SORBONNE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
(UFR06)
DEPARTEMENT DES LANGUES
(DDL)
BOOKLET
ENGLISH FOR ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
L1-S2-EMS
Second Semester 2024-2025
Enseignant.e.s responsables :
Cyril Selzner (S2) et Nadeera Rajapakse (S1)
Contact: Cyril.Selzner@univ-paris1.fr et Nadeera.Rajapakse@univ-paris1.fr
Table of contents
Part C. Finance ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 5 ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Stock Markets ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Vocabulary ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Section 1. Stock exchanges and financial markets........................................................................................ 10
Grammar: Verb + infinitive or gerund........................................................................................................... 14
Section 2: Are stock markets irrational? ....................................................................................................... 17
Section 3: Describing trends ......................................................................................................................... 19
Chapter 6 ..............................................................................................................................................21
Crises ....................................................................................................................................................21
Vocabulary .................................................................................................................................................... 21
Section 1. The Origins of Financial Crises...................................................................................................... 23
Grammar: Modals (subjective viewpoints) ................................................................................................... 27
Section 2: Financialization .…..………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33
Section 3: Charts and Graphs ........................................................................................................................ 36
Part D. Global Issues ..................................................................................................................................................... 39
Chapter 7 ..............................................................................................................................................40
Towards a green economy? ...................................................................................................................40
Vocabulary .................................................................................................................................................... 40
Section 1: Text 1.1: Economics for a Crowded Planet .................................................................................. 42
Grammar: Conditionals ................................................................................................................................. 46
Section 2: The Pitfalls of Greenwashing........................................................................................................ 50
Chapter 8 ..............................................................................................................................................55
Inequalities ...........................................................................................................................................55
Vocabulary .................................................................................................................................................... 55
Section 1. Unequal Globalization .................................................................................................................. 57
Grammar: The Passive .................................................................................................................................. 62
Section 2: Gender Inequalities ...................................................................................................................... 66
Appendices....................................................................................................................................................................... 71
Credits and acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... 104
2
Introduction
Ce fascicule est destiné à servir de base à l’enseignement de l’anglais appliqué à l’économie et au
management pour tous les étudiants qui suivent le cursus de l’Ecole de Management de la Sorbonne
(UFR06) en première année de licence, second semestre, y compris pour les double licence droitgestion ; les double licence gestion-cinéma ont en revanche un enseignement spécifique d’anglais du
cinéma au second semestre.
Pour rappel, l’année de L1 en anglais est surtout consacrée à l’économie, la seconde année (L2)
abordant plus spécifiquement les thèmes managériaux.
Le premier semestre a abordé les thèmes de la science économique, de la monnaie et du commerce
(y compris en option les questions liées au commerce international, au protectionnisme, etc.). Le
second semestre poursuit cette exploration à travers deux unités de deux chapitres chacune, dont la
numérotation suit celle du premier fascicule puisqu’ils sont conçus comme un tout.
La première unité, appelée ‘Finance’ comporte un chapitre sur les marchés financiers, notamment
boursiers, ainsi qu’un chapitre sur les crises, en particulier sur la crise dite des subprimes qui a été
provoquée par une crise financière. La seconde unité, intitulée ‘Global Issues’, débute par un chapitre
sur l’économie verte (‘Towards a Green Economy?’) et l’écoblanchiment (‘Greenwashing’). Le second
chapitre de cette unité aborde les questions transversales liées à la mondialisation et aux inégalités.
Chaque chapitre, comme pour le premier semestre, comporte une liste de termes souvent techniques
dont les étudiants seront supposés connaître le sens et la définition en fin d’année. De même, les
quatre thèmes grammaticaux abordés dans le cours des chapitres fourniront les exercices de
grammaire pour le partiel de fin de semestre et doivent donc être soigneusement étudiés : 1) usages
du gérondif ou de l’infinitif avec les verbes ; 2) les modaux ; 3) le conditionnel ; 4) le passif.
Tout dans ce fascicule ne fera pas l’objet du cours ni de l’examen : vos enseignants vous indiqueront
le périmètre exact du programme du semestre lors du premier cours.
En annexe, les étudiants trouveront également une liste de verbes irréguliers, des conseils pour éviter
les erreurs les plus fréquentes, un appendice sur les dates et les nombres en anglais, et deux extraits
d’ouvrage d’économie en bandes dessinées sur des thèmes traités dans les chapitres. Vous trouverez
dans les pages suivantes un rappel des modalités de contrôle des connaissances ainsi que des
informations importantes.
Nous vous souhaitons à toutes et à tous un excellent semestre d’études,
Pour l’équipe de L1 anglais, les co-coordinateurs Cyril Selzner et Nadeera Rajapakse
Brochure rédigée par Cyril SELZNER
3
Organisation du semestre
L’enseignement de l’anglais est dispensé sur douze semaines en groupes de TD d’une heure trente
par semaine sous la responsabilité d’un enseignant ou d’une enseignante.
IMPORTANT : DU FAIT DE L’ORGANISATION EN 12 SEMAINES, LES COURS-TD D’ANGLAIS
COMMENCENT AU SECOND SEMESTRE EN MEME TEMPS QUE LES COURS MAGISTRAUX, DONC CETTE
ANNEE LA SEMAINE DU LUNDI 27 JANVIER. Toute absence durant cette semaine sera traitée comme
toute autre absence.
Tout étudiant absent plus de trois séances de TD (semaine de partiel non comprise) sera
automatiquement considéré comme défaillant pour le semestre et devra passer le rattrapage en juin
2024, y compris si les absences sont justifiées (simple rappel de la règle commune à toute l’université
à ce jour). La justification des absences auprès des enseignants est une obligation morale, de même
que l’assiduité ainsi que le fait d’être à l’heure en cours (pas de retard). Voir la section suivante qui
rappelle ces règles. Cet aspect fait partie de votre « métier d’étudiant » et il en sera dûment tenu
compte dans la note de contrôle continu, ainsi que de votre investissement dans le travail à la maison
et de votre attitude en cours. En règle générale, et à moins que l’enseignant.e ne vous demande
explicitement de les utiliser pour une recherche, les téléphones portables doivent être éteints et
rangés pendant la durée du cours. Le programme de révision de la session de juin est l’ensemble du
programme des deux semestres.
Rappel : Les cours supprimés en raison d’une absence de l’enseignant.e, ou bien d’un jour de congé
officiel devront obligatoirement être rattrapés d’une façon ou d’une autre avant la fin du semestre à
un autre moment en consultation avec les étudiants et le planning de PMF, sauf cas très exceptionnel,
de façon à ce qu’aucun groupe ne soit désavantagé par rapport aux autres.
Rappel : Règles de fonctionnement des TDs d’Anglais L1
1. Règles concernant les absences
• Absence pendant les semaines régulières de TD : Plus de trois absences (même justifiées) en TD
entraîne une défaillance pour le semestre et pour la matière (donc un rattrapage en juin sauf
cas particulier). Il s’agit de la règle commune de l’université, qui n’est donc propre ni à l’anglais,
ni à l’EMS. Les dérogations exceptionnelles doivent être accordée par la direction de l’Ecole de
Management. Si vous êtes défaillant.e, cela signifie que vous n’avez pas de note dans la matière
pour le semestre.
•
Une absence à l’examen final (dernière semaine de cours du semestre) entraîne une note de
zéro pour cet examen (qui compte pour la moitié de la note d’anglais du semestre), comme
pour une absence lors d’un partiel, mais cela n’entraîne pas de défaillance. La note du semestre
en anglais sera alors de facto la note de contrôle continue divisée par deux (moyenne CC et 0).
•
Absence à un contrôle en classe (notamment le devoir sur table en cours de semestre, appelé
parfois mid-term exam) : Pour justifier une absence vous devez fournir à votre enseignant.e un
justificatif valable (certificat médical, convocation officielle) dans un délai de 48 heures à
compter de votre absence, à moins de circonstances exceptionnelles. Si votre absence est
4
justifiée, votre enseignant.e vous proposera la solution la plus adaptée pour remplacer cette
évaluation. La note sera de zéro dans le cas contraire.
•
Absence à un devoir oral (notamment exposé oral) : Si votre absence est justifiée (voir ci-dessus
la règle pour les devoirs en classe), votre enseignant.e décidera les modalités pour vous faire
passer un autre jour, si cela est possible, ou bien vous serez évalué.e différemment. Si votre
absence n’est pas justifiée, la note de zéro s’applique.
2. Retard : si votre retard est conséquent et/ou fréquent, vous pouvez ne pas être accepté.e en
TD par l’enseignant.e. Des retards répétés et non justifiés peuvent être pris en compte dans
l’évaluation selon des modalités indiquées par l’enseignant.e.
3. Assiduité / participation : pour ce point, nous valorisons votre participation active en cours,
sans vous pénaliser sur votre niveau de langue. L’effort de production linguistique sera pris en
compte, quel que soit votre niveau de départ.
Modalités de contrôle des connaissances (MCC)
La note d’anglais pour le semestre sera la moyenne de la note de contrôle continu (CC) et de la note
obtenue au contrôle terminal de fin de semestre (« partiel », PA). La note de contrôle continu est quant
à elle composée d’une note d’écrit (50%) et d’une note d’oral/participation (50%) selon des modalités
définies par chaque enseignant qui vous renseigneront sur ce point en début de semestre.
Note CC = Moyenne (CC Ecrit ; CC oral)
Note d’anglais S2 = Moyenne (note CC ; note PA)
IMPORTANT : le contrôle terminal que nous traiterons comme un partiel du point de vue de la
notation sera passé dans les TDs durant la semaine finale du semestre, c’est-à-dire cette année la
semaine du lundi 28 avril. Les TDs ayant lieu le jeudi 1er mai, jour férié, feront l’objet d’un
aménagement dont vos enseignant.e.s vous communiqueront les modalités en cours de semestre.
IMPORTANT : Pour les étudiants en réorientation nous ayant rejoint au second semestre,
nous les invitons à se procurer sur demande le fascicule du premier semestre en contactant
directement les coordinateurs à l’adresse indiquée aussi en page de garde :
Cyril.Selzner@univ-paris1.fr
5
IMPORTANT : MODALITES DE COMMUNICATION AVEC LES ENSEIGNANTS
Le courrier électronique (mail/courriel) est désormais le mode privilégié de communication dans le
monde professionnel, mais aussi le monde universitaire, et il est extrêmement important que vous
maîtrisiez au plus tôt les codes de politesse minimaux en usage dans ce cadre.
Vos enseignant.e.s doivent vous donner en début de semestre une adresse électronique de contact
avec eux/elles – préférentiellement, si cela est possible, leur adresse professionnelle de Paris 1, de la
forme Prénom.Nom@univ-paris1.fr. La communication avec eux ou elles doit passer par ce
truchement, notamment à travers votre propre adresse ‘professionnelle’ de Paris 1, désormais sous la
forme Prénom.Nom@etu.univ-paris.fr. Vous êtes par ailleurs tenu.e.s de consulter cette boîte mail
officielle régulièrement (au moins une fois tous les deux jours), car des informations importantes
peuvent vous être communiquées par vos enseignants et par l’administration par ce moyen.
Vos enseignant.e.s sont tenu.e.s de vous répondre assez rapidement (fin de semaine exceptée bien
entendu), et de même pour vous si l’urgence de la situation l’exige. Vos enseignant.e.s vous ont a priori
initié à l’écriture de courriels professionnels en anglais (voir Booklet du S1), qui diffèrent des mails
français mais obéissent eux aussi à des règles de politesse et d’étiquette minimale. Nous vous
encourageons d’ailleurs à écrire vos courriels en anglais car c’est un bon entraînement et vos
enseignant.e.s vous répondront dans la même langue.
Par exemple les mails suivants ne sont pas acceptables et j’invite même les enseignants à ne pas y
répondre :
« Pourriez-vous me dire si nous ayons court la semaine prochain. Mrci de me répondre rapidement. »
« Salut. Quel est le travail pour demain svp. »
« Travail maison du 12/4 – envoyé de mon IPhone » (voire un message vide avec juste le fichier-joint…
sans commentaire !)
Le mail qui suit est à peine plus poli :
« Bonsoir, je ne peux pas venir aujourd’hui pour mon exposé. Cdlt. »
Tout mail à vos enseignant.e.s, à l’administration et aux agents de Paris 1 doit être rédigé dans une
langue correcte, éviter les abréviations et le langage de type « texto-SMS », comporter une ligne de
sujet, commencer par une salutation polie (« Bonsoir M. X », « Bonjour Madame », voire ‘Dear
professor/teacher’ en anglais ; ‘Hi prof’ est acceptable seulement si l’enseignant.e vous y autorise au
préalable), un message qui prend la peine de faire des phrases et d’expliquer, et qui se clôt sur une
formule de politesse : « Bien cordialement », « Best regards » ou « Best wishes » en anglais, etc., suivi
de votre nom et de votre numéro de TD.
Plus tard, des employeurs, des clients ou des collègues se formaliseront sans doute qu’on ne prenne
pas la peine de s’adresser à eux avec le minimum d’effort requis pour être poli, avec des conséquences
négatives pour vous et votre carrière. Prenez le pli dès maintenant, c’est dans votre intérêt et nous
vous y invitons fortement.
