Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач

4. a fall in the purchasing power of money, reflected in a persistent increase in the general level of prices as measured by the retail price index

5. the proportion of a sum of money that is paid over a specified period of time in payment for its loan

6. the act of placing monetary resources into the creation of assets in the manufacturing and service sectors of the economy

7. a monetary situation in which interest rates fall so low that only a rise can be anticipated. Since any rise would only depress the price of bonds, the compulsion to remain in cash persists. At this point, no increase in the money supply can increase people’s preference for cash or therefore have any effect on incomes.

8. the quantity of money in circulation in economy

9. to maintain a national currency at a fixed exchange value in terms of another

10. income not spent on consumption

Exercise 3. You are a journalist writing for Fortune and you are asked to interview John Kenneth Galbraith. Make a dialogue between these two individuals using the following briefing materials.

John K. Galbraith (born October 15, 1908) is a widely read 20th century economist, from the American Institutional Economics school. The Canadian-born author of four dozen books and over one thousand articles was on the faculty of Harvard University from 1934 to 1975. He served in the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1961, Kennedy appointed him ambassador to India, where he served until 1963.

Galbraith is considered something of an iconoclast by many economists because he uses non-technical political economy instead of mathematical modeling. Additionally certain economists have alleged that he does not base his conclusions on solid research. In some of his books on economic topics he describes ways in which economic theory does not always mesh with real life.

In American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power published in 1952, Galbraith outlined how the American economy would be managed by a triumvirate of big business, big labor, and an activist government. He contrasted this with the previous pre-depression era where big business had relatively free rein over the economy.

In his most famous work, The Affluent Society (1958), Galbraith outlined his view that to be successful the United States would need to make large investments in items such as highways and education using funds from general taxation. He also criticized the assumption that continually increasing material production is a sign of economic and societal health.

The Affluent Society contributed (given that Galbraith had the ear of President Kennedy) to the «war on poverty», the government spending policy first brought on by the administrations of Kennedy and Johnson.

In The New Industrial State (1967), Galbraith argues that very few industries in the United States fit the model of perfect competition. A third related work was Economics and the Public Purpose (1973), in which he expanded on these themes by discussing, among other issues, the subservient role of women in the unrewarded management of ever-greater consumption, and the role of the technostructure in the large firm in influencing perceptions of sound economic policy aims.

In A Short History of Financial Euphoria (1990), he traces financial bubbles through several centuries, and cautions that what currently seems to be «the next great thing» may not be that great and may have quite irrational factors promoting it.

Source: Wikipedia

Exercise 4*. Fill in the blanks using terms given below.

Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman (born July 31, 1912) is a US economist, known primarily for his work on………………., economic history, statistics, and for his advocacy of…….. capitalism. In 1976, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded him the……. Prize in……. «for his achievements in the fields of……. analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of……. policy».

After working for the…….. government and for Columbia University, he received a Ph.D. from that…….. in 1946. He then served as Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago from 1946 to 1976, where he……… significantly to the intellectual tradition of the so-called……. of economics. Since 1977, Friedman has been……. with the Hoover Institution.