MASTERING ECONOMICS
Unit 1. READING A N D TRANSLATION PRACTICE
BASICS OF ECONOMICS
The study of the choices people make in an effort to sat-
isfy their wants and needs is called economics. Wants and
needs refer to people’ s desires to consume certain goods and
services. In economic terms, a good is a physical object that
can be purchased. A record, a house, and a car are examples
of a good. A service is an action or activity done for others
for a fee^ Lawyers, plumbers, teachers, and taxicab drivers
perform services. The term product is often used to refer to
both goods and services.
The people who wish to buy goods and services are called
consumers and the goods that they buy are called consumer
goods. The people who make the goods and provide services
that satisfy consumers’ wants and needs are called producers.
Economists generally classify as needs those goods or
services that are necessary for survival. Food, clothing, and
shelter are considered needs. Wants are those goods or serv-
ices that people consume beyond what is needed for survival.
The need for making choices arises from the problem of
scarcity. Scarcity exists because people’s wants and needs are
greater than the resources available to satisfy them. Thus
people must choose how best to use their available resources
to satisfy the greatest number of wants and needs.
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А resource is anything that people use to шакв их obtain
what they want or need. Resources that can be used to pro-
duce goods and services are called factors of production.
Economists usually divide these factors of production into
three categories: (1) natural resources, (2) human resources,
(3) capital resources. Today many economists have added
technology and entrepreneurship to this list.
Natural Resources
Items provided by nature that can be used to pj oduce
goods and to provide services are called natural resources.
Natural resources are found in/or on the earth or in the
earth’ s atmosphere. Examples of natural resources on the
earth are fertile land, vegetation, animals, and bodies of
water. Minerals and petroleum are examples of natural
resources that are found in the earth. Atmospheric resources
include the sun, wind and rain. A natural resource is consid-
.ered a factor of production only when it is used to produce
goods and to provide services.
Human Resources
Anyone who works is considered a human resource. Any
human effort that is exerted in production process is classi-
fied as a human resource. The effort can be either physical or
intellectual. Assembly-line workers, ministers, professional
sports figures, physicians, store clerks, and sanitation engi-
neers are all human resources.
Capital Resources
The money and capital goods that are used to produce con-
sumer products are called capital resources. Capital goods
include the buildings, structures, machinery, and tools that
are used in the production process. Department stores, facto-
ries, industrial machinery, dams, ports, wrenches, hammers,
and surgical scalpels are all examples of capital goods.
Economists make an important distinction between capi-
tal goods and consumer goods. Capital goods are the manu-
faciuied resouruets that aie used in producing finished prod-
ucts. Consumer goods are the finished products the goods
and services that consumers buy.
Some pi oducts can be either capital goods or consumer
goods, depending on how they are used. A bicycle purchased
for personal use is a consumer good. The same is not true
when the bicycle is purchased by a New York messenger serv-
ice. Because the messenger service will use the bicycle to
make deliveries - to provide a service - the bicycle is consid-
ered a capital good.
Technology
The use of science to create new products or more efficient
ways to produce products is called technology. Technology
makes the other factors of production - natural, human, and
capital resources - more productive. Technological advances
in the computer industry, for example, have increased effi-
ciency in the workplace.
Entrepreneurship
The risk-taking and organizational abilities involved in
starting a new business or introducing a new product to con-
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sumers are called entrepreneursliip. The goal of entrepreneur-
ship is to create a new mix of the other factors of production and
thereby create something of value. The entrepreneur is a per-
son who attempts to start a new business or introduce a new
product.
Essential Vocabulary
capital goods - основные средства, средства производства
capital resources - капитал компании, собственные
фонды
consumer п - потребитель
consumer goods - потребительские товары, товары
народного потребления