6
Part C. Finance
Chapter 5 describes the nature of financial markets and their function in our modern economies,
focusing on stock markets. The most famous stock exchanges, starting with the NYSE in New York
(“Wall Street”), attract disproportionate attention from the world media, which tend to present
them as prime indicators of economic health, in spite of recurrent accusations of being overly
speculator-driven or nothing else than giant casinos. Chapter 6 explores the dark side of finance:
financial crises, especially in the context of a phenomenon known as “financialization”, are often
blamed for triggering recessions in the “real economy”, such as the one which started in 2007-8 (the
subprime mortgage crisis). Taken together, these chapters introduce you to the exciting and
dangerous new world of computers, traders, global money flows and now AI which fuel not only
global economic growth, but anxieties and fears for the future as well.
7
Chapter 5
Stock Markets
Vocabulary
Bankruptcy: legal status of a person or other entity that cannot repay the debts it owes to creditors
Bear market: period in which prices of securities fall by 20 percent or more
Bond: an interest-bearing certificate of public or private indebtedness
Bubble (speculative bubble): a situation in which prices for securities, especially stocks, rise far above
their actual value
Bull market: an extended period of time when markets experience rising stock prices
Corporation (U.S.): firm recognized as having a legal existence, as an entity separate and distinct from
its owners (shareholders), and run by a board of directors. Corporations are usually large-scale
companies. (NB: close in meaning to Public Limited company (PLC) in the UK)
Crash: a sudden and significant decline in the value of a market
Default: failure to meet the legal obligations (or conditions) of a loan
Dividend: amount of a company's profits that the company pays to people who own stock in the
company
8
Dow Jones Industrial Average: an index of the prices of shares in the 30 most important companies
on the New York Stock Exchange
Index (pl. indices or indexes in the U.S.): a number (usually an average) that shows the price, value,
or level of something compared with something else
Investor: a person who puts money into something in order to make a profit
IOU: a promise to pay a debt, especially a signed paper stating the specific amount owed and often
bearing the letters IOU (spelling phonetically: “I owe you”)
IPO (Initial Public Offering): the first sale of stock by a private company to the public
Ownership: the fact of owning something, i.e. of holding property rights
Principal: amount of capital originally borrowed or invested, as opposed to the interest paid or
accruing on it
Retained earnings: the percentage of net earnings not paid out as dividends to shareholders, but
retained by the company to be reinvested in its core business or to pay debt
Security: a tradable financial asset. For example, bonds and stocks are securities
Share: a unit of ownership that represents an equal proportion of a (usually public) company's capital
Speculator: a person who buys goods, property, money, etc. in the hope of selling them at a profit
Stock: a type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the
corporation's assets and earnings
Stock exchange: a place where trading in stocks is conducted on an organized system
Stock market: the market for stocks throughout a country
Shareholder/Stockholder: any person, company or institution that owns at least one share in a
company
Underwrite (to, vb.): to agree to purchase usually on a fixed date at a fixed price with a view to public
distribution
Underwriter (noun): a company or other entity that administers the public issuance and distribution
of securities from a corporation
Additional vocabulary and notes
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9
Section 1. Stock exchanges and financial markets
Text 1.1: Financial markets
Financial markets are the institutions through which a person who wants to save can directly supply
funds to a person who wants to borrow. The two most important financial markets in our economy
are the bond market and the stock market.
The Bond Market. When Intel, the giant maker of computer chips, wants to borrow to finance
construction of a new factory, it can borrow directly from the public. It does this by selling bonds. A
bond is a certificate of indebtedness that specifies the obligations of the borrower to the holder of the
bond. Put simply, a bond is just an IOU. It identifies the time at which the loan will be repaid, called
the date of maturity, and the rate of interest that will be paid periodically until the loan matures. The
buyer can hold the bond until maturity or can sell the bond at an earlier date to someone else.
There are literally millions of different bonds in the U.S. economy. When large corporations, the
federal government, or state or local governments need to borrow to finance the purchase of a new
factory, a new jet fighter, or a new school, they usually do so by issuing bonds, which have several
characteristics. The first characteristic is a bond’s term—the length of time until the bond matures.
Some bonds have short terms, such as a few months, while others have terms as long as thirty years.
The second characteristic of a bond is its credit risk—the probability that the borrower will fail to pay
some of the interest or principal. Such a failure to pay is called a default. Borrowers can (and
sometimes do) default on their loans by declaring bankruptcy. When bond buyers perceive that the
probability of default is high, they demand a higher interest rate to compensate them for this risk.
Buyers of bonds can judge credit risk by checking with various private agencies, such as Standard &
Poor’s, which rate the credit risk of different bonds.
The Stock Market. Another way for Intel to raise funds to build a new semiconductor factory is to
sell stock in the company. Stock represents ownership in a firm and is, therefore, a claim to the profits
that the firm makes. For example, if Intel sells a total of 1,000,000 shares of stock, then each share
represents ownership of 1/1,000,000 of the business. Corporations pay out some of their profits to
10
their stockholders, this amount is called the dividend. Profits not paid out are called retained earnings
and are used by the corporation as additional investment.
The sale of stock to raise money is called equity finance, whereas the sale of bonds is called debt
finance. Although corporations use both equity and debt finance to raise money for new investments,
stocks and bonds are very different types of securities. The owner of shares of Intel stock is a part
owner of Intel; the owner of an Intel bond is a creditor of the corporation. If Intel is very profitable, the
stockholders enjoy the benefits of these profits, whereas the bondholders get only the interest on their
bonds. And if Intel runs into financial difficulty, the bondholders are paid what they are due before
stockholders receive anything at all. Compared to bonds, stocks offer the holder both higher risk and
potentially higher return.
After a corporation issues stock by selling shares to the public, these shares trade among stockholders
on organized stock exchanges. In these transactions, the corporation itself receives no money when
its stock changes hands. The most important stock exchanges in the U.S. economy are the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE, popularly identified as “Wall Street”), the American Stock Exchange and
NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System). Most of the
world’s countries have their own stock exchanges on which the shares of local companies trade.
The prices at which shares trade on stock exchanges are determined by the supply and demand for the
stock in these companies. Because stock represents ownership in a corporation, the demand for a
stock (and thus its price) reflects people’s perception of the corporation’s future profitability. Various
stock indexes are available to monitor the overall level of stock prices. A stock index is computed as
an average of a group of stock prices. The most famous stock index is the Dow Jones Industrial
Average, which has been computed regularly since 1896. It is now based on the prices of the stocks of
30 major U.S. companies, such as General Motors, General Electric, Coca-Cola, and IBM. Another wellknown stock index is the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which is based on the prices of 500 major
companies. Because stock prices reflect expected profitability, these stock indexes are watched closely
as possible indicators of future economic conditions.
From N. Gregory MANKIW, Principles of Economics, The Dryden Press, 1998, 542-544 [edited]
Text 1.2: How do Stock Exchanges work?
From floor markets to computerised markets. Thirty years ago, most stock exchanges had
trading floors where stock buyers and sellers met. Then, the Nasdaq market pioneered screen trading
in the 1970s and paved the way for many new electronic markets. By the 2000s, most trading floors
had disappeared and had been replaced by computerised market architectures. The NYSE has kept its
traditional trading floor so far, even though it is heavily computerised as well.
Generally, computerised trading is efficient, fast and cheap because increasing amounts of
transactions are automatically carried out by algorithmic trading software. Complex programmes can
follow the tiniest evolutions in share prices and send millions of buy and sell orders every second.
These sophisticated “high-frequency trading” instruments can instantly take advantage of the most
profitable conditions and they bring huge profits to the big operators that use them. However, they
11
also put up with technical glitches which may seriously disrupt trading sessions. For example, on 6 th
May 2010, a “flash crash” took place at the New York Stock Exchange. In a matter of minutes, the Dow
Jones average lost about 1,000 points and regained about 600 because of faulty automatic trading
strategies. Worryingly, these wild swings in share prices are getting more frequent. They bring chaos
to trading and hurt investor confidence.
“Going public” and Initial Public Offerings (IPO). In the life of a company, the biggest day is
probably when its managers decide to take it public. A company “goes public” when it sells its shares
on a public stock exchange for the first time. The difficult, complex and expensive procedure is called
an IPO (Initial Public Offering). It is highly risky because the manager does not know in advance how
the market will react to the offer. If the shares sell well, their price will rise and the company will cash
in a lot of precious money. Conversely, if investors are reluctant to buy the shares, the price will go
down and the company will receive less money to finance its development. To limit the risks, issuing
companies often ask investment banks to underwrite a proportion of their shares at an attractive
price. The underwriters will then try to sell them at a higher price to their clients. The best time to
launch an IPO is during a bull market, i.e. a period when prices are rising. For example, Google’s IPO in
2004 was a success story: its share price rose by 900% in three years. On the other hand, Facebook’s
2012 IPO was a flop: its share price lost 50% in three months.
Investors and Speculators. Roughly speaking, an investor buys shares over the long term,
speculators over the short term. Investors believe a company will generate profit in the not-so-distant
future because of some fundamental business reason: it is well-managed, it has a good product, an
effective market strategy or a technological advantage. Investors tend to be patient and loyal towards
the company in which they risk their money, sometimes waiting months and years for their profits to
materialise. They hope to make money by selling their shares at a higher price (capital gains) and/or
by receiving substantial dividends as shareholders of the company.
On the other hand, speculators are neither interested in companies nor in getting dividends. Rather,
they bet on stock fluctuations and they make money from the difference between high and low
prices. They follow the latest news likely to affect prices or they use technical analysis to anticipate
market reactions. They sell short before a probable bear market, i.e. a decline in prices, and, in a bull
market, they buy until they fuel speculative bubbles which finally burst, as in 1929, 2000 and 2007.
From M. VAN DER YEUGHT, Manuel d’anglais de la bourse et de la finance, Editions Ophrys, 2013, 50-53 [edited]
12
Comprehension and Vocabulary Exercises
A. Vocabulary. Fill in the blanks with a word or phrase from the vocabulary list at the beginning
of the chapter:
1. Everyone still remembers Black Thursday and the Wall Street ……………. of 1929.
2. A stockholder is someone who owns ……………… in the company.
3. The ……………… is the most famous stock index in the world.
4. This year, Google is expected to raise the amount of …………… distributed to its …………… .
5. Don’t worry, if I borrow money from you, I won’t forget to give you an ……………… .
6. A ………………… cannot be expected to be as loyal towards the company as a trusted investor
would be.
7. The London ………………… is located in the City.
8. Merrill Lynch promised to ………………… the sale of shares for Google’s ……………. in 2004.
9. Investors and speculators alike are keen to invest when the market seems on the verge of
becoming a ………………. .
B. True or False?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A bond is a certificate of ownership (T/F)
A corporation is a legal entity distinct from its owners (T/F)
The NYSE is the U.S. stock market (T/F)
Computerised trading has revolutionised stock markets worldwide (T/F)
Speculators are often blamed for the creation of financial bubbles (T/F)
C. Try to answer the following questions in your own words and avoid simply quoting from the
text:
1. What exactly is a share of stock?
2. Compare bonds and stocks from an investor’s point of view
3. What is an IPO? Why would companies “go public”? What’s in it for them and what are the
risks for the company itself?
4. How have stock exchanges generally evolved over the past forty years?
5. What is the difference between an investor and a speculator? Do you believe the distinction is
as clear-cut as it seems to be?
D. Discussion and further research:
1. Comment on the two pictures on page 10. Do you believe the sexism or gender discrimination
and/or bias they illustrate still exists nowadays?
2. Pick one of the world’s major stock exchanges, do some background research on its history
and its role today
13
Grammar: Verb + infinitive or gerund
14
15
[Source: Paul EMMERSON, Business Grammar Builder, Intermediate to Upper-intermediate, 2d ed., Oxford:
Macmillan Education, 2010, p.82-84]
16
Section 2: Are stock markets irrational?
Text 2: The Mysterious Ways of Stock Markets
In terms of the behaviour of financial markets, most of the issues arise from considering transactions
involving financial assets after they have initially been sold, and are then being sold or exchanged
again.
Considerations such as the financial stability of bond issuers, the viability of a business, and its stream
of future dividend payments might be regarded as the fundamental determinants of the prices of bond
and stock. The greater the stream of payments, the higher the price; the greater the likelihood of
default or bankruptcy, the lower it will be.
In understanding the behaviour of financial markets, those fundamentals are only the beginning. A
characteristic of the market for financial assets is that typically there is no impediment to very fast
price changes. That means that news about any of the relevant fundamentals can bring almost
instantaneous price changes. It also means, of course, that those who can anticipate the news might
be expected to be able to make large profits. If, on Thursday, I can accurately anticipate that, on Friday,
a larger than expected dividend will be announced by a particular firm, buying shares of that firm on
Thursday would seem to be a good idea. When the news gets out, their price will rise, and I can sell
them again, pocketing the difference in the price on Thursday and Friday (less transaction costs).
17
There is something in that, but things are not so simple since if the outcome has already been
anticipated by other people on Wednesday, their buying will have raised the price. The people who
make the big money are those who buy before the anticipation in question is widespread. Anticipation
is everything.
