新英美概况 教学课件 齐智英 unit 4.pptVIP

Unit Four British and American Economy Contents Unit Four 4.1 Features of the British and Amrican Economy 4.1.1 Features of the British Economy Britain is one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing and trading nations. Its currency, the pound sterling, is the exchange currency for about one third of the world’s foreign trade. But after World War II, the growth of its total and per capital income and output lagged behind that of other industrialized economies, and as a result the country dropped from second place in terms of per capital income in 1938, to perhaps, tenth place by 1970. Unit Four The British economy was the first to have been fully industrialized. Its Industrial Revolution took place between 1750 and 1850. The location of its industries, its transportation network, and many of its economic institutions bear the traces of having been designed originally for the technological requirements of the early 19th century. As early as 1851, when most of the world’s population was still engaged in agriculture, the proportion of the British labor force employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing was only 21.7%. By contrast, industry employed 42.9 %, trade and transportation 15.8 %, and services 19.7%. The proportion employed in agriculture subsequently fell much further and is smaller than in any other European country, but the corresponding expansion occurred mostly in commerce and service industries rather than in manufacturing. Unit Four British agriculture does not produce enough food to meet the country’s basic needs, and therefore part of all vital foodstuffs has to be imported. Fuel oil used to be wholly imported, but now Britain has been exporting much oil on account of the North Sea finds. Most of the important industrial raw materials used by British industry, including high grade iron ore, are purchased from other countries. The sale of manufactured goods and of services to pay for these imports is a condition of survival of the