3. Are there many state-owned enterprises in the industrial and service sectors of Great Britain?
4. What is the level of GDP of the UK per capita according to the International Monetary Fund?
5. Why did the UK economic outlook worsen in August 2008?
6. Why does the UK have the world's third largest current account deficit?
7. What is the UK's "labour productivity per person employed"
8. What is the current UK's "labour productivity per hour worked"?
Тopic 6
The United States of America
The United States of America is a constitutional federal republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait, and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories, or insular areas, scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with more than 300 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world. The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they jointly issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union.
The USA is a highly developed industrial and agricultural country. The main industrial branches are aircraft, rocket, automobile, electronics, radio – engineering and others.
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic. It is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy, though U.S. citizens residing in the territories are excluded from voting for federal officials. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the United States Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document and as a social contract for the people of the United States. In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local.
Vocabulary
| Constitutional | Конституционный |
| Contiguous | Прилегающий |
| Border | Граничить |
| Archipelago | Архипелаг |
| Possess | Обладать, владеть |
| Insular | Островная |
| Scattered | Разбросанные |
| Area | Площадь |
| Jointly | Совместно |
| Issue | Издавать |
| Proclaim | Провозглашать |
| Independence | Независимость |
| Develop | Развивать |
| Agricultural | Сельскохозяйственный |
| Aircraft | Авиация |
| Rocket | Ракета |
| Fundamentally | Основная |
| supreme | Верховный |
Questions
1. Where is the United States of America situated?
2. What countries does it border?
3. What is the territory of the US?
4. What is the population of the US?
5. Why is the USA called the “melting pot”?
6. How was the USA founded?
7. What are the main industrial branches of the US?
8. What is the political system of the USA?
9. How is the government regulated?
10. What are the three levels of government citizens are usually subject to?
Тopic 7
| National economic indicators | |
| Unemployment | 6.1%August 2008 |
| GDP growth | 1.9%2Q 2008 (2.2%)2007 |
| CPI inflation | 5.6%July 2007–July 2008 |
| National debt | $9.646 trillionAugust 29, 2008 |
| Poverty | 12.5%2007 |
The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States GDP of more than $13 trillion constitutes over 25.5% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP). The largest national GDP in the world, it was slightly less than the combined GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2006. The country ranks eighth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and fourth in GDP per capita at PPP. The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. The leading export commodity is electrical machinery, while vehicles constitute the leading import.
The private sector constitutes the bulk of the economy, with government activity accounting for 12.4% of GDP. The economy is postindustrial, with the service sector contributing 67.8% of GDP. The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is finance and insurance. The United States remains an industrial power, with chemical products the leading manufacturing field. The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer. It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP, the United States is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans. The country's leading cash crop is marijuana, despite federal laws making its cultivation and sale illegal. The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest by dollar volume. Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.
Vocabulary
| abundant natural resources | Обильные природные ресурсы |
| International Monetary Fund | Международный валютный фонд |
| GDP | Внутренний валовой продукт |
| purchasing power parity (PPP) | Покупательная сила валют |
| slightly less than | Намного меньше чем |
| rank | Занимать к-л. место |
| per capita | На душу |
| importer | Импортер |
| relatively low | Относительно низкий |
| leading export commodity | Ведущий экспортный товар |
| vehicles | Транспортные средства |
| private sector | Частный сектор |
| postindustrial | Постиндустриальная |
| wholesale | Оптовая торговля |
| retail trade | Розничная продажа |
| nuclear energy | Ядерная энергия |
| sulfur | Сера |
| soybeans | Соя |
Questions:
1. What type of economy does the United States have?
2. What is the United States GDP?
3. What are top trading partners of the USA?
4. What is the leading export commodity? What is the leading import commodity?
5. What constitutes the bulk of the economy?
6. Does the United States produce oil or import it?
7. What does the USA produce?
8. The United States is the world's top producer of corn and soybeans, isn’t it?
9. Is the cultivation and sale of marijuana legal in this country?
10. What are the two most recognized US brands in the world?
Тopic 8
Bank
A banker or bank is a financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money.
The first modern bank was founded in Italy in Genoa in 1406, its name was Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of St. George).
Many other financial activities were added over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds.
