Leah
Outlines for Chapter 2, Section 1
Economic
01-19-10
Economic Systems
经济制度
Economic System — an organized way of providing for the wants and needs of their people.
Three major types — Traditional, Command, and Market.
Traditional Economies
传统经济
- In a society with a traditional economy, the allocation of scarce resources, and nearly all other economics activity, stems from ritual, habit, or custom.
- Individuals are not free to make decisions based on what they want or would like to have. Their roles are defined by the customs of their elders and ancestors.
Example. Inuit parents taught their children how to survive in a harsh climate, make tools, fish, and hunt. Their children, in turn, taught these skills to the next generation. [Hunters get meat in order.]
Advantages
- Everyone knows which role to play.
Disadvantages
- It tends to discourage new ideas and new ways to doing things. The lack of progress leads to a lower standard of living than in other types of economic societies.
【注释1】
- (1)Traditional 传统的，习俗的，惯例的，因袭的，守旧的
- (2)allocation 划拨的款项，拨给的场地，分配的东西，划，拨，分配
- (3)steam (花草的)茎，(花或叶的)梗，柄;(高脚酒杯的)脚，烟斗柄
- (4) ritual 程序，仪规;礼节，(尤指)宗教仪式，习惯，老规矩
- (5)role 职能，地位，角色，(演员的)角色，影响程度，作用
- (6)ancestor 祖宗，祖先，(动物的)原种，(机器的)原型
- (7)survive 生存，存活，继续存在，幸存，幸免于难，艰难度过，比…活(或存在)的时间长
- (8)harsh 残酷的，严酷的，严厉的，恶劣的，艰苦的，强烈刺眼的，丑陋的
- (9)advantage 有利条件，有利因素，优势，优点，(局末平分后)占先，优势分
- (10)disadvantages 劣势，不利因素，障碍，不便之处
- (11)tend 往往会，常常就，趋向，走向，倾向，趋于，照料，照管，护理
- (12)discourage 阻拦，阻止，劝阻，使灰心，使泄气，使丧失信心
- (13)lack 缺乏，匮乏，短缺
Command Economies
计划经济
- Economic decisions are made by the government, which the people have little influence over how the basic economic questions are answered.
Example. [North Korea, Cuba, the communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union.] in the former Soviet Union, the State Planning Commission directed nearly every aspect of Soviet economy, which determined needs, decided goals, and set production quotas for major industries.
Advantages
- It can change direction drastically in a relatively short time.
- There is little uncertainty in this type of economy. Most command economies tend to provide minimum levels of education, health, and other public services at little or no cost to its people.
Disadvantages
- It is not designed to meet the wants of consumers, even though man basic needs are provided.
- The system does not give people the incentive to work hard. [Workers with different skills and responsibilities receive similar wages. And people seldom lose their jobs, regardless of the quality of their work.]
- The command economy requires a lager decision-making bureaucracy. [Most decisions cannot be made until after consulting a number of people and processing a lager amount of paper-work. These procedures slow decision making and raise the costs of productions.
- It does not have the flexibility to deal with minor, day-to-day problems.
- People with new unique ideas find in difficult to get ahead in a command economy.
【注释2】
- (14)bloc (政治利益一致的)国家集团
- (15)goal 球门，射门，进球得分，目标，目的
- (16)quota 定额，限额，配额，定量，指标，(候选人当选所需的)规定票数，最低票数
- (17)drastically 彻底地，激烈地
- (18)incentive 激励，刺激，鼓励
- (19)ureaucracy 官僚主义，官僚作风，官僚体制，实行官僚体制的国家
- (20)flexibility 柔韧性，灵活性，弹性，适应性
- (21)minor 较小的，次要的，轻微的，小调的，小音阶的
- (22)unique 唯一的，独一无二的，独特的，罕见的(某人、地或事物)独具的，特有的
Market Economies
市场经济
- People and firms act in their own best interest to answer the WHAT, HOW, and FOR WHOM questions.
- A market is an arrangement that allows buyers and sellers to come together in order to exchange goods and services.
- In market economy, people’s decisions act as votes. When consumers buy a particular product, they are casting their dollar “votes” for that product. The consumers play a key role in determining WHAT to produce.
Examples. Most of the largest and most prosperous economies in the world. [US, Canada, South Korea, Singapore Western Europe]
Advantages
- Over time, it can adjust change.
- Its high degree of individual freedom.
- The relatively small degree of government interference.
- The decision making is decentralized, or not concentrated in the hands of a few.
- The incredible variety of goods and services available to consumers.
- The high degree of consumer satisfaction.
Disadvantages
- It dose not provide for the basic needs of everyone in the society-some members of the society may be too young, too old, or too sick to care for themselves.
- It does not provide enough of the services that people value highly.
- The relatively high degree of uncertainty that workers and business face as the result of change.
- Market economies can fail if three conditions are not meet.
- Markets must be reasonably competitive, allowing producers to compete with one another to offer the best value for the price.
- Resources must be reasonably free to move from one activity to another.
- Consumers need access to adequate information so that they can weight the alternatives and make wise choices.
[When markets fail, some business become too powerful and some individuals receive incomes much larger than justified by their productivity. So that we also have to rely on govern to ensure that sufficient competition, freedom of resource movement, and adequate information exist.]
【注释3】
- (23)firm 商行，商号，公司；坚固的，坚硬的，结实的
- (24)arrangement 安排，筹备，安排方式，布置，商定，约定
- (25)particular 专指的，特指的(与泛指相对)，不寻常的，格外的，特别的，讲究，挑剔
- (26)prosperous 繁荣的，成功的，兴旺的
- (27)decentralize 分散，下放(权力)，将…的权力下放
- (28)incredible 不能相信的，难以置信的，极好的，极大的
- (29)variety (同一事物的)不同种类，多种式样，变化，多样化，多变性
- (30)reasonably 尚可，过得去，合乎逻辑地，明智地，通情达理地，公平合理地，适度地
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