Урок 3-4. ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE
методическая разработка (11 класс) на тему

ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE

1. Complete the definition.

Economy is                              Economics is                           An economist is

a) a person who  studies the production and distribution of resources, goods, and services.

b) a science which concerned with the factors that determine the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

c) a system which tries to balance the available resources of a country (land, labour, capital and enterprise) against the wants and needs of consumers. It deals with three key issues:

• what is produced
• how it is produced, and
• who gets what is produced.

2. Read these words paying attention to the stress and translate them.

3. Choose the correct word. 

1. I am a student of (economy, economics) now.

2. At school I didn’t study the (economy, economics) of Great Britain.

3. I hope he’ll make a good (economist, economy).

4. There are many (economic, economical) problems in the world.

5. This car is very (economic, economical). 

6. I try to spend money and time (economical, economically).

7. This car (economize, economizes) fuel.

4. Guess the meanings of these words. Which of them can be used as special economic terms?

Principle, luxury, discipline, activity, service, human, to practice, stable, production, distribution, dynamics.

5. Read the text and check your answers in the previous activity.

WHAT IS ECONOMICS

Let's face it: If there's one fundamental principle guiding life on earth, it's scarcity. There simply aren't enough beachfront houses, luxury cars, and seats at the theater for everyone who wants one! And on a more serious note, there's not enough food, clothing, and medical care for everyone who needs it.

        The entire discipline of economics—and all economic activity—arises from a scarcity of goods and services in comparison to human wants and needs. If there is not enough of something for everyone who wants or needs it, society faces a serious problem: it has to make decision about some basic economic questions.

        Throughout history there have always been people who obtained what they wanted or needed by force*. The barbarians who sacked Rome practiced this form of “economic activity,” and in modern times it is practiced by armed robbers. But a society requires an orderly system* of producing and distributing the necessities and luxuries of life. Such a system is essential to a stable society. Economics is the study of systems of production and distribution—which are called economies—and of their fundamentals, dynamics, and results

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*by force силой

*orderly system упорядоченная система.

6. Make true sentences.

7. Study these words and their negative forms and fill in the gaps in the sentences. Then make up your own sentences in which the negative forms are used.

1. You have to be very _________________ in this job, because a small mistake can make a big difference.

2. Are you _____________________ that you’ll get there in time?

3. We have done this experiment before. The results are rather ___________________.

4. Our train leaves at 10 o’clock ________________________.

8. Read the text and complete the charts to classify economics subdivisions according to different criteria.

1. Economics                                         2. Economics                                    3. Economics

The field of economics may be divided in several different ways, most popularly microeconomics (at the level of individual choices) versus macroeconomics (aggregate results). Today there is a view that good macroeconomics has solid microeconomic foundations. In other words, its theories should have evidential support in microeconomics. A few authors (for example, Kurt Dopfer and Stuart Holland) also argue that 'mesoeconomics', which considers the intermediate level of economic organization such as markets and other institutional arrangements, should be considered a third branch of economic study.

Theories developed as a part of economic theory have also been applied in other fields such as criminal behavior, scientific research, death, politics, health, education, family, dating, etc. This is allowed because economics is fundamentally about human decision-making. One of the main purposes is to understand how economies work, and what are the relations between the main economic players and institutions.

Economics can also be divided into numerous sub disciplines that do not always fit neatly into the macro-micro categorization. These sub disciplines include: international economics, development economics, industrial organization, public finance, economic psychology, economic sociology, institutional economics and economic geography.

Another division of the subject distinguishes positive (descriptive) economics, which seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from normative economics, which orders choices and actions by some criterion.

9. Define which sub-discipline deals with the following subjects and fill in the table.

•household incomes • national income • employment • inflation • prices in local markets • small businesses