accordingly auction                   degree

discount     discrimination        guesswork

in bulk        markup price          pensioners

retailers      risk-taking  wholesaler

1. Some people like dangerous sports because they enjoy … .

2. In an … the item for sale is sold to the customer who offers the highest price.

3. The … is the extra money shops add to the value of something in order to make a profit.

4. In the past, forecasting the weather was just … .

5. When you are in a formal situation, you have to dress and behave … .

6. In the winter sales the shops often give a … of up to 50%.

7. When you buy … you buy very large quantities of something.

8. … is when you treat some people differently to others.

9. … are people who sell things.

10. A … is a company that buys large quantities of goods from factories and sells them on to shopkeepers.

11. To what … you do something, means how much you do it.

12. Because retired people usually receive a pension, they are often called … .

Now read the text again and choose the kind of price discrimination that matches these descriptions.

1. A different price is charged to each customer.

A first degree

B second degree

C third degree

2. It helps make products and services more affordable to some people.

A first degree

B second degree

C third degree

3. It rarely happens in real markets.

A first degree

B second degree

C third degree

4. The price falls as quantity rises.

A first degree

B second degree

C third degree

5. It happens on the Internet.       A first degree

B second degree

C third degree

Welfare economics

Behind the numbers, charts and formulas of economics, there are people. This is sometimes easy to forget. Economics isn't only about profits, losses and utility. It's about society. Economic ideas and theories often seem to be issues that are far removed from people's everyday lives. Welfare economics, however, tries to correct this. It looks at how economic policies affect society, families and the individual.

One of the big issues in welfare economics is equity. Equity means fairness, and welfare economists are interested in measuring how fair our economic systems are. One way they do this is to look at how income and wealth arc distributed among the population. Welfare economists also investigate the effects of government policy on equity.

Governments' main weapon to fight inequity (unfairness) is taxation. Welfare economists try to find out how taxation affects vertical equity and horizontal equity, which are two ideas that taxation systems can be based on. The idea behind vertical equity is that people with more income will pay more than those with less income. The idea behind horizontal equity is that people with the same income will pay the same amount of tax. Ideally, a tax system will have both vertical and horizontal equity.

However, some economists feel that any kind of taxation on people's earnings is unjust. They believe it is unfair to penalise entrepreneurs and hard-workers. Why should people who are less able or less hard-working be supported by others? In this view of welfare economics, inequity is a natural feature of every economic system. Trying to create equity, they say, is just a waste of time. Instead, it is better to make economic systems more efficient. A more efficient economy grows faster and everyone in society benefits.

Welfare economics isn't only about the fairness of economic systems. It's also about the impact that economic choices have on our lives. Economic transactions often affect other people who are not directly involved in those transactions. Economists call these results externalities. Externalities are sometimes good and sometimes bad for society. For example, pollution is a negative externality of the car industry. But cars give people better mobility, which is a positive externality of the same industry.

Production is not the only cause of negative externalities for society. Many are due to our use or consumption of goods. People's litter in parks and on beaches is one example; noisy neighbours playing their CD player loudly is another. These are both examples of externalities causing pollution. However, health problems from smoking and drinking alcohol are also externalities from economic transactions. These have a cost for individuals, but also for society as a whole.

Переведите на английский язык:

1. Хотя многие из экономических законов, формул, теорий и понятий часто кажутся далекими от повседневной жизни, экономическая политика затрагивает жизнь общества, семьи и отдельных людей. Экономика благосостояния рассматривает вопросы справедливости.

2. Экономисты анализируют, как распределяются доход и богатство среди населения. А справедливость в экономике благосостояния реализуется через налогообложение.

3. По мнению экономистов, разделяющих концепцию экономики благосостояния, любая экономическая система несправедлива.

4. Правительства получают доходы из разных источников, главным из которых является налогообложение.

5. При помощи налогов правительства достигают различных целей: уменьшают разрыв в доходах между бедными и богатыми, препятствуют потреблению людьми вредных продуктов, контролируют совокупные спрос и предложение на рынке.

6. Большая часть налоговых поступлений идёт на общественные блага, т. е. на национальную оборону, уличное освещение, здравоохранение, образование и пр.

7. Те воздействия, которые экономическая деятельность оказывает на людей, называются внешними эффектами или экстерналиями. Они могут быть положительными или отрицательными. Например, промышленность может причинять вред окружающей среде.

Welfare economics

1. Match the words and phrases with the

Definitions.

1. vertical               A an exchange such as buying and selling

2. horizontal          B idea of being the same / equal

3. equity                C level, for example from left to right

4. distribute           D going straight up and down

5. to be fair            E someone who sets up a new business of their own

6. investigate         F punish

7. an individual     G income

8. issue                   H to treat people reasonably and in the right way

9. to be unjust        I to treat people unreasonably or in the wrong way

10. penalize           J look into

11. entrepreneur    K share out

12. economic transaction  L effect

13. impact              M a person

14. earnings           N something important that people talk about

15. externality       O something that happens without being expected

16. taxation           P system of taking part of people's earnings to give governments an income

17. policy         Q the amount of a product people buy or use

18. consumption    R rule made by government, and/or the course it follows