That point naturally makes financial market participants anxious to be in a position to form such
anticipations – and to make them fast, and accurately. One very prominent strand of economic thinking
suggests that they are highly effective at doing so. This, interestingly, has the paradoxical result that
changes in market prices become impossible to predict.
This idea goes by the name of the ‘efficient market hypothesis’. If there is a piece of information which
is relevant to the price of an asset, but has not been considered, then someone can use that
information to profit. Since there is a permanent profit-based incentive to discover all the relevant
facts, we might well conclude that they are all discovered and hence that the market price incorporates
all the available information. Prices of assets do still change, of course. But that happens only when
there is ‘news’ in the sense of something happening that was unpredicted by the best predictions –
and those sorts of things are random. Hence the paradox: the theory does nothing to predict market
outcomes, but rather specifically asserts that they are unpredictable.
How much confidence we should have in the efficient markets hypothesis is of course another matter.
For one thing, some participants’ views may be irrationally formed, and at any point in time, there
might be such people in the market. That does not mean it is impossible to profit by rationally
anticipating those inaccurate anticipations. Anticipating the anticipations does the trick in the same
way as anticipating the fundamentals.
This point introduces a substantial difficulty in understanding the behaviour of financial markets. If
there are large numbers of agents speculating on the basis of their views about others’ speculative
behaviour, then their decisions can be very far removed from any appreciation of the fundamentals.
Whatever view we take of the efficient markets hypothesis, it probably does little to make the financial
markets seem less mysterious, and probably not much to diminish the common impression that they
are more or less just a racket carried on for the benefit of the participants and with no wider purpose.
From James Forder, Economics, A Beginner’s Guide, Oneworld, 2016, 44-52 [edited]
Questions for further discussion and debate
1. What are the primary determinants of stock and bond prices?
2. How does the cartoon on page 17 illustrate one point well made in the text?
3. Are stock markets irrational and useless? List the pros and cons before giving your
opinion on the matter
18
Section 3: Describing trends
When speaking English we often need to describe trends in business and the economy. The following
words and expressions are all commonly used.
to forecast
We forecast that costs could rise by a further 5%
between now and next year.
to weaken
The pound has weakened against the euro.
to drop
Increased labour costs have caused profits to
drop.
to predict
Economists are predicting a double-dip
recession.
to go up
Prices have gone up by 10%.
to slow
The economy slowed last year as a result of
interest rate rises.
to increase
The cost of living is increasing.
to bottom out at (lowest point)
Shares bottomed out at 37p then rose.
to rise
Prices are rising again.
to plummet (dramatic fall)
The Euro plummeted against the US Dollar, then
rose.
to strengthen
The pound has strengthened against the dollar.
to stagnate (staying at a low point, and not
moving at all.)
The economy is stagnating.
to recover
The Euro has recovered after last week's heavy
trading.
to boost
The weaker pound should also boost exports
to level out (become stable)
Share prices have levelled out this month at
497p.
to peak at (highest point)
Shares peaked at 679p then fell.
to remain stable
The cost of petrol has remained stable.
to rocket (dramatic rise)
The cost of bringing up a child has rocketed by
over a third in the past five year.
Ways of talking about movement in English
steady – a steady rise
slight- a slight improvement on
moderate – a moderate recovery
dramatic – a dramatic rise
substantial- substantial growth
robust – robust growth
upward / downward – an upward / downward
trend
to soar
Soaring house prices make it difficult for firsttime buyers to buy a house.
to surge
Costs have surged as a result of increasing oil
prices.
Useful nouns
to go down
Prices have gone down by 10%.
financial turbulence: Financial turbulence on the
stock market has weakened the dollar.
slowdown: The recent slowdown in the
economy threatens jobs."
to decrease
The cost of living is decreasing.
to fall
Prices are falling again.
[source: http://www.english-at-home.com/business/describing-trends/]
19
Exercise: Based either on the chart (S&P 500 from 1995 to 2013) or on the stock
table below (Warren Buffett’s portfolio in 2010), and using the vocabulary listed on
the previous page, write five sentences describing the trends illustrated here.
20
Chapter 6
Crises
Vocabulary
Bail out (to, vb.): to help someone out of a difficult situation by providing money (also a noun : a
bailout)
Boom: a rapid widespread expansion of economic activity
Borrowing binge: a binge is a short period of time when you indulge in a particular behaviour to the
point of excess; a borrowing binge thus refers to a period of excessive resort to borrowed money in an
economy
Burst (to, vb.): to explode, especially from internal pressure (speculative bubbles typically ‘burst’)
Collateral: a specific asset pledged as security by a borrower to a lender, usually in return for a loan
Crisis (pl. crises): a long-term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low
levels of trade and investment
Debt: an amount of money that you owe to a person, bank, company, etc.
Depression: an unusually long and extreme form of recession, frequently characterized by massive
unemployment, bank failures and bankruptcies
Expectation(s): a strong belief that something will happen or be the case; prospects, especially of
success or gain
Lay off (to, vb.): to terminate the employment of a worker (especially for economic reasons)
(to be) Made redundant: having lost your job because your employer no longer needs you
21
Mortgage: an agreement that allows you to borrow money from a bank or similar organization,
especially in order to buy a house, or the amount of money itself
Peak (to, vb.): to reach a maximum
Plummet (to, vb.): to decline suddenly and steeply
Purchasing power: the ability to purchase goods and services
Real estate: any property that is attached directly to land (houses, buildings, etc.), as well as the land
itself
Recession: a general slowdown in economic activity; in the United Kingdom, it is defined as a negative
economic growth for two consecutive quarters
Taxpayer: a person who pays tax, especially to the government
Toxic loans: a loan that does not have sufficient collateral to meet the outstanding debt
Subprime crisis: a situation starting in 2008 affecting the mortgage industry due to borrowers being
approved for loans they could not afford. The financial crisis in the mortgage industry also affected the
global credit market resulting in higher interest rates and reduced availability of credit.
Additional vocabulary and notes
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22
Section 1. The Origins of Financial Crises
A financial crisis is a period of economic instability triggered by the failure of one or more major
financial institutions to fulfill their promises. For instance, banking crises are triggered when banks fail
to honor their legal obligation to redeem deposits on demand. And currency crises are triggered when
national central banks break promises to maintain fixed exchange rates.
Financial crises can cause recessions, periods of decline in the total output of goods and services
produced by the economy. Yet, not every bank failure or broken promise triggers a recession. A
recession follows a financial crisis only if previous events have led the economy into such a precarious
situation that bank failures or exchange-rate collapses make a recession almost inevitable. That
happened in the United States and Europe in 2007, when the failure of many banks and investment
companies to repay money that they had borrowed to invest in real estate led to the most severe
recession in over 70 years, originating in what has been called the subprime crisis of 2007-2010.
So what sets the stage for a crisis? Massive amounts of debt. Financial crises are always preceded by
economy-wide borrowing binges that fuel asset-price bubbles, typically in stocks or real estate. These
borrowing binges also fuel economic booms because a great deal of the borrowed money is used to
purchase not only stocks or real estate but also goods and services.
During the period preceding financial crises, the expectations of both lenders and borrowers tend to
be overly optimistic, usually because the economy has enjoyed a period of sustained growth in output
and living standards. Firms use loans to expand factories, and individuals use borrowed money to
purchase houses, cars, and durable goods. All this economic activity makes it easy for both borrowers
and lenders to conclude that the boom will go on indefinitely and that paying back loans will always
be easy for borrowers.
The sharp increase in lending and borrowing that precedes a crisis is exacerbated by the fact that
lending can drive up the value of assets (such as real estate) that are used as collateral for loans.
23
Collateral is property that a borrower pledges to a lender as security for a loan. For instance, when a
home buyer takes out a mortgage, the contract with the bank from which she is borrowing specifies
that the house itself serves as collateral for the mortgage loan.
Having houses serve as their own collateral helps fuel housing bubbles, because rising home prices
imply rising collateral values, banks feel comfortable lending successively larger amounts of money for
home mortgage loans. But as loans become easier to obtain, more buyers take out loans, increase the
demand for houses, and drive up home prices.
Beyond increasing collateral values, rising prices also cause lenders to become lax about their lending
standards in an additional way. In fact, banks become increasingly willing to lend large amounts to
anybody, including people with very low income, because rising real estate prices imply that borrowers
should always be able to sell their houses for more than they paid for them. Both borrowers and
lenders are willing to participate in a real estate bubble, such as the one that happened in Japan during
the late 1980s and in the United States, Ireland and Spain from 2000 to 2006.
As soon as the process gains momentum, it can become temporarily self-sustaining, causing even more
people to think that it will go on. Sadly, though, there’s no such thing as a party that never ends – or a
party for which nobody has to pick up the tab.
Debt-driven asset-price bubbles eventually burst at some point. Given the limited amounts of money
available for borrowing, buyers will sooner or later face the reality that they simply cannot find enough
new money to borrow to drive prices even further. At that point, prices will peak.
People who have borrowed money to purchase assets are in a leveraged position, meaning that they
have augmented (or in other words, leveraged) their own purchasing power with that of the money
they have borrowed. When a price bubble peaks, being in a leveraged position is extremely precarious.
If you don’t have enough labor income to pay off the loan, you have no incentive to hold on to your
property. You want to sell it, pay off your loan, and deleverage while the price of houses is still above
your purchase price. Unfortunately, so does everyone else in your predicament.
The result is a massive increase in the supply of homes for sale. Even worse, the demand for houses
collapses at the same time because, with prices now falling, speculators leave the market. Taken
together, the skyrocketing supply and collapsing demand cause prices to fall precipitously. The price
24
bubble pops, and many people who couldn’t sell fast enough end up defaulting on their loans. At that
point, the bubble can bring down the banking system and induce an economy-wide recession.
Because of toxic loans, many banks become insolvent, owing more to the people from whom they
have borrowed money than they can ever expect to get back from the people to whom they have lent
money. Even if they are bailed out by the government with taxpayer money, they stop making new
loans. Similarly, banks that aren’t yet insolvent but feel threatened by that possibility also stop making
new loans.
The net result is that lending in the economy plummets. Entrepreneurs and businesses can’t borrow
nearly as much money as before to fund the purchase of new equipment and other investment goods;
consumer aren’t able to finance the purchase of consumer goods. Furthermore, many of the people
who took on large amounts of debt during the bubble begin trying to pay off their loans. This
reallocation of their incomes away from consumption reduces aggregate demand even more: firms
sell fewer products, and they start laying off people who are made redundant by the low level of sales.
Unemployment rises, spending slows, and GDP begins to decline.
And that’s how the collapse of an asset-price bubble can lead into a recession, and perhaps even into
a depression.
From Sean FLYNN, Economics for Dummies, 2d edition, Wiley Publishing, 2011, 331-340 [edited]
25
Comprehension and Vocabulary Exercises
A. Vocabulary. Fill in the blanks with a word or phrase from the vocabulary list of this chapter:
1. We took out a loan from the bank to pay for our new home and we now have to pay for the
……………… .
2. A major credit crunch occurred in the wake of the ……………… of 2007-8.
3. Many new homeowners have offered their homes as ……………… for the loan.
4. The period after 1929 is commonly referred to as the great ……………… .
5. The Clinton years are fondly remembered by some as a period of economic (a) ………………
for the U.S. economy, a period during which average household (b) …………….. rose steadily.
6. The company will proceed to (a) ………….. many employees next month; I am afraid this new
machine has (b) ……… them …………. .
7. Speculative bubbles eventually ……………… , but (there’s the rub) we have no means to know
exactly when.
8. Governments throughout the world have (a) ……………… the banks, spending massive
amounts of (b) ……………. money in the process.
B. True or False? (Don’t forget to justify your answers)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Recessions are often caused by financial crises (T/F)
The subprime crisis triggered a world-wide recession in 2007-2010 (T/F)
Borrowers are mostly responsible for borrowing binges (T/F)
Foreclosures helped many banks to recover in the wake of the mortgage crisis (T/F)
Demand collapsed as a consequence of the crisis (T/F)
C. Try to answer the following questions in your own words and avoid simply quoting from the
text:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain briefly what a speculative bubble is, how it grows and how it bursts
What was the driving force behind the housing bubble in the U.S. (and elsewhere)?
Why would the real economy suffer so much from the collapse of the housing market?
Do you believe that running into debt, or even simply owing money to someone, is always a
bad thing?
D. Discussion and further research:
1. Select a particular financial or economic crisis other than 2008 (“Black Thursday” in 1929
for example) and research its causes and consequences.
2. What can we learn from the mistakes made during the subprime crisis and its aftermath?
26
Grammar: Modals (subjective viewpoints)
27
28
29
[Source: Peter STRUTT, Market Leader Business Grammar and Usage, Pearson Education Limited, 2000, p.52,
54, 56, 58, 60]
30
Exercises: Modals
31
[Source: Michael MCCARTHY et al., Grammar for Business, Cambridge University Press, 2009, p.86-87]
32
Section 2: Financialization
Economists are still searching for answers to the slow growth of the United States economy. Some are
now focusing on the issue of “financialization,” the growth of the financial sector as a share of gross
domestic product. Financialization is also an important factor in the growth of income inequality, which
is also a culprit in slow growth. Recent research is improving our knowledge of financialization, which
has yet to get the attention of policy makers.
