The role of government in the economy
In the United States the government plays an important role in the national economy. It provides services and goods that the market cannot provide effectively, such as national defence, assistance programs for low-income families, and so on. The government can encourage the production and consumption of certain types of products.
The main sectors of the American economy: manufacturing, agriculture, services.
The United States is an industrial country. The main branches of heavy industry are mining, metallurgical, automobile and chemical industries and engineering. Many branches of light industry are also developed; among them are textile, food and woodworking industries.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector includes establishments primarily engaged in growing crops, raising animals, harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals on a farm and ranch.
The private non-good producing industries make 70% of total economic activity in the US. These industries include financial services, retail trade, entertainment, tourism, etc.
The US service sector is the largest sector in the economy and accounts significant share of GDP. In the US the service sector is a dynamic component of economic activity and growth. It includes a wide variety of businesses: Truck Transportation, Messenger Services, Health Care and Warehousing. Government services play a major role in the economy.
6) Ecological problems caused by the development of civilization. The main ecological problems caused by the development of civilization are pollution of water environment, air pollution, shortage of fresh water, climate change, resource depletion and many, many others. Most of those problems are concerned with the irrational use of environment. Another reason of those issues is growing population, especially in such countries as China, Japan and Arab countries. Pollution is may be the most widespread kind of ecological problems. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. It can influence on our health, environment health and assists in atmosphere destruction. That’s why it’s very important to control pollution from different enterprises, plants and so on.
The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl disaster is one of the most significant and destroying disasters in the human history. This disaster has brought with it a lot of human injures and death. Because of timely evacuation and correct actions of the Ministry of Emergency Measures we have avoided more significant consequences. But nevertheless the consequences were really impressive. A lot of radioactive substances have been thrown out. In a result of this disaster a 30km zone of estrangement has been created around the Chernobyl. Nearly 70 % of our country has been polluted.
International efforts in solving environmental problems. International efforts in solving environmental problems are concerned with the creation of different organizations that try to find solutions to these problems. The most famous are Greenpeace, European Environmental Agency, Helcom and others. So, United Nation’s Bruntland Comission marked the beginning of the sustainable development concept.
The idea of sustainable development. the idea of sustainable development has become increasingly popular in the contemporary world. The field of sustainable development can be divided into three parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social-political sustainability. Environment protection is concerned with the preservation of our natural environment and resources. Environmental sustainability means resolving the conflict between the various competing goals environmental quality and social equity. An “unsustainable situation” occurs when natural capital is used up faster than it can be replenished.
The Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 in Kyoto. Under this protocol industrialized countries will reduce their collective emission of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990.
But during the same time China, India and other developing countries weren't limited in emissions because they were not the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions during the pre-treaty industrialization period.
7) The subject of economics. Economics as an academic discipline is relatively new: the first major book on economics Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" was published in 1776. Since that time the subject has developed rapidly and there are now many
branches of the subjects such as microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics and econometrics.
Economics is essentially a study of the ways in which people apply their knowledge, skills, and efforts to the gifts of nature in order to satisfy their material wants. Any definition should take account of the guiding idea in economics which is scarcity. Thus when we use the word 'scarcity' we mean that:
All resources are scarce in the sense that there are not enough to fill everyone's wants to the point of satiety.
And now we can assemble all definition of economics in full definition. Economics is -
The human science which studies the relationship between scarce resources and the various uses which compete for these resources.
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Microeconomics deals with the behavior of individuals, consumers, companies, trades. Macroeconomics focuses on aggregates such as level of income in an economy, the volume of total employment, and flow of investment
Three economic issues. Every economic society has to answer three fundamental questions, What, How and For whom?
What? Which goods shall be produced and in what quantities?
How? Most goods can be produced by a variety of methods. We have basic resources of labor, land, how should we combine them to produce the goods and services which we want?
For whom? Once we have produced goods and services we then have to decide how to distribute them among the people in the economy.
Economic systems: market economy, command economy, mixed economy.
There are 3 types of economy in modern society: command economy, market economy and mixed economy.
The command economy is a kind of economy where the government takes all the decisions. The example of these types of economy is USSR.
Economy in which government do not intervene are called free markets economy. In these types of economy individual people are free pursue their own interests. People make money without any government help.
The third type of economy is a mixed economy. In this type government and private sector interact in solving economic problems. The government controls a share of output through taxation, transfer payment and providing services such as police. Most countries in a world are mixed economy.
The role of money in economy: a brief history and functions of money.
At first people use animal skins, cocoa beans, rats, stones and other different objects as money.
First coins were made in Lydia and it called staters. They were produced around 2,700 years ago. They were made of electrum (a mixture of silver and gold) and had a lion's head stamped on them.
The first paper money appeared in Chinese 1,200 years ago.
Money has four functions: a medium of exchange or means of payment, a store of value, a unit of account and a standard of deferred payment.
Money as the medium of exchange is believed to be used in one half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour for money, people buy or sell goods in exchange for money as well.
8) Definitions of employment and labor. When we speak about employment we usually mean paid work done by a person or a group of people. Labor, in its turn, refers to the routine work that people do in their jobs, for example manual labor or managing employees. Manual labor usually refers to physical work that requires little formal education. Managers include those who supervise other workers. Examples of skilled professionals include doctors, lawyers, and dentists. Very often managers are called white collar workers because their job does not involve manual labor.
Types of employment:
A full-time job is job for all normal working week. Nowadays is very popular part-time job. This is the practice of dividing a full time job between two people. Jobs are irregular, and workers are often self-employed without earning pensions and without paying taxes. This sort of employment is common in urban areas of developing countries. There is also informal employment.
Self-employment is working for one's self. Self-employed people work for himself instead of an employer, drawing income from business that they operate.
Distinguish permanent and temporary job. A permanent job doesn’t finish after a fixed period; a temporary job finishes after a fixed period.
With technological advances, more and more people resort to telecommuting. They work away from the employer’s office and maintain close contact with coworkers and managers through electronic mail and telephone. Telecommuting decreases time spent driving to and from the office and decreases pollution from automobiles. But some managers prefer to direct people directly and some employees may dislike telecommuting because of isolation from coworkers.
A freelancer or freelance worker is somebody who is self-employed and without a long-term commitment to any of employer.
Compensation for work. When we talk about pays of senior managers we mean compensation and remuneration. For a senior executive, remuneration may include the right to buy the company’s shares at low prices. There may be performance-related bonuses if the manager reaches particular objectives for the company.
Also employees receive compensation when they are forced to leave the organization. This money is in the form of a compensation payment, or severance payment.
Problems at work. The main problems at work are sexual harassment, discrimination, sexism and racism.
Sexual harassment is when an employee behaves sexually towards another in a way that they find unwelcome and unacceptable.
If people are treated differently from others in an unfair way, they are discriminated against.
If a woman is unfairly treated just because she is a woman, it is sexism.
Racism is when someone is treated unfairly because of their race.