Finance

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА  

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ  

ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА»  

 

 

Институт экономики и финансов 

 

Кафедра «Лингвистика» 

 
 
 
 

Н.И. Мерзликина 

 
 

Finance    

 

Хрестоматия 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

МОСКВА - 2021 

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА  

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ  

ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА»  

 

 

Институт экономики и финансов 

 

Кафедра «Лингвистика» 

 
 
 
 

Н.И. Мерзликина 

  
 

Finance 

 

Хрестоматия  

для студентов-магистров  

специальности «Экономика»  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

МОСКВА - 2021

УДК 42 
М 52 
 
         Мерзликина 
Н.И. 
Finance: 
Хрестоматия. 
Для 

студентов-магистров специальности «Экономика». – М.: 
РУТ (МИИТ), 2021. – 49 с.  
 
          Настоящая 
хрестоматия 
предназначена 
для 

студентов-магистров специальности «Экономика».  
           
          Цель хрестоматии - совершенствование умений 
владения профессиональным английским языком для 
специалистов в области финансов. Тексты хрестоматии 
аутентичны, 
профессионально 
ориентированы, 

информативны, нацелены на ознакомление обучающихся с 
различными сторонами деятельности экономистов. 
 

©РУТ (МИИТ), 2021 

Text 1. What is money and what is not money 

 
If you are trying to determine if something is 

money, simply consider whether it would be accepted 
in most stores as payment. You then realize that stocks, 
bonds, gold or foreign currency are not money. These 
must first be exchanged for the national currency 
before you can use them for consumption. Note that in 
some cases, foreign currency will be money. For 
example, in some border towns, the currency of the 
bordering 
country 
may 
be 
accepted 
virtually 

everywhere. 

You also realize that some bank deposits are 

money. If you have money in an account in a bank and 
a debit card, you can pay for goods and service using 
the card in most places. Funds are withdrawn directly 
from your account when you make the purchase, which 
makes the deposits as good as cash in your pocket. 
Counting deposits as money is also consistent with the 
idea that money measures how much is available for 
immediate consumption. 

Not all deposits can be counted as money. With 

most savings accounts, you cannot connect the account 
to a debit card and these deposits should not be counted 
as money. We also note that what is money has nothing 
to do with the commodity or token itself: USD is 
money in the United States but not in the U.K.; Gold is 
not money but gold was money in some countries in 
the 
middle 
ages. 
Historically, 
such 
diverse 

commodities as cigarettes and sharks’ teeth have been 
used as money in some places; a national currency may 
suddenly cease to be money in a country. This may 
happen if inflation is so high that people shift to 
another foreign currency. 
Money, wealth and income 

Money is not the same as wealth. An individual 

may be very wealthy but have no money (for example 
by owning stocks and real estate). Another individual 
may have a lot of money but no wealth. This would be 
the case if an individual with no wealth borrows money 
from a bank. She will have money (for example in the 
form of a deposit in the bank) but no wealth since this 
deposit exactly matches the outstanding debt. Be 
careful with this distinction: do not say: “Anna has a 
lot of money” if you mean that Anna is wealthy. 

Money is not the same as income and income is 

not the same as wealth. Income is a flow (for example 
is currency units per month) while money or wealth is 
a stock (measured at a particular point in time). Again, 
it is very possible to have a high income but no money 
and no wealth, or to be very wealthy and have a lot of 
money but no income. This is another distinction to be 
careful with. Do not say that “Sam makes a lot of 
money” if you mean that Sam has a high income. 
Money has a very precise definition in economics! 
Economic functions of money 
Money is generally considered to have three economic 
functions: 

A medium of exchange. This is its most important role. 
Without money we would live in a barter economy 
where we would have to trade goods and services for 
other goods and services. If I had fish but wanted 
bread, I would need to find someone who was in the 
precise opposite situation. In a monetary economy I 
can trade fish for money with one individual and 
money for bread with another. Money solves what is 
called the double coincidence of wants. 
A unit of account. In a monetary economy, all prices 
may be expressed in monetary units, which everyone 
may relate to. Without money, prices must be 
expressed in units of other goods and comparing prices 
are more difficult. You may find that a grilled chicken 
costs 2 kilos of cod in one place and 4 kilos of 
strawberries in another. Finding the cheapest grilled 
chicken is not easy. 
Store of value. If you are a fisherman and have a 
temporary surplus of fish that you want to store for the 
future, storing the fish might not be a great idea. 
Money, on the other hand, stores well. Other 
commodities, such as gold, have this feature as well. 
 

Text 2. What are the World’s Major Currencies? 