According to a new article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives by the Harvard Business School
professors Robin Greenwood and David Scharfstein, financial services rose as a share of G.D.P. to 8.3
percent in 2006 from 2.8 percent in 1950 and 4.9 percent in 1980. They cite research by Thomas
Philippon of New York University and Ariell Reshef of the University of Virginia that compensation in
the financial services industry was comparable to that in other industries until 1980. But since then, it
has increased sharply and those working in financial services now make 70 percent more on average.
While all economists agree that the financial sector contributes significantly to economic growth, some
now question whether that is still the case. According to Stephen G. Cecchetti and Enisse Kharroubi of
the Bank for International Settlements, the impact of finance on economic growth is very positive in
the early stages of development. But beyond a certain point it becomes negative, because the financial
sector competes with other sectors for scarce resources.
Ozgur Orhangazi of Roosevelt University has found that investment in the real sector of the economy
falls when financialization rises. Moreover, rising fees paid by nonfinancial corporations to financial
markets have reduced internal funds available for investment, shortened their planning horizon and
increased uncertainty.
33
Adair Turner, formerly Britain’s top financial regulator, has said, “There is no clear evidence that the
growth in the scale and complexity of the financial system in the rich developed world over the last 20
to 30 years has driven increased growth or stability.” He suggests, rather, that the financial sector’s
gains have been more in the form of economic rents — basically something for nothing — than the
return to greater economic value.
Another way that the financial sector leeches growth from other sectors is by attracting a rising share
of the nation’s “best and brightest” workers, depriving other sectors like manufacturing of their skills.
The rising share of income going to financial assets also contributes to labor’s falling share; that share
has fallen 12 percentage points since its recent peak in early 2001 and even more from its historical
level from the 1950s through the 1970s.
The falling labor share results from various factors, including globalization, technology and institutional
factors like declining unionization. But according to a new report from the International Labor
Organization, a United Nations agency, financialization is by far the largest contributor in developed
34
economies. The report estimates that 46 percent of labor’s falling share resulted from financialization,
19 percent from globalization, 10 percent from technological change and 25 percent from institutional
factors.
This phenomenon is a major cause of rising income inequality, which itself is an important reason for
inadequate growth. According to research by the economists Jon Bakija, Adam Cole and Bradley T.
Heim, financialization is a principal driver of the rising share of income going to the ultrawealthy – the
top 0.1 percent of the income distribution. Research by the University of Michigan sociologist Greta R.
Krippner supports this position. She notes that financialization exacerbates the well-known problem
of corporate ownership and control: while corporate assets are owned by shareholders, they are
controlled by managers who often extract an excessive share of corporate profits for themselves.
One main source of income for financial executives is fees paid to financial asset managers, according
to the Princeton economist Burton G. Malkiel. Among the best compensated of these are hedge-fund
operators, who typically receive 2 percent of the assets under their control plus 20 percent of any
increase, annually. (Additionally, they reap special tax benefits that are widely viewed as unjustified.)
Among those pointing their fingers at financialization is David Stockman, former director of the Office
of Management and Budget, who followed his government service with a long career in finance at
Salomon Brothers and elsewhere. Writing in The New York Times, he recently said financialization was
“corrosive” and had turned the economy into “a giant casino” where banks skim an oversize share of
profits.
It’s not yet clear what public policies are appropriate to deal with the phenomenon of financialization.
The important thing at this point is to be aware of it, which does not yet appear to be the case in
Washington.
From Bruce Bartlett, “‘Financialization’ as a Cause of Economic Malaise”,
New York Times, June 11, 2013 [edited]
Questions for further discussion and debate
1. The term “financialization” was coined to describe (and expose) a new
situation developing in the 1980s and 1990s. What does it mean?
2. Describe briefly the graphs shown on the preceding pages. What do they tell
us about financialization?
3. What could be said in favour of financialization, in spite of the negative
meaning of the word itself?
4. Do you believe the process of financialization is inevitable? Why?
35
Section 3: Charts and Graphs
Presentations commonly feature a variety of visual aids. These graphs and charts (as well as other
forms of visual presentation listed below) are convenient ways to represent data and convey a message
to an audience. There are different types of graphs available. Each one would be chosen with a
particular purpose in mind: bar graphs (also called histograms) are great tools to compare different
numbers, line graphs typically show trends and changing patterns over time, and pie charts show how
a whole is divided into parts (displayed as percentages). Organizational charts and flow charts are also
commonly used in management.
A flow chart is a diagram showing A pie chart displays the size A (vertical or horizontal) bar chart
the progress of material through (taille) of each part as a is used to compare unlike
the
steps (étapes)
of
a percentage of a whole (un (different) items
manufacturing
process tout).
(processus) or the succession of
operations in a complex activity
A line chart depicts changes over A table is a convenient way to A diagram is a drawing showing
a period of time, showing data and show large amount of data arrangements and situations, such
trends
(données, informations) in a as
networks
(réseaux),
small space
distribution, fluctuation ...
36
Presenting a graph
Introduction
This graph shows ...
The diagram outlines ...
This table lists ...
This pie chart represents
This line chart depicts ...
This chart breaks down (ventile) ...
Topic
the results of our products ...
rates of economic growth ...
the top ten agencies ...
the company's turnover ...
the changes in sales ...
the sales of each salesman ...
The four basic trends are:
•
•
•
•
upward movement: 
downward movement: 
no movement: ➔
change in direction:  or 
Indicating the degree or the speed of change
37
Circumstances
over 10 years.
between 1990 and 1996.
in the industrial world.
for this year in our sector.
over the past year.
during the past ten weeks.
Describing the elements of a graph
Look at the graph on the previous page and write the appropriate letters in front of each
definition :
 : the horizontal axis ( or the x axis)
 : the vertical axis (or the y axis)
 : the scale
 : a solid line
 : a broken line
 : a dotted line
Analysing an example
The x axis of this graph shows the twelve months of
the past year while our sales in millions of dollars
appear on the y axis. It may be seen clearly that
sales rose steadily in the first half of the year (from
January to May) and reached their peak in June.
Then they dropped off in July and levelled out in
August. After rising sharply during September, they
suffered a dramatic (spectaculaire) fall in October
but then made a significant (sensible) recovery
(redressement) in November. However, the year
ended with a slight downturn.
[Source: http://englishonline.free.fr/GrammarAndHelp/HowToComGraph/ComGraphDoc.htm]
38
Part D. Global Issues
Chapter 7 introduces one of the most important economic and business trends in recent times: the
move towards (or increasingly now: “transition to”) a green economy, taking into account the
imperative of sustainability in the light of global environmental threats such as pollution and climate
change (read also appendix III), and sometimes criticising the concept of “sustainable development”
itself. Environmentalist concerns have recently become major marketing issues for many companies,
leading to greenwashing controversy (section 2). Chapter 8 is dedicated to inequalities:
globalization, in spite of its obvious benefits for consumers, has also been blamed for rising
inequality levels, both between countries and within countries. Economic and social inequalities
based on gender discrimination have now been brought to the fore as a global and local concerns,
which is discussed in section 2 of this chapter.
39
Chapter 7
Towards a Green Economy?
Vocabulary
BRICS: acronym for the combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (South
Africa was added in 2011)
Commons: the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural
materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned
privately
Compliance (with): the act of obeying an order, rule, or request
Convergent (adj.): coming closer together. The idea of convergence in economics (also sometimes
known as the catch-up effect) is the hypothesis that poorer economies' per capita incomes will tend
to grow at faster rates than richer economies. As a result, all economies should eventually converge in
terms of per capita income
Environment: the totality of the natural world, often excluding humans
Environmentalist: a person who is concerned with protecting the earth's environment, solving
environmental problems and preserving natural resources (thus participating in a movement called
environmentalism – NB: NOT necessarily an ecologist, who is a scientist studying the environment)
40
Externality: a consequence of an economic activity that is experienced by unrelated third parties. An
externality can be either positive or negative
Industrialization: the process by which an economy is transformed from primarily agricultural to one
based on the manufacturing of goods
Intellectual property (IP): someone's idea, invention, creation, etc., that can be protected by law from
being copied by someone else
Market failure: a situation where free markets fail to allocate resources efficiently
Patent: a licence conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the right to exclude others from
making, using, or selling an invention
Pollutant: something that pollutes
Pollution: damage caused to water, air, etc. by harmful substances or waste
Poverty trap: a situation in which a person who is poor is unable to escape from poverty
Public good: a commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society, either
by the government or by a private individual or organization
Renewable energy: energy that is collected from resources which are naturally replenished on a
human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat
R&D (Research and Development): the process by which a company (sometimes a government) works
to obtain new knowledge that it might use to create new technology, products, services, or systems
Sustainable development: development that satisfies the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to satisfy theirs, especially by taking into account the necessity to
preserve the environment
Toxic waste: industrial or chemical waste products that are harmful to the environment
Additional vocabulary and notes
______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
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41
Section 1: Text 1.1: Economics for a Crowded
Planet
The twenty-first century will overturn many of our basic
assumptions about economic life. The twentieth century saw
the end of European dominance of global politics and
economics. The twenty-first century will see the end of
American dominance. New powers, including China, India,
and Brazil (members of the BRICS club) will continue to grow
and will make their voices increasingly heard on the world
stage. Yet the changes will be even deeper than a rebalancing
of economics and politics among different parts of the world.
The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the
environment, stabilizing the world’s population, narrowing
the gap between rich and poor, and ending extreme
poverty—will take center stage. Global cooperation will have to come to the fore. The very idea of
competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources will become passé.
The defining challenge of the twenty-first century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a
common fate on a crowded planet. Our global society will flourish or perish according to our ability to
find common ground across the world on a set of shared objectives and the practical means to achieve
them.
It has not been easy to forge cooperation even within national boundaries. In the first century of
industrialization, England and other early industrializing countries were characterized by harsh social
conditions in which individuals and families were largely left to scramble in the new industrial age.
Charles Dickens and Friedrich Engels left a lasting testimony to the harshness of the times. Gradually
and fitfully, the early industrializing societies began to understand that they could not simply leave
their own poor to wallow in deprivation, squalor, disease and hunger without courting crime,
instability, and disease for all. Gradually, and with enormous political strife, social insurance and
transfer schemes for the poor became tools of social peace and prosperity during the period from
roughly 1880 onward. Around half a century ago, many nations began to recognize that their air, water,
and land resources also had to be managed more intensively for the common good of their citizens in
an industrial age. The poorest parts of town could not be the dumping ground of toxic wastes without
jeopardizing the rich neighborhoods as well. Heavy industry was despoiling the air and water. Industrial
pollution in one region could be carried by winds, rains, and rivers hundreds of miles downstream to
destroy forests, wetlands, and water reservoirs. […]
Sustainable development means prosperity that is globally shared and environmentally sustainable. In
practice, sustainable development will require three fundamental changes in our business-as-usual
global trajectory. First, we will have to develop and adopt on a global scale, and in a short period of
time, the sustainable (high-S) technologies that can allow us to combine high levels of prosperity with
lower environmental impact. Second, we will have to stabilize the global population, and especially the
42
population in the poorest countries, in order to combine economic prosperity with environmental
sustainability. And third, we will have to help the poorest countries escape from the poverty trap.
Market forces alone cannot solve these problems. First, market forces alone will not guarantee that
the world’s scientists and engineers direct their efforts to the development of high-S technologies.
Many important technologies will have a huge social benefit for sustainable development but will not
produce private-market profitability, so private businesses won’t invest in research and development
(R&D) to discover and develop them. Second, even when sustainable technologies have been
discovered and developed, we often need special incentives, in addition to market forces, to spur the
adoption of sustainable technologies. Third, market forces alone do not guarantee an appropriate
pattern of population change within a single country or at the global level. Population policies of
various sorts are needed to supplement free-market forces. Fourth, market forces do not guarantee
that all parts of the world can meet their basic needs, much less get on a path of convergent growth.
Markets leave one billion or more people behind, and the numbers could rise tragically in the future
unless we take corrective action.
We will need in particular a global commitment to fund R&D for sustainable technologies, including
clean, green or renewable energy, drought-resistant seed varieties, environmentally sound fish
farming, and much more. In every case there is an important need for public finance to spur the new
technologies that can enable us to achieve simultaneously the objectives of high global incomes, the
end of extreme poverty, the stabilization of the global population, and environmental sustainability.
There is also an important role for a patent system alongside public spending on science. Under patent
law, a patent is an exclusive right granted to the patent holder for use of a novel and useful invention,
usually for twenty years from the time of filing. The prospect of winning a patent serves as an important
market-based incentive for inventors to develop intellectual property in the first place. The policy
challenge is to set the right balance between freely available scientific information and privately owned
technology. For global sustainable development, the mix of public financing and private incentives
should be harmonized globally to ensure that the needs of the poor and the global commons are
properly addressed and financed by shared contributions of the world’s governments.
Jeffrey D. SACHS, Common Wealth, Economics for a Crowded Planet, Penguin Books, 2009 [edited]
43
Txt 1.2: Coping with externalities: the case of pollution
A type of market failures goes by the name of ‘externalities and public goods’. They arise when it is in
the nature of the production or consumption of a good that some of the costs or benefits fall on or
accrue to individuals who are neither buyers nor sellers of the good. One of the most straightforward
examples, as well as one of the most important, is that of pollution.
