北京师范大学讲述.docVIP

北京师范大学 通用学术英语 《学术英语读译》课程教材2015~2016学年春季学期 Unit 1 Getting and Spending: A Cross-Cultural View of Economics 1 Every society produces, distributes, and uses goods and services. Therefore, every society has an economy, a system that manages the process of production, distribution, consumption, or use. The people of every culture learn specific economic behavior. They have certain motivations and make certain economic choices that their society has taught them. 2 Formal economics states that people make rational economic choices that result in their well-being and profit. It studies the production and consumption of goods in an industrialize market economy. It assumes that the economy runs on rational choices such as those a businessperson makes: Should the firm cut down or expand its production in a certain situation? Should it purchase a new machine or hire more laborers? Where should it locate it plant? Will it manufacture shoes or gloves? How much will be spent on advertising its product? All these decisions are assumed to be rational, that is, based on the desire to make the greatest possible profit from limited resources. 3 Formal economics also assumes that individuals as well as business act rationally in making decisions about how to spend their incomes. Individuals may have many desires, but they usually have only limited income to fulfill those desires. Therefore, decisions about how to spend that income—whether to buy a car, give the children a private school education, place a down payment on a house, or take a vacation—must be weighed rationally before they are made. Decisions about how to spend time are similarly weighed. Should one spend one’s leisure time with one’s family, in a second job, or back in school studying for an advanced degree to improve one’s future economic chances? 4 Formal economics focuses on the Western industrial market economy. However, its key assumptions about rational decision making limited resources, and the importance of pro