The shape and Position of Supply Curves

In competitive markets the shape, or elasticity of supply, reflects time in the production process, such as the immediate or market period, the short run, and the long run. Elasticity of supply is the relative change in price that induces a relative change in quantity supplies. The supply curve is a line on a diagram where the vertical axis measures price and the horizontal axis is quantity. Usually the coefficient of elasticity is positive, meaning that a rise in price induces an increase in the quantity supplied. In the immediate or market period, a given moment, time is defined as too short to allow for a change in output. The supply curve is vertical, and the coefficient of elasticity is zero.

The short run is defined as a period sufficiently long to permit the producer to increase variable inputs, usually labor and materials, but not long enough to permit changes in plant and equipment. The supply curve in the short run is less inelastic or more elastic than in the immediate period. The long run permits sufficient time for the-producer to increase plant and equipment. The longer the time, the greater the elasticity of supply.

Changes in supply are shifts in the position of supply curves. An increase in supply is a right ward movement of a supply curve, with more of the commodity being offered for sale at each possible price. Conversely, a decrease in supply shifts the supply to the left. An increase in supply can occur because sellers expect lower prices in the future, or, as in the agricultural sector, because of bountiful crops. The reverse is true of a decrease in supply. Over periods of time long enough for production processes to change, improvements in technology and changes in input prices and productivities are the main causes of changes in supply.

Vocabulary

aggregate supply – совокупное предложение

complex – сложный, комплексный

forthcoming – предстоящий, ожидаемый

opportunity costs – альтернативные издержки

accountant – бухгалтер

explicit – явный, откровенный

implicit – подразумевающийся

to calculate – подсчитывать, вычислять, рассчитывать

for(e)go – предшествовать (по времени или в пространстве)

to convert – обращать, преобразовывать

shape – форма

given moment – данный момент

sufficiently – достаточно, в достаточной мере

to permit – позволять, разрешать

variable – переменный, изменчивый;

a variable -переменная

rightward movement – движение вправо

conversely – наоборот

bountiful crops – обильный урожай

 

Настоящее длительное время

Present Progressive Tense / Present Continuous

Настоящее длительное время (Present Рrogressive Tense) употребляется для обозначения действия, которое совершается в момент речи, т.е. в данный момент, в настоящее время. В этом случае употребляются обстоятельства времени: now «сейчас», at the moment «в данный момент», at this time «в данное время». Обстоятельства времени могут отсутствовать, если собеседники говорят о действиях, совершаемых в их присутствии.

Утверждение	Вопрос	Отрицание
I am reading. Я читаю.	Am I reading? Я читаю?	I am not reading. Я не читаю.
He (she) is reading. Он (она) читает.	Is he (she) reading? Он (она) читает?	He (she) is not reading. Он (она) не читает.
We are reading. Мы читаем.	Are we reading? Мы читаем?	We are not reading. Мы не читаем.
You are reading. Ты читаешь.	Are you reading? Ты читаешь?	You are not reading. Ты не читаешь.
They are reading. Они читают.	Are they reading? Они читают?	They are not reading. Они не читают.

 

 

Exercise 1.

Put the verbs in brackets into Present Indefinite or Present Continuous:

1. Look up! The sun …. so brightly. (to shine). 2. My uncle usually…. newspapers in the evening. (to read). 3. As a rule, my sister …. all housework in the evening. (to do). 4. Go and see! our children …. soundly. (to sleep). 5. Our family usually …. out of town on Sundays. (to go). What …. the students …. at the moment? (to do). Some of the students …. themselves. While the others …. the dialogue by heart. (to record, to learn) 6.... your nephew …. English books in the original? (to read) 7. Hallo! Where …. you ….? (go) – I …. to the university (to go). …. you …. there, too? (to go) – No, I …. not usually …. to the University in the morning. (to go) I …. evening classes (to attend). 9. …. you …. the words of this English song? (to understand) – Yes, I …. that now I …. them (to think, to understand). 10.Whom …. you …. there? (to see)

Exercise 2.

Use the Present Continuous instead of the infinitives in brackets:

1. He (not to work), he (to watch) the TV programmer. 2. Kitty (to finish) her porridge. 3. Look, the sun (to rise). 4. John (to polish) his boots and his sister (to press) her dress. 5. It (to rain)? Yes, it (to rain) very hard. 6. The delegation (to leave) Moscow tomorrow. 7. Sombody (to talk) in the next room. 8. Who (to make) such a noise? 9. What you (to read) now? I (to read) stories by Maugham. 10. The weather is fine. The sun (to shine) and the birds (to sing). 11. Sombody (to knock) at the door. 12.You (to go) anywhere tonight? 13. Why you (to speak) so fast? You (to make) a lot of mistakes. 14. Go and see what the children (to do). 15. Who you (to wait) for my sister. 16. I can’t hear what they (to talk) about.