Banks have influenced economies and politics for centuries. Historically, the primary purpose of a bank was to provide loans to trading companies. Banks provided funds to allow businesses to purchase inventory, and collected those funds back with interest when the goods were sold. For centuries, the banking industry only dealt with businesses, not consumers. Banking services have expanded to include services directed at individuals, and risks in these much smaller transactions are pooled.
Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as telegraphic transfer, EFTROS, and ATM.
Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current account, accepting term deposits and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current account, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending.
Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account.
Vocabulary
| Banker | Банкир |
| Financial institution | Финансовое учреждение |
| Borrow | Заимствовать |
| Founded | Основан |
| Added | Добавлены |
| Important players | Важные игроки |
| Services | Услуги |
| Investment funds | Инвестиционный фонд |
| Primary owners | Прямые владельцы |
| Non-financial | Нематериальные |
| Holding | Холдинг |
| Insurance services | Страховые услуги |
| Primary purpose | Первичная цель |
| Term deposits | Депозиты срока |
| Bonds | Облигации |
| Government | Правительство |
| Household | Хозяйство |
| Lender | Кредитор |
Questions:
1. What is a bank?
2. When and where was the first modern bank founded? What was its name?
3. What was the primary purpose of a bank historically?
4. How do banks act?
5. How do banks borrow money?
6. How do banks lend money?
7. Why is a bank account considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments?
8. Why are non-banks that provide payment services not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account?
Тopic 9
Types of banks and economic functions
Banks' activities can be divided into retail banking, dealing directly with individuals and small businesses; business banking, providing services to mid-market business; corporate banking, directed at large business entities; private banking, providing wealth management services to High Net Worth Individuals and families; and investment banking, relating to activities on the financial markets. Most banks are profit-making, private enterprises. However, some are owned by government, or are non-profits.
Central banks are normally government owned banks, often charged with quasi-regulatory responsibilities, e.g. supervising commercial banks, or controlling the cash interest rate. They generally provide liquidity to the banking system and act as Lender of last resort in event of a crisis.
The economic functions of banks include:
1. issue of money, in the form of banknotes and current accounts subject to cheque or payment at the customer's order. These claims on banks can act as money because they are negotiable and/or repayable on demand, and hence valued at par and effectively transferable by mere delivery in the case of banknotes, or by drawing a cheque, delivering it to the payee to bank or cash.
2. netting and settlement of payments -- banks act both as collection agent and paying agents for customers, and participate in inter-bank clearing and settlement systems to collect, present, be presented with, and pay payment instruments. This enables banks to economise on reserves held for settlement of payments, since inward and outward payments offset each other. It also enables payment flows between geographical areas to offset, reducing the cost of settling payments between geographical areas.
3. credit intermediation -- banks borrow and lend back-to-back on their own account as middle men
4. credit quality improvement -- banks lend money to ordinary commercial and personal borrowers (ordinary credit quality), but are high quality borrowers. The improvement comes from diversification of the bank's assets and the bank's own capital which provides a buffer to absorb losses without defaulting on its own obligations. However, since banknotes and deposits are generally unsecured, if the bank gets into difficulty and pledges assets as security to try to get the funding it needs to continue to operate, this puts the note holders and depositors in an economically subordinated position.
5. maturity transformation -- banks borrow more on demand debt and short term debt, but provide more long term loans. Bank can do this because they can aggregate issues (e.g. accepting deposits and issuing banknotes) and redemptions (e.g. withdrawals and redemptions of banknotes), maintain reserves of cash, invest in marketable securities that can be readily converted to cash if needed, and raise replacement funding as needed from various sources (e.g. wholesale cash markets and securities markets) because they have a high and more well known credit quality than most other borrowers.
Vocabulary
| Banknotes | банкноты |
| Current | Текущие |
| Account | Счет |
| Payment | Платеж |
| Claim | Требование |
| Negotiable | Проходимый |
| Transferable | Допускающий передачу |
| Dilivery | Доставлять |
| Participate | Участвовать |
| Lend | Давать взаймы |
| Improvement | Улучшение |
| Diversification | Разнообразие |
| Assets | Активы |
| Absorb | Поглощать |
| Losses | Потери |
| Security | Гарантия, безопасность |
| Holder | Владелец |
| loans | Ссуда |
Questions: