CANKAYA UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF BASIC AND ELECTIVE COURSES -ENGLISH UNIT-

1. CANKAYA UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF BASIC AND ELECTIVE COURSES-ENGLISH UNIT- ECONOMIC ISSUES FOR ENG 205 COURSE WEEK 8

2. WARM UP • What are the greatest threats to the world economy? • mass unemployment? • trade wars? • international terrorism? • poverty in the Third World? • an ageing population? • the East-West divide?

3. Vocabulary items • Deficit (n.): the amount by which money spent or owed is greater than money earned in a particular period of time Ex: a budget / trade deficit Ex: The trade balance has been in deficit for the past five years. Ex: the country’s widening budget deficit Collocations: have/show/face/reduce/cut/eliminate a deficit • Swing (v.): to change or make sb/sth change from one opinion, mood, etc. to another Ex: His mood could swing from joy to despair. Ex: Do campaign gift swing votes? Ex: The war had begun to swing in Britain’s favour. Ex: swing to the Right/Left (politics)

4. Vocabulary items • Soar (v.): if the value, amount or level of sth soars, it rises very quickly Ex: soaring costs / prices / temperatures Ex: Unemployment has soared to 18%. Ex: The price of petrol has soared in recent weeks. • Slump (n): a period when a country’s economy or a business is doing very badly Ex: the slump of the 1930s Ex: The toy industry is in a slump. Ex: The war was followed by an economic slump. Ex: a worldwide slump

5. Vocabulary items • Boom (n.): a sudden increase in trade and economic activity; a period of wealth and success Ex: a boom in car sales Ex: Living standards improved rapidly during the post-war boom. Ex: a boom year (for trade, exports, etc.) Ex: a property / housing boom Ex: The economy went from boom to bust very quickly. • Speculative (adj.): (of business activity) done in the hope of making a profit but involving the risk of losing money Ex: speculative investments

6. Vocabulary items • Pursuit (n.): (pursuit of sth) the act of looking for or trying to find sth Ex: the pursuitof happiness/knowledge/profit/liberty/war criminals Ex: She travelled the world in pursuit of her dreams. • Merger (n): the act of joining two or more organizations or businesses into one Ex: a merger between the two banks Ex: Our proposed merger with the university has been declined.

7. Vocabulary items • Meltdown (n.): a situation in which prices fall by a very large amount or an industry or economic situation becomes much worse Ex: meltdown on the New York Stock Exchange Ex: The stock market crash may lead financial meltdown. • Lay off (phr. v.): to stop employing sb because there is not enough work for them to do (syn. make sb redundant) Ex: The company laid off 286 workers in December. Ex: Millions of people have been laid off in the steel industry.

8. Vocabulary items • Instability (n.): the quality of a situation in which things are likely to change or fail suddenly Ex: political and economic instability Ex: the instability of the market • Escalate (v.): to become or make sth greater, worse, more serious, etc. Ex: The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. Ex: the escalating costs of health care Ex: We do not want to escalate the war.

9. Vocabulary items • Influx (n.): the fact of a lot of people, money or things arriving somewhere Ex: a massive/sudden influx of visitors Ex: the influx of wealth into the region Ex: a sudden influx of cash • Unemployment benefit (n. phr.): money paid by the government to sb who is unemployed Ex: people on (= receiving) unemployment benefit Ex: Applications for unemployment benefits dropped last month.

10. Vocabulary items • The poverty line (n. phr.): the official level of income that is necessary to be able to buy the basic things you need such as food and clothes and to pay for somewhere to live Ex: A third of the population is living at or below the poverty line. Ex: 20% of the population now live below the poverty line. • Dead-end (n.): a point at which you can make no further progress in what you are doing Ex: We had come to a dead end in our research. Ex: He’s in a dead-end job in the local factory (= one with low wages and no hope of promotion). (very impt)

11. Vocabulary items • Monopoly (n.): the complete control of trade in particular goods or the supply of a particular service; a type of goods or a service that is controlled in this way Ex: In the past central government had a monopoly on television broadcasting. Ex: Electricity, gas and water were considered to be natural monopolies. • Unprecedented (adj.): that has never happened, been done or been known before Ex: The situation is unprecedented in modern times. Ex: Crime has increased on an unprecedented scale.

12. Vocabulary items • Recession (n.): a difficult time for the economy of a country, when there is less trade and industrial activity than usual and more people are unemployed Ex: the impact of the current recession on manufacturing Ex: The economy is in deep recession. Ex: policies to pull the country out of recession • Bring down (phr. v.): to reduce sth Ex:We aim to bring down prices on all our computers. Ex: The government hope these measures will help to bring down inflation.

13. Vocabulary items • Enter into (phr. v.):to begin sth or become involved in sth Ex: to enter into an agreement Ex: to enter into negotiations • Bring about (phr. v.):to make sth happen (syn. cause) Ex: What brought about the change in his attitude? Ex: How can we bring about a change in the attitudes of some students?