English for economists

Н. В. Красильникова  
Е. В. Кудрявцева 

 
 
 
 
 

ENGLISH 

FOR ECONOMISTS 

 
 

 

 
 

Учебно-методическое пособие  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Йошкар-Ола 

2018 
 

УДК 811.111(075.8) 
ББК  81.432.1я7 
         К 78 
 
 
 

Рецензенты: 

кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры 

иностранных языков и лингвистики ПГТУ Т. В. Голикова; 

кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры 

иностранных языков и лингвистики ПГТУ Е. М. Егошина 

 

 
 

Печатается по решению 

редакционно-издательского совета ПГТУ 

 
 
 
 
Красильникова, Н. В. 

English for economists: учебно-методическое пособие / 

Н. В. Красильникова, Е. В. Кудрявцева. – Йошкар-Ола: Поволжский 
государственный технологический университет, 2018. – 60 с. 

ISBN 978-5-8158-2028-9 
 
Представлены аутентичные тексты по экономической тематике, упраж
нения на усвоение профессионально ориентированной лексике и терминологии. 

Для студентов направления бакалавриата 38.03.01 «Экономика» очной 

и заочной форм обучения. 

 

 

УДК 811.111(075.8) 

ББК  81.432.1я7 

 
 
 
 
 
 

ISBN 978-5-8158-2028-9
© Красильникова Н. В., 
Кудрявцева Е. В., 2018
© Поволжский государственный
технологический университет, 2018

К 78 

CONTENTS 

 

Предисловие ................................................................................................ 4 

Text 1. ECONOMICS................................................................................... 5 

Text 2. SUPPLY AND DEMAND ............................................................... 9 

Text 3. MONEY ........................................................................................ 12 

Text 4. HOW IS MONEY MEASURED AND CREATED? .................... 15 

Text 5. TRADE .......................................................................................... 19 

Text 6. INTERNATIONAL TRADE......................................................... 22 

Text 7. TRADE SURPLUS AND DEFICIT ............................................. 25 

Text 8. HOW DO EXCHANGE RATES FUNCTION?............................ 29 

Text 9. GDP AND GNP ............................................................................ 31 

Text 10. MARKET STRUCTURE ............................................................ 34 

Text 11. TYPES OF BUSINESS ENTITIES ............................................. 38 

Text 12. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS: BANKS .................................... 42 

Text 13. TAXES ........................................................................................ 46 

Text 14. ACCOUNTING ........................................................................... 50 

Text 15. AUDIT ......................................................................................... 54 

Список литературы .................................................................................. 58 

 
 

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ 

 
Учебное пособие ориентировано на студентов направления подго
товки «Экономика» очной и заочной форм обучения. 

Работа с аутентичными текстами по экономической тематике, вы
полнение упражнений на усвоение профессионально ориентированной лексики и терминологии, подготовка краткого изложения прочитанного материала позволят студентам не только расширить словарный запас по предложенным темам, усовершенствовать навыки чтения, но и овладеть умением быстрого извлечения информации из текстов по специальности, а также научиться кратко и логически последованно передавать содержание прочитанной информации. 

Предложенные в пособии тексты взяты с сайтов сети Интернет, 

где раскрывается содержание экономических тем и проблем. Эти тексты представляют практический и познавательный интерес для студентов экономических направлений подготовки.  

 

 

 
 

Text 1 
E C O N O M I C S

1. Read the following international words and give their Russian 

equivalents: 

economics, recession, banking, finance, microeconomics, to analyze, 

capital, public, discipline, idea. 

2. Read the following text and answer the questions: 

Economics can be defined in a few different ways: it’s the study of 

scarcity, the study of how people use resources, or the study of decisionmaking. Economics often involves topics like wealth, finance, recessions, 
and banking, leading to the misconception that economics is all about 
money and the stock market. Actually, it’s a much broader discipline that 
helps us understand historical trends, interpret today’s headlines, and make 
predictions for coming decades.  

One of the central ideas of economics is that people want certain things 

and will change their behaviour to get those things – in other words, people 
will respond to incentives. A good school district provides an incentive for 
parents to try to move to a neighbourhood if they want to ensure their kids 
get a good education. Lower wages in another country provide an incentive 
for a factory to relocate overseas to cut down on costs. High taxes provide 
an incentive for people to look for ways to hide their income because they 
want to keep more of their money. 

Economic study ranges from the very small to the very large. 

Microeconomics analyzes basic elements in the economy, including 
individual agents and markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of 
interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, 
buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyzes the entire economy (meaning 
aggregated production, consumption, savings, and investment) and issues 
affecting it, including unemployment of resources (labour, capital, and land), 

inflation, economic growth, and the public policies that address these issues 
(monetary, fiscal, and other policies). 

Important public policy debates revolve around questions of 

economics. Governments all over the world employ economists to help 
understand how government health programmes will affect the incentives 
of doctors, whether farm subsidies will raise or lower prices at the grocery 
store, and the best ways to fight poverty. 

Much of economics involves using data gathered by governments, 

businesses, or in the laboratory to test hypotheses about whether a certain 
programme, event, or incentive will have the expected effect. Another 
branch of economics focuses on using economic theory to make predictions 
about how people and markets will behave. 