The simple model has a firm involved in making something for sale and the production process emitting
a pollutant, which is then damaging to individuals who have nothing to do with the production or
consumption of the good—it is, as it is put, a ‘negative externality’.
The essential of the problem is that in the ordinary course of events there is no market for the costs
and benefits arising from externalities, so they go unpriced. For that reason, the consumer preferences
and the costs of abatement or production cannot influence the quantities produced. And,
consequently, it cannot be that there is any market mechanism that secures optimality.
Taking the case of pollution resulting from an industrial process, a way to think about the problem is
this. The true costs of production of the product are the private costs—that is, the wage bill, the costs
of supplies, rental of land, and all the things usually regarded as costs—and the ‘social costs’—that is,
the valuation of the harm done by the externality. The free market system takes account only of the
private costs, as environmentalists have claimed since the 1970s.
It has, for some reason, become common
amongst economists to assert that these kinds of
problems arise or persist because of an ‘absence
of property rights’, or a ‘lack of clarity’ about
them. If that were corrected, it is suggested, it
would be possible for bargains to be struck which
would eliminate the externality. If there were a
‘property right’ over, say, clean air, and this were
owned by the population at large, they would be
able to prevent the firm polluting, or ‘sell’ their
property right to it so that it would be allowed to
pollute.
The cost of acquiring the right would then become one of the costs of production and it would raise
the price of the product. If the price of the good were so high that the firm could not stay in business,
then it would mean that production of the good and the consequent pollution would cease.
However, such arrangements are difficult to achieve because there are insuperable difficulties in
bringing together all the individuals concerned, gathering the information about their preferences,
conducting the negotiations, and verifying compliance with an agreement after the fact. We could
perhaps consider reinstating the effectiveness of the price system with a tax on the activity generating
the externality (or subsidy for a positive externality). If the tax is ideally calculated then it reflects the
cost of the externality. The problem is to make the consumption of the good properly reflect all the
costs of production. [From James FORDER, Economics, A Beginner’s Guide, Oneworld, 2016, 99-106
[edited]]
44
Comprehension and Vocabulary Exercises
A. Vocabulary. Fill in the blank with a word or phrase from the vocabulary list of this chapter:
1. Pollution is dealt with by economists as the paradigmatic case of negative (a) ………………
and (b) ……………… .
2. Wind farms produce electricity by using the power of the wind, which is a kind of
……………… .
3. The (a) ……………… of England in the nineteenth century exposed the population to many
air and water (b) ……………… .
4. Chinese companies now spend a sizeable percentage of their (a) ……………… budget to
developing innovative ‘green’ technologies and obtaining international (b) ……………… to
protect them.
5. South Africa joined the ……………… in 2011, as the representative of newly emerging
economic powers in Africa.
6. The chemical industry is held responsible for the release of much ……………… into the
atmosphere.
7. ……………… tend to vote for green parties which have sprung up throughout the Western
world during the 1970s and 1980s.
8. Specific government agencies have been put in charge of checking corporate ………………
with environmental laws.
B. True or False? You should be able to justify your answers.
1. Sustainable development is only about protecting the environment (T/F)
2. Pollution problems also involve concerns about social justice (T/F)
3. Fish farming has been a source of ocean pollution(T/F)
4. The patent system protects the rights of innovators forever (T/F)
5. Taxing polluters is one way to solve the negative externality issue of pollution (T/F)
C. Try to answer the following questions in your own words and avoid simply quoting from
the text:
1. What is the main challenge of the twenty-first century according to Jeffrey Sachs?
2. Explain what “sustainable development” means. Give one example of your own.
3. What is a patent? Why (according to the author) should we turn our attention to
designing a suitable patent system for ‘green’ innovations?
4. Do you believe that new technologies alone can solve our problems?
5. Explain what a negative externality is. You may take examples from the text or from other
sources.
6. Do you believe in the efficacy of the measures considered in text 1.2 to reduce or to
eliminate pollution?
D. Discussion and further research:
1. Explain the problems related to climate change. In your opinion, what should be done
politically and economically to address this problem.
2. Read the comics section “The Tragedy of the commons”. Explain in your own words what
you have learnt from it, as well as from text 1.2.
45
Grammar: Conditionals
46
47
Exercises:
48
[Source: Paul EMMERSON, Business Grammar Builder, Intermediate to Upper-intermediate, 2d ed.,
Oxford: Macmillan Education, 2010, 74-75, 78-79]
49
Section 2: The Pitfalls of Greenwashing
Text 2.1: The troubling evolution of corporate
greenwashing
The term “greenwashing” was coined in the 1980s to describe outrageous corporate environmental
claims. Three decades later, the practice has grown vastly more sophisticated
In the mid-1980s, oil company Chevron commissioned
a series of expensive television and print ads to
convince the public of its environmental commitment.
Titled People Do, the campaign showed Chevron
employees protecting bears, butterflies, sea turtles and
all manner of cute and cuddly animals.
The commercials were very effective – in 1990, they
won an Effie advertising award, and subsequently
became a case study at Harvard Business school. They
also became notorious among environmentalists, who
have proclaimed them the gold standard of
greenwashing – the corporate practice of making
diverting sustainability claims to cover a questionable
environmental record.
The term greenwashing was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986, back when most
consumers received their news from television, radio and print media – the same outlets that
corporations regularly flooded with a wave of high-priced, slickly-produced commercials and print ads.
The combination of limited public access to information and seemingly unlimited advertising enabled
companies to present themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in
environmentally unsustainable practices.
But greenwashing dates back even earlier. American electrical behemoth Westinghouse’s nuclear
power division was a greenwashing pioneer. Threatened by the 1960’s anti-nuclear movement, which
raised questions about its safety and environmental impact, it fought back with a series of ads
proclaiming the cleanliness and safety of nuclear power plants. One, featuring a photograph of a
50
nuclear plant nestled by a pristine lake, proclaimed that “We’re building nuclear power plants to give
you more electricity,” and went on to say that nuclear plants were “odorless [...] neat, clean, and safe”.
Some of these claims were true: in 1969, Westinghouse nuclear plants were producing large amounts
of cheap electricity with far less air pollution than competing coal plants. However, given that the ads
appeared after nuclear meltdowns had already occurred in Michigan and Idaho, the word “safe” was
arguable. Westinghouse’s ads also ignored concerns about the environmental impact of nuclear waste,
which has continued to be a problem.
Muddying the waters
By the early 1990s, consumers were wising up to
sustainability concerns: polls showed that companies’
environmental records influenced the majority of
consumer purchases. This interest in the environment
brought an increased awareness of the greenwashing; by
the end of the decade, the word had officially entered the
English language with its inclusion in the Oxford English
Dictionary. Since then, the trend has only increased: a 2015
Nielsen poll showed that 66% of global consumers are
willing to pay more for environmentally sustainable
products. Among millennials, that number jumps to 72%.
“People are getting more aware of the rarity of the Earth
and the ways that our actions impact it,” says Jason Ballard,
CEO of sustainable home improvement retailer TreeHouse.
At the same time, he notes, greenwashing has become more complex. “It’s the dark side of a very
positive development,” he says.
One shift has been outreach. Many companies are now working to engage customers in their
sustainability efforts, even as their core business model remains environmentally unsustainable. The
Home Depot and Lowes, for example, both encourage customers to do their part by offering onsite
recycling for several products, including compact fluorescent lights and plastic bags. Meanwhile, they
continue to sell billions of dollars per year worth of environmentally damaging products, such as paints
that are loaded with toxic ingredients and which release noxious fumes. “It’s misdirection, and it’s
intended to shift the customer’s focus from a company’s appalling behavior to something that’s
peripheral,” Ballard says.
The bottled water conundrum
Another trend, says Jonah Sachs, CEO of branding agency Free Range Studios, is linking sustainability
claims to other issues, such as personal health. “There’s this perception that personal health and
environmental sustainability are two sides of the same coin,” he says. “Sometimes this is true, but
many times it isn’t. Bottled water is a great example: in terms of health, it’s much better than soda or
other drinks, but in terms of the environment and sustainability, it’s ridiculous.”
51
The water industry trades heavily on images of rugged mountains and pristine lakes to sell its products.
And many companies – Nestle, in particular – spend millions of dollars trying to convince the public
that their bottled water isn’t only good to drink, but is also good for the planet. Over the past few
years, the bottled water giant has claimed that its Eco-Shape bottle is more efficient, that its Resource
recycled plastic bottle is more environmentally responsible and that its use of plant-based plastics is
less damaging to the planet.
In 2008, Nestle Waters Canada even ran an ad claiming: “Bottled water
is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the
world.” Several Canadian groups quickly filed a complaint against the
company. Five years later, during Earth Day 2013, the International
Bottled Water Association doubled down on the sustainability claims,
announcing that bottled water was “the face of positive change”
because the industry was using less plastic in its bottles and relying more
on recycled plastic.
Sustainability promises aside, only about 31% of plastic bottles end up getting recycled, which means
that “the face of positive change” creates millions of tons of garbage every year, much of which ends
up in landfills or the ocean.
And the water that goes in the bottles is often equally unsustainable. Nestle’s Arrowhead water claims
that “Mother Nature is our muse” and boasts that it “has a team of experts dedicated to watching over
each one of our 13 spring sources” to ensure responsible water stewardship. This sounds promising
until one considers that those springs are in California, which has been in a state of drought for five
years. The company also bottles water in Arizona and Oregon, both of which are also experiencing
droughts.
A golden oldie
Some of the classic greenwashers are also taking cues from the new greenwashing playbook. In 2013,
amid worries about unemployment and continued concerns about energy sustainability,
Westinghouse put a fresh face on its old claims with a brand new commercial. “Did you know that
nuclear energy is the largest source of clean air energy in the world?” the ad asked viewers right before
claiming that its nuclear power plants “provide cleaner air, create jobs, and help sustain the
communities where they operate”.
What the commercial failed to mention was that, two years earlier, Westinghouse was cited by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission for concealing flaws in its reactor designs and submitting false
information to regulators. And, in February 2016, another plant that uses Westinghouse reactors, New
York’s Indian Point, leaked radioactive material into the surrounding area’s groundwater.
Greenwashing may have taken on a new shape in the last decade, but it’s still as murky as ever.
From Bruce Watson, The Guardian, online edition, Saturday 20 August 2016 [edited]
52
Text 2.2: The Volkswagen emissions scandal explained
The chief executive has quit after the firm admitted diesel cars were designed to cheat in tests. How did
the ‘defeat device’ work and what damage was done?
• What has VW done?
Volkswagen has been cheating in emission tests by making its cars appear far less polluting than they
are. The US Environmental Protection Agency discovered that 482,000 VW diesel cars on American
roads were emitting up to 40 times more toxic fumes than permitted - and VW has since admitted the
cheat affects 11m cars worldwide.
• What does it mean for the environment?
It means far more harmful NOx emissions, including nitrogen dioxide, have been pumped into the air
than was thought – on one analysis, between 250,000 to 1m extra tonnes every year. The hidden
damage from these VW vehicles could equate to all of the UK’s NOx emissions from all power stations,
vehicles, industry and agriculture.
• How did they do it?
VW’s “defeat device” is not a physical device but a programme in the engine software that lets the car
perceive if it is being driven under test conditions - and only then pull out all the anti-pollution stops.
“Clean diesel” engines cut emissions through techniques such as adjusting air-fuel ratios and exhaust
flows, and in some (though not most VWs) injecting a urea-based solution to render NOx harmless.
When running normally, requiring greater performance, VW’s controls would not operate in the same
way.
• How does the defeat device know it's being tested?
The EPA tests have known practices and profiles. In many cases, the test vehicles are put on rollers and
run at a certain speed for a certain time, then at another known speed for another known period. The
car's central computer can detect whether inputs match those expected in test conditions.
• How were VW found out?
An NGO, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), performed independent – and
crucially on-road – emissions tests, on the VW Passat, the VW Jetta, and a BMW X5. These tests
followed five routes on similar lines to the EPA simulations: highway, urban, suburban and rural
53
up/downhill driving. The emissions performance of the Volkswagen, but not the BMW, cars was so
much worse than expectations that the ICCT ran further tests on a dynamometer. In these
circumstances, the cars passed with flying colours. It was at this point that the ICCT contacted the EPA.
• What does it mean for your health?
The fumes can cause inflammation of the airways and worsen breathing for anyone. But NOx emissions
can also react with other compounds to cause more serious respiratory conditions and aggravate heart
problems. Long-term exposure to the pollution hastens death: research this year linked high levels of
NOx to 9,500 premature deaths annually in London alone.
• What does it mean for VW and its customers?
VW has issued a recall for its 482,000 cars in the US and halted sales of its affected Audi A3, and VW
Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat diesel models. No action has been announced elsewhere, however. The
corporation faces investigation in the US, a possible $18bn fine, and expects to spend €6.5bn (£4.7bn)
on fixes and compensation. Criminal charges and civil actions could follow.
• What does it mean for the car industry?
Consumers and governments will want to see all manufacturers’ claims reviewed. This particular cheat
may be unique to VW but the scandal highlights how few test results match real-life emissions.
