Consider, for example, the rent ceilings that have been imposed on some apartments in New York City. First, the purpose of these ceilings was to prevent (предотвращать) rents from rocketing up during World War II. It has resulted in a shortage of housing in New York City. Because they have pushed the price of housing below the equilibrium price, less housing has been supplied than has been demanded. The lower price of housing has kept investors from building new housing, and has made it unprofitable for some owners of housing to maintain their buildings. It is socially desirable to allocate more resources to New York housing, but the rent ceilings have prevented this.

Governments may also impose price floors – or price supports, as they are often called. The assumption is that they allow producers of the good in question to maintain their revenues at a higher level. For example, the federal government has imposed price supports on a lot of agricultural commodities that might increase farm incomes. The result is that the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded at the floor price. Thus, there is a surplus of the commodity – and, in case of (в случае) agricultural commodities the government has to buy up and store these surpluses.

1. When do governments usually impose limits on prices?

2. What examples of government regulations of prices are given in the textl What were their results?

3. Is government regulation of prices desirable?

б) Подумайте и скажите:

1. What other examples of government rationing of foodstuffs and other goods do you know? What were the reasons for it?

2. Are there any price limits in Russia at present? If there are any, give examples.

Грамматика и лексика:

1. Инфинитив в функции подлежащего, обстоятельств цели и Следствия

2. Оборот «for + существительное + инфинитив»

3. Значения слова one(повторение)

4. Значения слова it(повторение)

Задание на дом № 1

1. В разделе «Грамматика и словообразование» проработайте § 13,14,15, 18 и 19.

2. Переведите, не пользуясь словарем, следующие группы однокоренных слов, опираясь на значение одного из них. Обратите внимание на отрицательные приставки.

а) efficient (эффективный): inefficient, efficiently, inefficiently, efficiency, inefficiency;

б) to employ (нанимать, предоставлять работу): employed, employment, unemployed, unemployment

3. Переведите предложения на русский язык, обращая внимание на инфинитив.

а) 1. То run a business is to plan its activities and to determine all operations necessary at each step.

2. To control an economy is the same as to intervene in it.

3. To develop new information technologies is of prime importance for those countries that wish to lead in the world economy.

4. To stay in the tobacco market is not an easy task for Russian manufacturers.

5. To use food stamps (карточки, талоны) was common practice in many countries in wartime.

б) 1. In order to consume, we need income.

2. In order to earn income, we have to work.

3. Firms and individuals spend their income to consume and to invest.

4. To analyze the labour market, an economist should first explain how people allocate their time to production.

5. With an increase in the price of one factor of production, to produce a given output the firm starts using a technology economizing on the factor whose price has risen.

6. To calculate profit-maximizing output and the corresponding quantities of the factors demanded, we have to calculate the total cost for all output levels.

в) 1. As a rule, resources in industrialized countries are used effectively enough to make a solid basis for economic growth.