Thus, broad distinctions within economics include those between 

positive economics, describing «what is», and normative economics, 
advocating «what ought to be»; between economic theory and applied 
economics.  

1. How can economics be defined and what topics does it cover? 
2. What does microeconomics deal with? 
3. What is the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics? 
4. How do economists test their theories? 
5. What does economic theory help to predict? 

3. Learn the following words and expressions: 

production
производство

stock market
фондовый рынок, биржа

consumption
потребление

resources
ресурсы

money
деньги

government
правительство

savings
сбережения, накопления

income
доход

subsidies
субсидии

wage
заработная плата

prediction
прогноз

unemployment
безработица

scarcity
недостаток, нехватка

incentive
стимул, вознаграждение

costs
расходы

policy
политика

4. Match the verbs in the left column with their Russian equivalents 

in the right one: 

1) relocate
2) gather
3) behave
4) affect
5) raise
6) involve
7) revolve
8) employ
9) describe
10) use

a) нанимать
b) влиять
c) поднимать
d) вести себя
e) вращаться
f) использовать
g) описывать
h) перемещать
i) вовлекать
j) собирать

5. Match the phrases in the left column with their Russian 

equivalents in the right one: 

1) labour resources
2) health programmes
3) applied economics
4) provide an incentive
5) public debates
6) test hypotheses
7) make predictions

a) прикладная экономика
b) общественные дебаты
c) проверить гипотезы
d) экономическая теория
e) составить прогноз
f) принятие решений
g) снизить расходы

8) decision-making
9) cut down on costs
10) economic theory

h) оздоровительные программы
i) стимулировать
j) трудовые ресурсы

6. Read the following statements and decide if they are true or false: 

1. Economics is the study of human behaviour. 
2. Microeconomics tests different theories of the past.  
3. High taxes cause low income of the population. 
4. To cut down on costs businesses are moved to other countries. 
5. Economics predicts future trends in finance, consumption, and 

recessions. 

7. Render the text «Economics» in English (5-7 sentences). 

 
 

Text 2 
S U P P L Y A N D D E M A N D

1. Read the following international words and give their Russian 

equivalents: 

fundamental, concept, equilibrium, structure, optimal, monopoly, 

monopolist, dominant, perspective, correlation. 

2. Read the following text and answer the questions: 

Supply and demand is perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts 

of economics and it is the backbone of a market economy. Demand refers 
to how much (quantity) of a product or service is desired by buyers. The 
quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy at 
a certain price; the relationship between price and quantity demanded is 
known as the demand relationship. Supply represents how much the market 
can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a certain product 
manufacturers are willing to supply when receiving a certain price.  

The correlation between price and how much of a product or service is 

supplied to the market is known as the supply relationship. Price, therefore, 
is a reflection of supply and demand. The resulting price is referred to as 
the equilibrium price and represents an agreement between producers and 
consumers of the product. In equilibrium the quantity of a product supplied 
by manufacturers equals the quantity demanded by consumers. 

The law of demand states that, if all other factors remain equal, the higher 

the price of a product, the less people will demand that product. In other 
words, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded. The amount of 
a product that buyers purchase at a higher price is less because as the price 
of a product goes up, so does the opportunity cost of buying that product. As 
a result, people will naturally avoid buying a product that will force them to 
forgo the consumption of something else they value more.  

Like the law of demand, the law of supply demonstrates the quantities 

that will be sold at a certain price. But unlike the law of demand, the supply 

relationship shows an upward slope. This means that the higher the price, 
the higher the quantity supplied. Producers supply more at a higher price 
because selling a higher quantity at a higher price increases revenue. 

1. What is one of the most important theories of economics?  
2. What does demand mean? 
3. What does supply mean? 
4. What does equilibrium price show? 
5. How do demand and supply influence the market? 

3. Learn the following words and expressions: 

manufacturer
производитель

slope
уклон

relationship
взаимоотношения

opportunity cost
«цена выбора», альтернативные издержки, 
издержки неиспользованных возможностей

power
власть

competition
конкуренция

consumer
потребитель

revenue
прибыль

law
закон

quantity
количество

amount
количество

supply
предложение

demand
спрос

4. Match the verbs in the left column with their Russian equivalents 

in the right one: 

1) supply
2) refer
3) purchase

a) воздерживаться
b) уклоняться, избегать
c) предлагать

4) offer
5) force
6) forgo
7) remain

d) заставлять
e) получать
f) оставаться
g) относиться

8) reflect
9) receive
10) avoid

h) отражать
i) поставлять
j) покупать

5. Match the phrases in the left column with their Russian 

equivalents in the right one: 

1) market economy
2) equilibrium price
3) the amount of product
4) certain price
5) quantity demanded
6) quantity supplied

a) величина спроса
b) равновесная цена
c) количество продукта
d) рыночная экономика
e) величина предложения
f) определённая цена

6. Read the following statements and decide if they are true or 

false: 

1. Demand is the quantity of product people want to sell. 
2. The relationship between price and costs is known as the demand 

relationship. 

3. Product price depends on the demand and supply. 
4. The higher the price of the product is the less is the demand. 
5. To increase revenue producers sell a product at a low price. 

7. Render the text «Supply and Demand» in English (5-7 sentences).