Concerns about diesel may see more stringent limits, but some believe really clean engines will be too
expensive to produce and sell.
Gwyn TOPHAM, Sean CLARKE, Cath LEVETT, Paul SCRUTON and Matt FIDLER, The Guardian, online edition,
Wednesday 23 September 2015 [edited]
Questions for further discussion and debate
1. What is greenwashing? Give an example you know about and discuss it.
2. Comment on the claim: “Greenwashing is the dark side of a very positive
development”
3. What does the VW emissions scandal reveal about corporate practice? Do you
believe it was a leadership mistake? How could it have been prevented?
4. What is “crisis management”? Give examples.
54
Chapter 8
Inequalities
Vocabulary
Auction: a usually public sale of goods or property, where people make higher and higher bids (= offers
of money) for each item, until there are no higher bids and it is sold for the most money offered
By-product: a secondary and sometimes unexpected or unintended result
Clientele: the group of people who are regular customers at a particular business
Cutback: a reduction in something, made in order to save money
Data: facts that can be analysed or used in an effort to gain knowledge or make decisions; information
Deregulate (to, vb.): to remove government regulatory controls from an industry, a commodity, etc.
Entrepreneur: a person who sets up a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit
Executive: someone in a high position, especially in business, who makes decisions and puts them into
action
Globalization (BrE: Globalisation): the increase of trade around the world, especially by large
companies producing and trading goods in many different countries, and its consequences
55
(the) Internet: a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication
facilities
Luxury goods: expensive things, such as jewellery and make-up, that are pleasant to have but are not
necessary
Market share: percentage of total sales volume in a market captured by a brand or company
Outsourcing: a situation in which a company employs another organization to do some of its work,
rather than using its own employees to do it
Privatization: act of transferring ownership of specified property or business operations from a
government organization to a privately owned entity
Real income: income of an individual or group after taking into consideration the effects of inflation
on purchasing power (real terms <> nominal value)
Relocation: the process of moving to a different place to work, or of moving employees to a different
place to work
Salesman (gender neutral: salesperson): a person (especially a man) whose job is selling things in a
shop or directly to customers
Statistics: numerical data, and the branch of mathematics studying them
Survey: an examination of opinions, behaviour, etc., made by asking people questions
Trickle-down economics: an economic policy that asserts that if you give tax cuts to the rich the profits
will “trickle down” (spread) to the lower classes
Workforce: the group of people who work in a company, industry, country, etc.
Additional vocabulary and notes
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Section 1. Unequal Globalization
Text 1.1: Global Winners and Losers
Economists Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook
pointed out in their classic book, The Winner-TakeAll Society, that globalization “has played an
important role in the expansion of inequality” by
creating a winner-take-all market for the globe.
They note that with trade barriers and tariffs being
reduced or eliminated all over the earth, travel
costs being slashed, internal markets being
deregulated and information now being freely and
cheaply disseminated across borders, a single unified global market is being created in many industries
and professions. The traveling salesman who used to be confined to a five-state area can now use
faxes, satellite phones and the Internet to create a national or global clientele for himself. The doctor
who was limited to one hospital can now give his diagnosis and advise treatment of patients through
data transmission networks that stretch the world over. The singer who used to be heard only in her
country can now use technology not only to reach a global audience, as the Beatles did, but to profit
from it in myriad ways. At the same time, the elimination of formal and informal rules that limited
competitive bidding for the best in any particular industry – rules in industry which led companies to
promote executives from within rather than scour the world for the best and the brightest – have also
contributed to an open, global auction market, which adds to the already pregnant problems of
relocation and global outsourcing by enhancing competition from abroad.
You put all these factors together and you end up with a situation in which the potential market for
any good or service, for any singer or songwriter, for any author or actor, for any doctor or lawyer, for
any athlete or academic, now extends from one end of the world to the other. This unprecedented
openness and opportunity for mobility enables, encourages and in many ways require firms, industries
57
and professionals to try to cover this worldwide market – otherwise somebody else will. And when one
of these players emerges as the winner in any particular field, that person can potentially win not only
in the United States and Europe, not only Japan or China. He or she can reap enormous profits and
royalties from everywhere else at once.
In this global village, the top players – those who can deliver the best product – can earn enormous
profit. While the winners can do incredibly well in this global market, those with only marginally
inferior skills will often do much less well, and those with few or no skills will do very poorly. Therefore,
the gap between first and second place grows larger, and the gap between first and last place becomes
staggering. Of course, in many fields there is rarely only one winner, but those near the top get a
disproportionate market share. The more that different markets get globalized and become winnertake-all markets, the more inequality expands within countries and, for that matter, between
countries.
These inequalities are becoming one of the most disturbing social by-products of this system, in spite
of the arguments put forward in trickle-down economics. According to a report in the National Journal,
the incomes of the poorest fifth of working families in America dropped by 21 percent between 1979
and 1995, adjusted for inflation, while the incomes of the richest fifth jumped by 30 percent during
the same period. On May 30, 1998, The Economist reported that America had 170 billionaires,
compared with 13 in 1982. It was reported that Bill Gates’ fortune at one point was equal to the
combined net worth of the 106 million poorest Americans. There are many other examples of the
impact of globalization on income gaps and the social consequences that flow from this.
From Thomas L. FRIEDMAN, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Harper Collins Pub., 2000, 308-310 [edited]
58
Text 1.2: Russia’s failed transition
Seldom has the gap between expectations and reality been greater than in the case of the transition
from communism to the market. The combination of privatization, liberalization, and decentralization
was supposed to lead quickly, after perhaps a short transition recession, to a vast increase in
production. It was expected that the benefits from transition would be greater in the long run than in
the short run, as old, inefficient machines were replaced, and a new generation of entrepreneurs was
created. Full integration into the global economy, with all the benefits that it would bring, would also
come quickly, if not immediately.
These expectations for economic growth were not realized,
not only in Russia but in most of the economies in
transition. Russia has quickly been transformed from an
industrial giant—a country that had managed with Sputnik
to put the first satellite into orbit—into a natural resource
exporter; resources, and especially oil and gas, accounted
for over half of all exports. According to World Bank data,
Russia has now a GDP that is less than two-thirds of what it
was in 1989. The magnitude of GDP decline in Russia is the subject of controversy, but these statistics
do not tell the whole story of transition in Russia. How do you value the benefits of democracy, as
imperfect as it might be? But they also ignore one of the most important failures: the increase in
poverty and inequality.
While the size of the national economic pie was shrinking, it was being divided up more and more
inequitably so the average Russian was getting smaller and smaller slice. In 1989, only 2 percent of
those living in Russia were in poverty. By late 1998, that number had soared to 23.8 percent, using the
$2 a day standard. More than forty percent of the country had less than $4 a day, according to a survey
conducted by the World Bank. The statistics for children revealed even deeper problem, with more
than 50 percent living in families in poverty. Other post-Communist countries have seen comparable,
if not worse, increases in poverty.
Shortly after I arrived at the World Bank, I began taking a closer look at what was going on. When I
raised my concerns about these matters, an economist at the Bank responded heatedly. He cited the
traffic jams of cars, many of them Mercedes, leaving Moscow on a summer weekend, and the stores
59
filled with luxury goods. This was a far different picture from the empty and colorless retail
establishments under the former regime. I did not disagree that a substantial number of people had
been made wealthy enough to cause a traffic jam, or to create a demand for Gucci shoes. At many
European resorts, the wealthy Russian has replaced the wealthy Arab of two decades ago. But a traffic
jam of Mercedes in a country with a per capita income of $4,730 is a sign of sickness, not health. It is
a clear sign of a society that concentrates its wealth among the few, rather than distributing it among
the many.
The middle class in Russia has perhaps been the hardest hit. The
inflation first wiped out their meager savings. With wages not
keeping up with inflation, their real incomes fell. Cutbacks in
expenditure on education and health further eroded their
standards of living. Those who could, emigrated. Some countries,
like Bulgaria, lost 10% or more of their population, and an even
larger fraction of their educated workforce. The bright students in
Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union that I’ve met work hard, with one ambition in
mind: to migrate to the West. Those losses are important not just for what they imply but for what
they portend for the future: historically, the middle class has been central to creating a society based
on the rule of law and democratic values.
Russia today has a level of inequality comparable with the worst in the world, those Latin American
societies which were based on a semi-feudal heritage. Russia has gotten the worst of all possible
worlds—an enormous decline in input and an enormous increase in inequality. And the prognosis for
the future is bleak: extremes of inequality impede growth, particularly when they lead to social and
political instability.
Joseph E. STIGLITZ, Globalization and Its Discontents, W.W. Norton & Co, 2003, 153-155
60
Comprehension and Vocabulary Exercises
A. Vocabulary. Fill in the blank with a word or phrase from the vocabulary list:
1. Our marketing department will conduct a consumer ……………… next month.
2. It is claimed that ……………… of industrial activity to low cost countries such as Mexico
increases unemployment in the U.S.
3. Cultural transfers can be considered as a positive (a) ……………… of (b) …………….. .
4. Because of budget constraints, General Motors (a) ……………… have been considering (b)
……………. in their advertising budget.
5. We need to gather more ……………… on consumer behaviour before we make any decision.
6. Russia’s new generation of ……………… has close links to the ruling political elite.
7. (a) ……………… has changed the work of (b) …………... in many ways, especially by
introducing online sales and payments.
8. Caviar is not considered a ……………. in Iran, even though it is in the rest of the world.
B. True or False?
1. Some people claim that globalization has contributed to raising inequality levels
worldwide (T/F)
2. The scale and intensity of competition on the labour market have been expanded by
globalization (T/F)
3. The dollar income of American families has decreased between 1979 and 1995 (T/F)
4. Russian GDP has increased during the post-communist period (T/F)
5. Emigration to the West is the sign that the Russian economy is healthy (T/F)
C. Try to answer the following questions in your own words and avoid simply quoting from
the text:
1. How does the birth of the “global village” affect workers, professionals and companies?
2. Do you believe that globalisation fuels inequality or that it contributes to a more equal
world? Why or why not?
3. What happened to Russia during the transition from communism to a market economy?
4. Explain the fate of the middle class in post-communist Russia. Why is it a source of
concern?
D. Discussion and further research:
1. Define and explain “trickle-down economics”, and research its pros and cons
2. Do you think that the existence of the “super rich” class (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the
Queen of England…) is a good thing or a bad thing for the economy? Why and/or why not?
61
Grammar: The Passive
62
63
64
[Source: M. MCCARTHY et al., Cambridge Grammar for Business, CUP, 2009, 96-97, 100-101]
65
Section 2: Gender Inequalities
Text 2.1: The Political Economy of Gender Inequality
Why is that women are still so far behind men in the exercise of
power? […] Part of the answer can be traced to the simple fact that
women often take time off or slow down their careers to have
children. For a comparably intelligent and educated man and
woman employed in a job at which they can become better over
time—because, for example, they come to understand the way the
firm and market work, or because they build useful relationships
within and outside the firm—the woman’s career suffers if she quits
her job or slows down while her children are young. But even
women who don’t take time off for child rearing are affected. All
women are less likely to be hired or promoted in those kinds of jobs
because on average, even in the twenty-first century, women are far
more likely to slow down during the child-bearing years. From the standpoint of employers, women
represent a bigger risk and a correspondingly worse investment in human capital. Discrimination
against women—because as a group women are less productive—does not require prejudice to be
efficient, and it is widely practiced.
It is hard to think of a serious career in which a worker’s productivity cannot be hurt significantly by
taking or cutting back for a few years. In finance, insurance, and law, suspended careers or curtailed
hours can mean the loss of client portfolios to colleagues with greater availability. Business managers
fail at their jobs unless they can regularly monitor markets and personnel and respond nimbly to new
developments. In high-tech careers, it is hard to recover after falling behind technological
developments. In academe, a bigger load of family work can translate into lower productivity, impaired
academic standing, and lower salaries. The hit to a woman’s employment value from career
66
interruption is lower, of course, at the bottom of the skills continuum: routine clerical work, food
service jobs, bookkeeping, lower school teaching, child care, housecleaning, and some manual labor
jobs. If women in fast-track jobs drop out while women in menial jobs are less pressured to do so, the
net effect is that women find themselves huddled at the bottom of the economic stack, gender-equal
education notwithstanding. […]
Given the predominance of agricultural production in human history, it is not surprising that
patriarchy—which imbues a stark economic division of labor with moral imperative—has been
similarly entrenched in human experience. […] In modern societies, too, outside options influence
bargaining within the family. We find from survey data that women with better outside options—in
the form of education and job opportunities—do relatively less housework than women who lack those
options, even when we control for actual hours of paid work and market income. It is a given, of course,
that stay-at-home women do more housework than those who work outside the home. But we have
found that a woman is able to pass off more housework onto her husband if there is merely the
possibility of her working outside the home, as indicated by her education and by the demand for
female labor in the marketplace.
Industrialization reduces the productivity advantage of male labor, but the
modern welfare state hits women with an unanticipated disadvantage.
