Introduction au cours de S.E.S
Exercise 1: The primary fact of human existence is scarcity. Without scarcity of time, scarcity of resources, scarcity of consumable goods, human beings would lack for nothing. Sadly, scarcity is a fact. Too little time and stuff exist to satisfy all our desires. We use the time and the resources that we have to produce the services and goods that we need. Air is the only thing that we can have in whatever quantity we wish without any effort. Men have to work to satisfy the rest of their needs. Air is the only non economic good, the only one we get without any human production and work. But scarcity means that we have limited resources (and time) and therefore cannot produce all the goods and services we wish to have. Just as a household cannot give every member everything he or she wants, an economy cannot give every individual the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire. D'après G.Mankiw, Principles of Economics et P.Antonioni, Economics for Dummies Question 1: Why do we have to work? Question 2: What is the purpose of economic production? Question 3: Explain the underlined sentence in the text. Question 4: What is an “economic good”? Question 5: What's the difference between a “service” and a “good”? Question 6: Tick the right boxes. Vocabulaire : scarcity (ˈskɛər sɪ ti) : rareté scarce : rare To lack : manquer (de quelque chose)
Service
Good
Car An economic lesson Mobile phone subscription DVD Mobile phone A dinner at a restaurant A visit to the doctor Exercise 2: 1
Introduction au cours de S.E.S
In that respect, there is a big difference between men and animals. Whereas animal's needs are limited and conditioned by biology, ours are infinite. Horses need to eat grass and only grass since they've existed. They don't dream of buying the latest ipad, mobile phone or car. Their needs are limited because they are determined by nature. All living creatures, with the exception of man, are determined by their nature in what they need and want. On the contrary, there is no limit to our desires. We have “primary” needs, such as food and sleep. But we also have “secondary” needs, that are the product of the society we live in. No one wanted a mobile phone until it was invented: for most of their existence, men didn't need mobile phone. They didn't even know that such a thing could exist. And there is no apparent limit to the new needs that society can create. As a consequence, scarcity is even more acute for us. Question 1: What is the difference between “primary” and “secondary” needs? Question 2: Why is there no limit to our needs? Question 3: Why society plays a big role in economic production? Exercise 3 : Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. In most societies, resources are allocated not by an allpowerful dictator but through the combined actions of millions of households and firms. Economists therefore study how people make decisions: how much they work, what they buy, how much they save, and how they invest their savings. Economists also study how people interact with one another. For instance, they examine how the multitude of buyers and sellers of a good together determine the price at which the good is sold and the quantity that is sold. Finally, economists analyze forces and trends that affect the economy as a whole, including the growth in average income, the fraction of the population that cannot find work, and the rate at which prices are rising. G.Mankiw, Principles of Economics Question 1: What is the purpose of economics? Question 2: Explain the underlined sentence in the text. Question 3: How do we call “ the fraction of the population that cannot find work”? Question 4: How do we call “the rate at which prices are rising”? Vocabulaire : To allocate (ˈæləˌkeɪt) : allouer (c'estàdire répartir) To interact: interagir As a whole: dans son ensemble
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Introduction au cours de S.E.S
Exercise 4: Production comes first in the economy. Production is the process by which we are able to use our scarce resources to get the goods and services that we need. In our economy, there is no central planning of production: no one decides, for the whole economy, what we are going to produce. Instead, millions of companies take their own decisions, without receiving order from anyone. Their only goal is to make the largest possible profit out of their production. This kind of economy, where most of the production is made by millions of profitseeking companies, is called a “market economy” or a “capitalist economy”. But production means work. If people go to work it's because they expect to be paid for it. The incomes that come from the selling of production are distributed between those who took part in it: the workers (what economists call “the labour factor”) but also the people who owns the capital goods (also called the “capital factor”), that make production possible (such as factories, machines, cars, etc.). Thanks to their income individuals can buy the goods and services they need: they can have access to production. Sellers and consumers meet on markets and fix the prices at which goods and services are sold. Reciprocally, consumption and production will depend on the prices that are fixed on the market. Question 1: What is a company? Question 2: What are the two “factors of production”? Question 3: Complete the graph with the following words: work, production, consumption, needs, income
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