, the German medium of exchange.

Money is a store of value because it can be used to make purchases in the future.

To be accepted in exchange, money has to be a store of value. Nobody would accept money as payment for goods supplied today if the money was going to be worthless when they tried to buy goods with it tomorrow. But money is neither the only nor necessarily the best store of value. Houses, stamp collection, and interest-bearing bank accounts all serve as stores of value. Since money pays no interest and its real purchasing power is eroded by inflation, there are almost certainly better ways to store value.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is the unit of account?

  2. What prices are quoted in Britain?

  3. Is money the best store of value?

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DIFFERENT KINDS OF MONEY.

In prisoner-of-war camps, cigarettes served as money. In the nineteenth century money was mainly gold and silver coins. These are examples of commodity money, ordinary goods with industrial uses (gold) and consumption uses (cigarettes) which also serve as a medium of exchange. To use a commodity money, society must either cut back on other uses of that commodity or devote scarce resources to producing additional quaranties of the commodity. But there are less expensive ways for society to produce money.

A token money is a means of payment whose value or purchasing power as money greatly exceeds its cost of production or value in uses other than as money.

A £10 note is worth far more as money than as a Зх6-inch piece of high-quality paper. Similarly, the monetary value of most coins exceeds the amount you would get by melting them down and selling off the metals they contain. By collectively agreeing to use token money, society economizes on the scarce resources required to produce money as a medium of exchange. Since the manufacturing costs are tiny, why doesn't everyone make £ 10 notes?

The essential condition for the survival of token money is the restriction of the right to supply it. Private production is illegal.

Society enforces the use of money by making it legal tender. The law says it must be accepted as a means of payment.

In modern economics, token money is supplemented by IOU money.

An IOU money is a medium of exchange based on the debt of a private firm at individual.

A bank deposit is IOU money because it is a debt of the bank. When you have a bank deposit the bank owes you money. You can write a cheque to yourself or a third party and the bank is obliged to pay whenever the cheque is presented. Bank deposits are a medium of exchange became they are generally accepted as payment.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What kinds of money do you know?

  2. What is commodity money?

  3. Is a token a means of payment?

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WHAT IS BUSINESS?

Business is a word which is commonly used in many different languages. But exactly what does it mean? The concepts and activities of business have increased in modern times. Traditionally, business simply meant exchange or trade for things people wanted or needed. Today it has a more technical definition. One definition of business is the production, distribution, and sale of goods and services

for profit. To examine this definition, we will look at its various parts.

First, production is the creation of services or the changing of materials into products. One example is the conversion of iron ore into metal car parts. Next these products need to be moved from the factory to the marketplace. This is known as distribution. A car might be moved from factory in Detroit to a car dealership in Miami.

Third is the sale of goods and services. Sale is the exchange of a product or service for money. A car is sold to someone in exchange for money. Goods are products which people either need or want, for example, cars can be classified as goods. Services, on the other hand, are activities which a person or group performs for another person or organization. For instance, an auto mechanic performs a service when he repairs a car. A doctor also performs a service by taking care of people when they are sick.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What does business mean?

  2. What are various parts of business?

  3. What are goods?

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FORMS OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATION.

There are three principal forms of business organization:

1. the sole proprietorship;

2. the partnership;

3. the corporation.

Sole proprietorship

The simplest form of business organization is the sole proprietorship, which is owned by one person. Many small businesses start out as sole proprietorships. The owner has relatively unlimited con¬trol over the business and keeps all the profits. These firms are usu¬ally owned by one person who has day-to-day responsibility for running the business. Sole proprietors own all the assets of the business and the profits generated by it. They also have complete responsibility for any of its liabilities or debts. In case of breach of contract the business property and personal assets of the owner may be taken to pay judgments for damages awarded by courts.

Sole proprietorships are the most numerous form of business organization. No charter and permit are needed and there are no particular, legal requirements for organizing or conducting a sole proprietorship. When started, many sole proprietorships are conducted out of the owner's home, garage, or van cnd inventory may be limited and may often be purchased on credit.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What are three principal forms of business organization?

  2. What is the simplest form of business organization?

  3. Are sole proprietorships the the most numerous form of business organization?

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MAIN FEATURES OF A SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP.

(+) Easy to organize

(+) Owner has complete control

(+) Owner receives all income

(-) Owner has unlimited liability

(-) Benefits are not business deductions

Partnership

In a Partnership, two or more people share ownership of a single business. Like proprietorships, the law does not distinguish be¬tween the business and its owners. The partners should have a legal agreement that sets forth how decisions will be made, profits will be shared, disputes will be resolved, how future partners will be admitted to the partnership, how partners can be bought out, or what steps will be taken to dissolve the partnership when needed.

There exist different types of Partnerships:

1. General Partnership

Partners divide responsibility for management and liability, as well as the shares of profit or loss according to their internal agreement. Equal shares are assumed unless there is a written agreement that states differently.

2. Limited Partnership and Partnership with limited liability "Limited" means that most of the partners have limited liability (to the extent of their investment) as well as limited management decisions, which generally encourages investors for short term projects, or for investing in capital assets. This form of ownership is not often used for operating retail or service businesses. Forming a limited partnership is more complex and formal than that of a general partnership.

3. Joint Venture

Joint Venture acts like a general partnership, but it is formed for a limited period of time or a single project.

Main Features of a Partnership:

(+) Easy to organize, but needs agreement

(+) Partners receive all income

(-) Partners have unlimited liability

(-) Partners may disagree

(-) Life of business may be limited

Answer the following questions:

  1. What are main features of a sole proprietorship?

  2. What is partnership?

  3. What can you say about different types of pertnerships?

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THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY.

In every economy the work of different firms has to be coordinated. In a market economy this coordination is achieved by means of markets. Nevertheless the debate over the role for Government in a market economy is continuing and the issue is being widely discussed at the present time. An economy based on free enterprise is generally characterised by private ownership and initiative, with a relative absence of government involvement. However, government intervention has been found necessary from time to time to ensure that economic opportunities are fair, to dampen inflation and to stimulate growth.

Government plays a big role in the American free enterprise system. Federal, state and local governments tax, regulate, and support business.

In the United States there are agencies to regulate safety, health, environment, transport, communications, trade, labour relations, and finances. Regulation ensures that business serves the best interests of the people as a whole.

Some industries — nuclear power, for instance — have been regulated more closely over the last few years than ever before. In others the trend has been towards deregulation or reduction of administrative burden on the economy.

The U.S. economy has a tradition of government intervention for specific economic purposes — including controlling inflation, limiting monopoly, protecting the consumer, providing for the poor. The government also affects the economy by controlling the money supply and the use of credit. The aim is a balanced budget.

Answer the following questions:

  1. What is the role of government in the economy?

  2. Does government play a big role in the American free enterprise system?

  3. Has the U.S. Economy tradition of government intervention?

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