Among industrial economies, the more interventionist welfare states protect
workers from easy layoffs. Employers invest in their workers’ firm-specific
skills and naturally want to maximize their returns. They want to avoid
investing in people who will then leave, taking their accumulated capital with
them. But women are left out of this game because employers know they are
more likely than men to interrupt their careers for childbearing and other
family work. This reduces the firms’ prospects of making good on long-term
investments in women’s human capital, and private sector firms in countries
with robust labor protection thus tend to avoid hiring and promoting women.
The market economies with the least interventionist governments are, paradoxically, the most
congenial to female employment. Where labor markets are relatively unprotected, a worker’s
expected tenure at any given firm is correspondingly short. Workers invest in general skills that are
transferable across firms, and employers structure production around a fungible workforce. They do
not invest extensively in worker training and so do not worry that such a training would go to waste
on a woman who quits to raise her family. In economies where men are as insecure in their jobs as
women, the playing field is more or less gender neutral and family bargaining tends to be relatively
egalitarian. There are, of course, trade-offs: gender equality often comes at the cost on income
inequality.
The possibility of divorce also shapes the bargaining environment in the family. Women are more
likely to work—and likely to do less household work—in countries with higher divorce rates. The
opposite is true in countries where legal and social barriers to divorce make it difficult to take outside
options, even if they exist. Where partners are forced to treat the union as a going concern,
bargaining—and the division of family labor—may reflect old social norms more than would be
warranted by relative levels of male and female labor productivity alone.
From Torben IVERSEN and Frances ROSENBLUTH, Women, Work, & Politics, The Political Economy of
Gender Inequality, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010, pages vii-viii and 5-7
67
Text 2.2: Women are the engines of the Indian
economy but their contribution is ignored
Women’s participation in work is an
indicator of their status in a society. Paid
work offers more opportunities for
women’s
agency,
mobility
and
empowerment, and it usually leads to
greater social recognition of the work
that women do, whether paid or unpaid.
Where women’s work participation rates
are relatively low, it is safe to say that the
surrounding society isn’t giving women
the capacities, opportunities and
freedom to engage in productive work,
nor recognising the vast amount of work performed by women as unpaid labour.
In India, where the economy has been growing rapidly over the past 30 years, recent statistics appear
to show that women’s workforce participation rates (already low by international standards) have
declined. Is there something about Indian society and the nature of economic growth that has led to
this historically unprecedented combination of trends?
Estimates of employment in India are based on surveys conducted periodically (not every year) by the
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). It said that in 1999-2000, 35% of rural women and 17% of
women over 15 years old were “working”, as regular or casual wage workers, self-employed or unpaid
helpers in family enterprises (like farms or small shops). By 2011-12 (the most recent survey published),
after a period of rapid economic growth, this has declined to 25% in rural areas and remained at the
same pitifully low rate in urban areas.
However, this definition of employment excludes some important activities that are definitely work
(sometimes very hard work) and contribute critically to the economy, but are not recognised as such
by the surveys – or by policymakers and society.
In India’s NSSO one category excluded from employment (and therefore even from being counted in
the labour force) is code 92: those who “attended to domestic duties only”. That includes all the
activities that constitute the care economy, that is looking after the young, the sick and the elderly as
well as other healthy household members, cooking, cleaning and provisioning for the family, and so
on. Another category excluded is code 93: those who “attended to domestic duties and were also
engaged in free collection of goods (vegetables, roots, firewood, cattle feed), sewing, tailoring,
weaving, etc. for household use”.
If such women are actually counted among workers, as indeed they should be with the new definition
adopted by the ILO in 2014, then the picture changes completely. Women’s workforce participation
68
rate in 1999-2000 increases to a whopping 89% in rural areas, and only declines to 85% in 2011-12 (a
decline that can be completely explained by more enrolment in education among the 15-24 age group).
In urban areas, the participation rate increases to 81% in 1999-2000 and remains around the same at
80% in 2011-12.
So what has actually happened is not a decline in
women’s work participation as such, but a shift from
paid or recognised work to unpaid work. This is a
dispiriting shift, because it is also typically associated
with women’s and girls’ loss of agency and bargaining
power within the family. It is also typically not
voluntary: most of the women surveyed responded
that they did such work because there was no one else
in the household available to do it. The numbers
involved are huge – more than 360 million women in
2011-12, and probably even more by now.
The invisibility of such women workers is appalling because such work is essential to the survival of
society and provides a huge and unnoticed subsidy to the “formal” economy. It is also inefficient and
unjust, adding significantly to the relational inequalities that are so entrenched in Indian society. It
disempowers even paid women workers since as a result what women do is undervalued, and
contributes to large gender gaps in wages. And it allows policymakers to forget about the conditions
of hundreds of millions of workers on whom the entire economy depends.
From Jayati GHOSH, The Guardian, Saturday 16 July 2016 [edited]
Questions for further discussion and debate
1. What are (in your opinion) the main causes of the persistent salary gap
between men and women? Use your own words.
2. Why would this discrimination appear to be ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’ from an
economic point of view? Explain (for example) by taking successively the
points of view of employers, families and of society as a whole.
3. How and why does Indian women’s work become statistically “invisible”?
4. In your opinion, what should governments in India (and elsewhere) do to
remedy economic discrimination against women?
69
70
Appendices
and additional material
71
Appendix I
Numbers and Dates in English
A. Dates in English
Writing the date
We write the date in English in different ways. The most common way in British English is to write the
day of the month first, then the month (starting with a capital letter) and then the year:
20 January 1993
14 November 2005
We can also write the date in numbers only:
20 January 1993 = 20/1/1993
14 November 2005 = 14–11–2005 or 14.11.05
Sometimes the last two letters of the number as spoken can be used (th, rd, st, nd):
Today is the 7th September.
The grand opening is on 1st June. or … on June 1st.
With the exception of May and June, months can be shortened as follows:
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.
72
NB : Dates in American English
In written American English, the month of the date comes before the day and year. For example,
Independence Day in the USA is on July 4th each year. In the year 2000 the date was 4/7/2000 in British
English. In American English this is written 7/4/2000, which might be confusing.
Speaking the date
We ask the date or about dates in several ways. We can add
the and of when we reply:
What date did they get married? / What date is it? / It’s the
first of June. (1st June)
What’s the date today? / It’s June the first. (June 1st)
What’s today’s date? / Fifteenth of April. (15th April)
We talk about years like this:
• Before the year 2000
1492: fourteen ninety-two
1700: seventeen hundred
1801: eighteen hundred and one or eighteen oh one
1908: nineteen oh eight
•
After the year 2000
2000: two thousand
2003: two thousand and three or twenty oh three
2012: two thousand and twelve or twenty twelve
73
B. Cardinal Numbers in English
Table of Cardinal Numbers
Cardinal numbers from 1 through 1,000,000
1 one
11 eleven
21 twenty-one
31
thirty-one
2 two
12 twelve
22 twenty-two
40
forty
23 twenty-three 50
fifty
4 four 14 fourteen 24 twenty-four 60
sixty
5 five
15 fifteen
25 twenty-five
70
seventy
6 Six
16 sixteen
26 twenty-six
80
eighty
7 seven 17 seventeen 27 twenty-seven 90
ninety
8 eight 18 eighteen 28 twenty-eight 100
a/one hundred
9 nine 19 nineteen 29 twenty-nine 1,000
a/one thousand
3 three 13 thirteen
10 Ten
20 twenty
30 Thirty
1,000,000 a/one million
Separation between hundreds and tens
Hundreds and tens are usually separated by 'and' (in American English 'and' is not necessary).
110 - one hundred and ten
1,250 - one thousand, two hundred and fifty
74
2,001 - two thousand and one
Hundreds : Use 100 always with 'a' or 'one'.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
'a' can only stand at the beginning of a number.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
2,100 - two thousand, one hundred
Thousands and Millions
Use 1,000 and 1,000,000 always with 'a' or 'one'.
1,000 - a thousand / one thousand
201,000 - two hundred and one thousand
NB: Use commas as a separator : 57,458,302 [NB: the exact opposite of French usage: in French
commas are used as decimal separators…]
The Number 1,000,000,000
In English this number is a billion. This is very tricky for nations where 'a billion' has 12 zeros.
1,000,000,000,000 in English, however, is a trillion.
But don't worry, these numbers are even a bit problematic for native speakers: for a long time the
British 'billion' had 12 zeros (a number with 9 zeros was called 'a thousand million'). Now, however,
also in British English 'a billion' has 9 zeros. But from time to time this number still causes confusion
(just like this paragraph, I'm afraid).
Singular or Plural?
Numbers are usually written in singular:
two hundred Euros
several thousand light years
The plural is only used with dozen, hundred, thousand, million, billion, if they are not modified by
another number or expression (e.g. a few / several).
hundreds of Euros
thousands of light years
[Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/writing/dates]
75
Appendix II
The Mortgage Mess
[From Michael GOODWIN and Dan E. BURR, Economix, How our economy works (and doesn’t work) in words and
pictures, New York: Abrams Comicarts, 2012, 257-266]
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
Appendix III
The Tragedy of the Commons
86
87
88
89
[From Yoram BAUMAN and Grady KLEIN, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume 1: Microeconomics,
New-York: Hill and Wang, 2010 [p.188-192]
90
The economics of climate change
91
92
93
94
[From Yoram BAUMAN and Grady KLEIN, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume 2: Macroeconomics,
New-York: Hill and Wang, 2012, 188-192]
95
Appendix IV
Améliorer son anglais en un rien de temps
A. Hazardous substances / “Faux amis”
En raison de l’histoire de la langue, certains mots anglais ne veulent pas dire la même chose – parfois
même l’inverse ! – que le mot français auquel ils ressemblent… Si vous ne comprenez toujours pas la
distinction à la suite de la lecture de cette section, vérifiez bien les définitions respectives dans un
dictionnaire bilingue ou mieux, unilingue anglais.
NB : à la fin de la première année de licence, il n’est plus acceptable de faire ces
confusions et nous vous conseillons de revoir/relire cette section aussi souvent que
possible si vous êtes sujets à les commettre de manière répétée.
•
actual (= « réel ») <> present, qui lui traduit le français « actuel » : “actual” ne veut donc pas
dire “actuel” du tout…)
•
allowance <> allocation [les allocations qu’on reçoit de la sécurité sociale sont des “allowances” en
anglais ; l’anglais “allocation” signifie attribution ou répartition]
•
boss (= « le patron, le chef, le directeur ») <> patron (qui signifie parfois « client » ou même
mécène : ‘patron of the arts’)
•
business <> affairs [“faire des affaires avec quelqu’un” se dit “to do business with someone”; ‘affairs’
est réservé à d’autres cas, soit très formels (par exemple : « Ministry of Foreign Affairs ») soit avec une
connotation érotique qui n’a rien à voir avec le business (« having an affair »)…]
•
commodity (=’good’, ‘merchandise’, et il n’est donc en rien synonyme du mot “commodité” qu’il faut
traduire en général par le terme de “convenience”)
96
•
company <> society [Microsoft n’est pas une “society” mais bien une « company » ou « firm », et plus
précisément une “corporation”… Les entités économiques ne sont pas des ‘societies’]
•
competition and competitors (=”concurrence et concurrents” en français) <> concurrence
(=’agreement’, « accord » en français) [le verbe “to concur” signifie être d’accord avec quelqu’un, et non
être en situation de rivalité – un concurrent en affaires se dit donc “competitor” en anglais, et jamais
“concurrent”, un adjective qui signifie tout autre chose. C’est une grosse faute de confondre les deux ! = on
comprendra l’inverse de ce que vous voulez dire…]
•
economy <> economics (=science, singulier) [un seul mot en français, mais deux en anglais, avec
des sens disjoints… Un étudiant étudie « economics », la science dont l’objet est de comprendre « the
economy »]
•
economic <> economical (=’economical’ signifie exclusivement ce qui permet d’éviter une
dépense = avantageux d’un point de vue comptable)
•
to earn <> to win (money) [gagner à la loterie ou dans une compétition: “win”, gagner de l’argent
par son travail: “earn” ; ne confondez surtout pas les deux]
•
eventually (=finally) <> possibly [“eventually” ne veut pas dire “éventuellement” mais “finalement”,
“à la fin”… Le mot français « éventuellement » peut en général être traduit par ‘possibly’]
•
environmentalist (= un militant écologiste, politiquement engagé dans la défense de
l’environnement) <> ecologist (qui est la plupart du temps un scientifique étudiant les
écosystèmes !)
•
to fund <> to found <> to find [trois verbes à ne pas confondre, qui veulent respectivement dire :
“financer”, “fonder”, “trouver”]
•
hazard (= danger) <> luck, chance (le mot “hasard” ne se traduit pas par ‘hazard’ !)
