Ex.1. Find English explanations or paraphrase

the economy is stretched; fiscal drag; state benefits; not index-linked wages; selling essential items; borrowing funds; a bout of inflation; wage-price spiral; a school of thought

Ex.2. Answer the questions.

1. Give the definition of inflation. What can you add to it?

2. The extent and severity of inflation.

3. Types of inflation (short characteristics). Are there any others?

4. Demand-pull inflation. Name countries with this type of inflation.

5. Cost-push inflation. Name countries with this type of inflation.

6. The impact of inflation on business (in brief):

7. Do you believe in the advice to borrow heavily in a period of inflation? Give your reasons.

8. Can inflation be beneficial?

9. What other factors not mentioned in this unit can cause inflation?

10. What "cures" for inflation do you know and can suggest?

Ex.3. Prepare some additional information about “inflation”, using the material of English or Russian sources.

Ex.4. Make a conversation with your friend, using the following questions.

1. Do you feel we have controlled inflation in our economy during the 1990s?

2. How often does our government gather information about prices in our economy?

3. Why it is important to compare the changes in the rate of inflation over a period of time?

4. What does a trend of increasing (decreasing) inflation mean?

Ex.5. Since the CPI is the most widely watched and used measure of inflation, you should find out as much as you can about it. Go to the library and find out what is the consumer price index(CPI). Then answer the following questions.

1. What agency or group gathers the information and calculates the CPI?
2. How often is the CPI figure updated and a new one published?
3. What specific goods and services are used to determine the CPI?
4. What was the CPI figure for each of the years since 1987, and what was the rate of change from the previous year?
5. What is the most current CPI figure you can find? When was the figure published?

Learning recommendations:

Class activity: In this unit of the course book students are supposed to get introduced with the new material: read the text, translate into their native language, summarize in English, complete post-reading tasks and grammar exercises, discuss new speech topics, compose monologues and dialogues in the class.

Home task: Students are assigned to find out additional short information about specific topic of the unit, complete grammar exercises, prepare reports given by the teacher.

Literature:

1. Учебно-методический комплекс для студентов 1 курса неязыковых специальностей, М.Ж. Тусупбекова, А.М. Мухтарханова, 2008, Астана, _____стр