Exercise 3.

Use the Present Indefinite or the Present Continuous instead of the infinitives in brackets:

1. My elder sister (to have) a music lesson. She always (to have) a music lesson on Friday. 2.Who (to sing) in the next room? 3. Father (to read) a newspaper. He usually (to read) something before going to bed. 4. Mother (to cook) breakfast in the kitchen. She always (to cook) in the mornings. 5. Who you (to wait) for? – I (to wait) for Ann, we must leave in ten minutes. 6. It often (to rain) in autumn. 7. Do not go out, it (to rain) heavily. 8. You (to understand) the use of the Present Indefinite and the Present Continuous quite well? 9.What you (to smile), Kitty? 11. I often (to meet) you at the corner of this street. You (to wait) for anybody? 12. You usually (to go) through the park? – Not usually, it’s only today that I (to go) here. 13. You (to hear) anything? – Yes, somebody (to knock) at the door. 14. They still (to discuss) where to go now.

Exercise 4. Use the verbs given in brackets in the Present Indefinite or the Present Continuous tenses:

1. Why you (to walk) so fast today? You usually (to walk) quite slowly. – I (to hurry). I am afraid to miss the train. 2. Cuckoos (not to build) nests. They (to use) the nests of other birds. 3. I always (to buy) lottery tickets but I seldom (to win). 4. You can’t have the book now because my brother (to read) it. 5. Some people (to do) everything with their left hand. 6. Who (to make) that terrible noise? – It’s my son. 7. How you (to feel)? 8. Switch on the light. It (to get) dark. 9.You (to understand) the rule? 10. The sun (to set) late in summer. 11. What you (to look for)? – We (to look for) our grandmother’s spectacles. 12. I (not to know) what he (to want). 13. What time she (to come) here as a rule? 14. Look, snow still (to fall). 15. It often (to train) in October.

Exercise 5. Use the verbs in brackets in Present Continuous:

1. The clock …. in the next room (to strike). 2. Father and Mother …. (to get up). 3. My sister …. tea (to make). 4. They …. breakfast (to have). 5. My brother …. continually …. about his wife’s health (to worry). 6. I …. my homework (to do). 7. Mother …. dinner (to cook) Grandmother in her (to help). 8. It …. dark (to get) the wind …. (to blow). The sun …. not ….(to shine). It …. (to rain). We …. home (to run). 9. Hallo! Where …. you ….? – I …. to the library. …. you ….there, too?- No, I …. to a friend of mine (to go). 10. You …. Always …. at the lessons (to talk).

Glossary 2.

 

Week 5.

Text 5.Competitive Market

Grammar: Past Continuous.

Communicative practice: “Travelling”

Text 5.

Competitive Market

Competition refers to the nature of the conditions under which individuals may trade property rights. It assumes a definition of property rights that individuals may trade among themselves as well as a description of the trading process. A competitive equilibrium is the outcome of competition. The very existence of such an equilibrium depends on the nature of the property rights. These aspects of competition are especially important in connection with the development of new technology and new products and with the use of low-cost, large-scale methods of production and distribution.

The simplest situation in an analysis of competition is a market where individuals have initial endowments of commodities that they own and that they may trade among themselves. All trades occur at the same time and place. The essential characteristics remain valid when trades do not all occur at the same time and place.

However, individuals would have incomplete knowledge relevant for their decisions. This complication changes the nature of the outcome of competition. Incomplete knowledge is inevitable partly because the future is unknown. Even so, it is often less costly to take current actions that will have future consequences without knowing that these will be than to respond onlyto momentary events of the present. The advantages of planning and the resulting exposure to hazards that may occur alter the effects of competition.

These basic considerations help explain the nature of production and why the quantities of goods offered will change over time in response to the expectations and information firms have. They also explain why some common notions about competition are inadequate. Among the inadequate notions about competitions is the belief that a necessary condition for competition is a lack of power by any firm to affect the prices of its products. Sometimes this any firm to affect the prices of its products. Sometimes this is put in another form, that competition can exist in an industry only if the demand curves facing the individual firms in that industry are infinitely elastic sothat changes in the quantities sold by a single firm cannot affect the product price. This condition is not necessary for competition. Nor is it necessary for competition that the number of firms be so large that each one is of negligibly small size relative to the total market for the commodities made by firms in he industry. Finally, it may be consistent with competition that some or all firms in an industry have obtained very high profit rates.

 

Прошедшее длительное время