Английский для экономистов (учебник английского языка)

Economics is divided into two major branches: macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics is the study of behavior of the economy as a whole with emphasis on the factors that determine growth and fluctuations in output, employment, and the level of prices. Macroeconomics studies broad economic events that are largely beyond the control of individual decision makers and yet affect nearly all firms, households, and other institutions in the economy. Specialists in macroeconomics are particularly interested in understanding those factors that determine inflation, unemployment, and growth in the production of goods and services. Such an understanding is necessary in order to develop policies that encourage production and employment while controlling inflation.

The other major branch of economics is microeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of behavior of individual units within the economy. The division of economics has resulted from the growing complexity and sophistication of economic research.

These two approaches and the topics they include are in fact interdependent. Individuals and firms make their decisions in the context of the economic environment, which has an impact on the constraints the decision makers face as well as their expectations about the future. At the same time, when taken as a whole, their decisions determine the condition of the overall economy. A good understanding of economic events and an ability to forecast them require knowledge of both individual decision making and the way in which individuals react to changes in the economic environment.

1.Economies are becoming more complex every year. Why?

2.What is the main division of economics?

3.What is macroeconomics «responsible for»?

4.What does microeconomics deal with?

TEXT 5

1.In what context can we use the word environment?

2.What elements of the environment can you mention?

3.Which ones are of the most importance?

Read the text. Be ready to define the key-sentence(s) of each paragraph. Explain your choice.

Read

MACRO ENVIRONMENT

Macro environment is the network of systems composed of culture, political and economic forces, technology, skill mixes, and consumer groups; a source of opportunities and constraints for the organization. Once the organization has built its product or defined its service, it must distribute it to consumer client groups who have wants and needs that they attempt to satisfy through the consumption of such products and services.

Every organization exists within an extensive and complex environmental network. Organizational environment refers to all groups, norms, and conditions with which an organization must deal. It includes such things as the political, cultural, economic, religious, educational, and like systems that affect an organization and which in turn affected by it. Table 1 provides a summary of environmental subcomponents.

Table 1.

Culture, composed of values, norms, artifacts, and accepted behavior patterns, affects the way the organization is formed and how it operates once in existence. Indeed, one must recognize that all of the decisions made in an organization are culture bound; i.e., they are a reflection of all these components of culture. Societal norms are those standards that mold behavior, attitudes, and values of those members who constitute a society. They come from laws, customs, religious teachings, and common practice. They are standards because members take them into account in their decisions and behavior. Dress, speech, what is considered to be in good taste, and the general understanding of what is right and wrong are all affected by societal norms. At the same time, almost every institution in a society is capable of transfusing some of its values, norms, and behavior patterns into its environment. Organizations can hardly afford to ignore such a vital ingredient in its macro environment.