 
The currencies of the world’s major economies 

have names and backgrounds that are as diverse as the 
countries themselves. The dollar, used in many 
countries including the United States, Canada, and 

Australia, gets name from a silver coin minted during 
the Middle Ages in a small valley, or «Thal», in 
Bohemia called Joachimsthal. Just as a sausage from 
Frankfurt came to be called frankfurter, the coins from 
Joachimsthal were called «Joachimstaler» or simply 
«Thaler», and came to be called «dollar» in English. 

The pound, used in Britain, Egypt, and Lebanon 

among others, refers to the weight used in determining 
the value of coins, based on precious metals such as 
gold or sterling. The penny has the same origin as the 
word pawn, found in terms such as pawn shop, and 
originally meant «to pledge». A penny, like any 
currency, is a «pledge» of value. 

The riyal, in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the rial 

in Iran, are based on the Spanish word real – which, in 
turn, was derived from the Latin regal(is) – referring to 
earlier «royal» coins. The dinar, used in Iraq and 
Kuwait among others, derives its name from 
«denarius», a Roman coin that was worth «ten bronze 
asses», an item of considerable value in days of old. In 
India, Pakistan, and other countries of the subcontinent, 
the currency is called rupee (in Indonesia, rupiah), 
based on the Sanskrit word rupya, meaning «coined 
silver». 

The ancient Chinese word yiam meant «round», 

or «small round thing». 

The name of the Japanese currency, the yen, and 

the name of the Chinese 

currency, the yuan, both derived from the old Chinese 
word, refer to the round shape of the original coins. 
 

Text 3. Naming the Currency and Creating  

the € Symbol 

 
At the meeting of the European Council in 

Madrid in December 1995, Europe’s leaders decided 
on the currency’s new name: the euro. Other 
suggestions were rejected because of their national 
connotations. These included the «ducat», «ecu», 
«florin», «franken», or using the euro as a prefix to 
existing currency names – «euromark», for example. 
They agreed that the name should be the same in all 
official languages of the European Union (EU), taking 
account of different alphabets, and easy to pronounce. 
Above all, it had to be simple and representative of 
Europe. 

The currency also needed to have a symbol. Like 

the name, the symbol had to be clearly associated with 
Europe, easy to write and attractive. 

A list of thirty possibilities drawn up by 

European Commission staff was reduced to ten and 
these became the subject of a public survey. From this 
shortlist, two possible symbols emerged and the final 
choice was made by the then President of the 
Commission, Jacques Santer, and Yves-Thibault de 
Silguy, the Commissioner in charge of Economic and 
Financial Affairs at that time. 

The euro symbol was inspired by the Greek 

letter epsilon, reflecting the cradle of European 
civilization. «E» is of course the first letter of the word 
Europe. The two strong parallel horizontal lines are 
intended to symbolize the stability of the currency. The 
official abbreviation of the euro, EUR, has been 
registered with the International Organization for 
Standardization (ISO). 

 

Text 4. Central Banking System 

 
The central banking system is a major sector of 

any modern monetary system. It is of great importance 
to the fiscal policy of the national government and the 
functioning of the private sector. 

Central banks such as the Bank of England, the 

Federal Reserve Board of the US, the Bundesbank of 
Germany, the Central Bank of Russia function for the 
government and other banks, not for private customers. 
They are responsible for the implementation of 
monetary policy and supervision over the banking 
system. 

In particular, they control the money supply, fix 

the minimum interest rate, act as lenders of last resort 
to commercial banks with liquidity problems, issue 
coins and bank notes, influence exchange rates by 
intervening in foreign exchange markets. 

To ensure the safety of the banking system, 

central banks impose reserve requirements, obliging 

commercial banks to deposit a certain amount of 
money with the central bank at zero interest. Central 
banks in different countries also impose different 
"prudential ratios" on commercial banks such as capital 
ratio and liquid ratio. 

In the course of market reforms in Russia the 

Central Bank has been pursuing moderately tight 
monetary policy aimed at further reduction of inflation 
and putting an end to direct budget deficit crediting.1 
The CBR has been using the following main 
instruments of monetary policy: 

•   fixed targets for the money supply growth, 
•   refinancing of commercial banks, 
•   interest rates, 
•   open market operations, 
•   commercial banks reserve requirements, 
•   foreign currency control, 
•   direct quantity restrictions. 
 
*   *   * 
 

The Federal Reserve System or "Fed", as it is 

known in financial circles, is an independent agency of 
Congress founded in 1913. The system consists of 
twelve Federal Reserve banks and a board of 
governors. The board of governors has its headquarters 
in Washington, D.C. 

Members of the Fed's board of governors are 

appointed by the president of the United States and