•
to lose (avec un seul ‘o’ = “perdre”, c’est un verbe) <> loose (“relâché”, “délié”, est un adjectif,
qui est proche du verbe “to loosen”(avec deux ‘o’) = « relâcher, détendre »)
•
a product (« un produit ») BUT to produce (« produire ») [en anglais on ne dit pas “to product
something”, mais bien “to produce something” – par ailleurs, le nom/substantif « produce » existe, mais il
désigne surtout les produits de l’agriculture, des légumes par exemple]
•
profit <> benefit [si une société fait des bénéfices en français, “it makes profits” en anglais ; ‘benefit’
signifie avantage en général, et d’autres choses également, mais ne traduit pas le mot anglais ‘profit’…]
•
policy <> politics [un seul mot en français, deux en anglais qu’on ne doit pas utiliser de manière
interchangeable : « la politique économique du gouvernement » (= policy) <> « faire de la politique » ou « la
politique » en général (= politics)]
•
to raise <> to rise
[l’un est transitif, l’autre pas…: “you raise your hand”; but “the sun rises”]
97
•
to resume signifie “to continue after having been interrupted” [c’est-à-dire “recommencer”,
alors que le français “résumer” se dit en revanche en anglais : “to sum up”, “to summarize / synthesize”]
•
sensitive <> sensible (= reasonable) [L’anglais “sensible” renvoie au “common sense” et donc à la
raison, pas à la sensibilité : “sensible” = “sense”, pas “sensible”]
•
setting <> fixing (prices) [“to fix” peut parfois avoir une connotation malhonnête (entente illicite par
exemple) que “fixer” n’a pas en français. Il vaut mieux dire “set the price” pour traduire: decider de / fixer
un prix de vente par exemple]
•
to touch <> to receive (money) [‘touch’ est presque nécessairement physique en anglais, donc
“toucher de l’argent” = “to receive money” et non “to touch money” … Par ailleurs, être touché par quelque
chose se dit : « to be affected »]
•
traffic <> trafficking (in some contexts, check it up!)
•
vacation <> vacancy [‘vacation’ sont les vacances qu’on prend, mais ‘vacancy’ signifie une ‘vacance’
(le terme existe aussi en français) mais cette fois au sens d’un emploi à pourvoir]
•
voluntary <> benevolent (=kind, ‘gentil’, ‘bienveillant’)
[un travailleur bénévole est donc un
“volunteer”, qui fait du “voluntary work” en anglais – “benevolent” (adj.) est quant à lui généralement
traduisible par “bienveillant” en français]
B. Common mistakes easily avoided
Be extra careful and remain vigilant about the following mistakes:
L’expérience montre que les erreurs qui suivent sont les plus communes et les plus
grosses que les étudiants commettent. A nouveau, il n’est PLUS ACCEPTABLE que des
étudiants continuent à les faire à la fin de l’année de L1.
• He wantS / she claimS / it runS. (pleaaaaaase…) [présent simple 3ème personne…]
98
• Who / which / that: en anglais le pronom relatif “who” est exclusivement employé
pour des personnes humaines ou assimilées à des personnes humaines, et pas pour des
choses, ni en général pour des sociétés ou des institutions (sauf exception et licence
poétique). “The company which” est correct, pas “the company who”. De même voire
surtout pour les pronoms “he/she”, sauf des cas très particuliers et en général
archaïques (chats, bateaux, nations dans certains cas). Les animaux sont un cas ambigu
qui dépend des circonstances. En revanche, il est clair qu’une société (company) comme
Apple ou Microsoft est référée à ‘it’, jamais à ‘he’ ou ‘she’ ; cela peut être parfois THEY
si vous vous référez aux gens opérants dans cette société/institution mais pas à la
société comme entité. Prenez en bonne note !
• Each/every X est toujours employé au singulier. “Everybody DOES” (not “do”).
•
Contrairement à l’usage en français, les adjectifs sont toujours invariables et ne
prennent pas la marque du pluriel. Par ailleurs, les adjectifs relatifs à la nationalité,
l’ethnicité, la religion etc. commencent avec une majuscule en anglais, sauf
exception. Exemples : ‘Western corporations’, ‘a Catholic priest’, ‘an African
princess’… De même, les noms des jours et des mois prennent une majuscule en
anglais : “Tuesday” not “tuesday”, “June” not “june”.
Les fautes qui précèdent sont les plus fréquentes, mais revoyez également les règles
suivantes :
• Révisez bien les règles d’usage des articles définis et indéfinis, qui ne sont pas du tout
les mêmes qu’en français. (a/an/the/ no article, see Booklet S1 grammar chapter 3)
• Vérifiez bien quand vous apprenez un verbe quelle est la préposition correcte à
employer. Souvent, ce n’est pas la même qu’en français ! Exemples: to depend ON
something (alors que le français dit « dépendre de ») / to come TO a conclusion
(« aboutir à une conclusion ») / to associate WITH / etc.
• En anglais, les noms communs indénombrables (uncountable) sont plus fréquents
qu’en français et leur grammaire est très spécifique. Par exemple, « information » en
anglais ne s’emploie pas au pluriel et on ne peut JAMAiS dire « two informations » ni
« many informations » (see grammar S1 chapter 4). C’est une source majeure d’erreurs
pour les locuteurs du français qui veulent s’exprimer en anglais.
• Revoyez régulièrement vos verbes irréguliers ! (voir appendice V)
99
More mistakes to be avoided / autres erreurs à éviter :
• Ne confondez pas: ‘their’ / ‘there’ / ‘they’re’. (+you’re/your, its / it’s, etc.)
• Le pluriel de ‘this’ est ‘these’ / ‘those’.
• N’employez JAMAIS ‘according to me’, mais plutôt ‘In my opinion’ or “To my mind”
etc. quand vous voulez dire « à mon avis / selon moi »
• De nombreux locuteurs natifs de l’anglais (surtout américains) pensent aujourd’hui
que le seul pluriel acceptable de ‘a person’ est ‘people’ et donc pensent que « persons »
est une faute (sauf contextes particuliers, légaux, formels et philosophiques). Ils ont tort
historiquement, mais c’est l’usage qui fait la langue donc à éviter (par exemple, évitez
de dire « two persons » mais dites plutôt « two people »).
• “From my point of view” et “In my view” sont corrects (pas ‘In my point of view’).
• ‘As far as I am concerned’ suggère la plupart du temps que vous pensez différemment
des autres (connotation à bien prendre en compte).
• ‘Lots of’ (plutôt informel) mais ‘A lot of’ (et JAMAIS ‘lot of’).
• ‘Firstable’ (corruption probable de ‘first of all’) n’est pas (encore) de l’anglais correct.
• Référence à une décennie particulière : 1990s, NOT 1990’s.
• Pour indiquer le but ‘for to’ n’est pas correct. Utilisez ‘in order to’ et d’autres manières
acceptables d’indiquer le but. « For » est généralement suivi d’un nom (ou d’un gérondif
substantivé), « to » est suivi d’un infinitif. Attention donc à la traduction de « pour » qui
n’est pas toujours « for » en anglais
• “Liberal” veut souvent dire “progressiste”/ “de gauche” aux USA surtout. Quand vous
voulez vous référer au libéralisme économique, prenez bien soin de préciser : economic
liberalism (free market, etc.). Cette précision peut avoir son importance en contexte.
• Faites désormais attention au niveau de langue (poli/soutenu/relâché par exemple).
Au lycée, cela avait peu d’importance, mais plus maintenant : l’anglais relevé ou formel
n’est pas la même chose que l’anglais informel (informal, colloquial English) et encore
moins l’argot (slang). Évitez absolument d’écrire « gonna », « wanna » etc. Cela vous
évitera des déconvenues dès à présent, ou des fautes professionnelles plus tard.
100
Appendix V
Common irregular verbs
Only a small percentage of English verbs do not follow the standard pattern for simple past and past
participle forms (-ed); unfortunately, many of the most common verbs tend to be irregular. We strongly
recommend that you study and review the following list on a regular basis. You should be aware that
there are many more irregular verbs in the English language, but these are the most common.
BE
WAS/WERE
BEEN
FALL
FELL
FALLEN
BEAT
BEAT
BEATEN
FEED
FED
FED
BECOME
BECAME
BECOME
FEEL
FELT
FELT
BEGIN
BEGAN
BEGUN
FIGHT
FOUGHT
FOUGHT
BET
BET
BET
FIND
FOUND
FOUND
BITE
BIT
BITTEN
FLY
FLEW
FLOWN
BLOW
BLEW
BLOWN
FORGET
FORGOT
FORGOTTEN
BREAK
BROKE
BROKEN
FORGIVE
FORGAVE
FORGIVEN
BRING
BROUGHT
BROUGHT
FREEZE
FROZE
FROZEN
BUILD
BUILT
BUILT
GET
GOT
GOT
BURN
BURNT/BURNED
BURNT/BURNED
GIVE
GAVE
GIVEN
BUY
BOUGHT
BOUGHT
GO
WENT
GONE
CATCH
CAUGHT
CAUGHT
GROW
GREW
GROWN
CHOOSE
CHOSE
CHOSEN
HAVE
HAD
HAD
COME
CAME
COME
HEAR
HEARD
HEARD
COST
COST
COST
HIDE
HID
HIDDEN
CUT
CUT
CUT
HIT
HIT
HIT
DO
DID
DONE
HOLD
HELD
HELD
DRAW
DREW
DRAWN
HURT
HURT
HURT
DREAM
DREAMT/DREAMED DREAMT/DREAMED
KEEP
KEPT
KEPT
DRINK
DRANK
DRUNK
KNOW
KNEW
KNOWN
DRIVE
DROVE
DRIVEN
LAY
LAID
LAID
EAT
ATE
EATEN
LEAD
LED
LED
101
LEARN
LEARNT/LEARNED
LEARNT/LEARNED
SIT
SAT
SAT
LEAVE
LEFT
LEFT
SLEEP
SLEPT
SLEPT
LEND
LENT
LENT
SPEAK
SPOKE
SPOKEN
LET
LET
LET
SPEND
SPENT
SPENT
LOSE
LOST
LOST
SPILL
SPILT/SPILLED
SPILT/SPILLED
MAKE
MADE
MADE
SPREAD
SPREAD
SPREAD
MEAN
MEANT
MEANT
SPEED
SPED
SPED
MEET
MET
MET
STAND
STOOD
STOOD
PAY
PAID
PAID
STEAL
STOLE
STOLEN
PUT
PUT
PUT
STICK
STUCK
STUCK
QUIT
QUIT
QUIT
STING
STUNG
STUNG
READ /RI:D/ READ /RED/
READ /RED/
STINK
STANK
STUNK
RIDE
RODE
RIDDEN
SWEAR
SWORE
SWORN
RING
RANG
RUNG
SWEEP
SWEPT
SWEPT
RISE
ROSE
RISEN
SWIM
SWAM
SWUM
RUN
RAN
RUN
SWING
SWUNG
SWUNG
SAY
SAID
SAID
TAKE
TOOK
TAKEN
SEE
SAW
SEEN
TEACH
TAUGHT
TAUGHT
SELL
SOLD
SOLD
TEAR
TORE
TORN
SEND
SENT
SENT
TELL
TOLD
TOLD
SET
SET
SET
THINK
THOUGHT
THOUGHT
SHAKE
SHOOK
SHAKEN
THROW
THREW
THROWN
SHOOT
SHOT
SHOT
UNDERSTAND UNDERSTOOD
UNDERSTOOD
SHOW
SHOWED
SHOWN
WEAR
WORE
WORN
SHRINK
SHRANK
SHRUNK
WIN
WON
WON
SHUT
SHUT
SHUT
WRITE
WROTE
WRITTEN
SING
SANG
SUNG
SINK
SANK
SUNK
102
Appendix VI
Required vocabulary for L1 S2
NB: Students are required to know the meaning of the following words and phrases (86 in number)
and they should be able to define and explain them satisfactorily by the end of the semester. These
terms are part of the relevant technical vocabulary necessary to understand the content of the
chapters in the syllabus. The following list consists of the words defined in section 1 of each chapter,
to which students should refer for definitions.
AUCTION
ENVIRONMENT
PRIVATIZATION
(TO) BAIL OUT
ENVIRONMENTALIST
PUBLIC GOOD
BANKRUPTCY
ENVIRONMENTALISM
PURCHASING POWER
BEAR MARKET
EXECUTIVE
REAL ESTATE
BOND
EXPECTATION
REAL INCOME
BOOM
EXTERNALITY
RECESSION
BORROWING BINGE
GLOBALIZATION
RELOCATION
BRICS
INDEX
RENEWABLE ENERGY
BUBBLE
INDUSTRIALIZATION
R&D
BULL MARKET
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
RETAINED EARNINGS
(TO) BURST
(THE) INTERNET
SALESMAN
BY-PRODUCT
INVESTOR
SECURITY
CLIENTELE
IOU
SHARE
COLLATERAL
INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
SHAREHOLDER / STOCKHOLDER
COMMONS
(TO) LAY OFF
SPECULATOR
COMPLIANCE
LUXURY GOODS
STATISTICS
CONVERGENT
(TO BE) MADE REDUNDANT
STOCK
CORPORATION
MARKET FAILURE
STOCK EXCHANGE
CRASH
MARKET SHARE
STOCK MARKET
CRISIS
MORTGAGE
SUBPRIME CRISIS
CUTBACK
OUTSOURCING
SURVEY
DATA
OWNERSHIP
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
DEBT
PATENT
TAXPAYER
DEFAULT
(TO) PEAK
TOXIC LOANS
DEPRESSION
(TO) PLUMMET
TOXIC WASTE
(TO) DEREGULATE
POLLUTANT
TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS
DIVIDEND
POLLUTION
(TO) UNDERWRITE / UNDERWRITER
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
POVERTY TRAP
WORKFORCE
ENTREPRENEUR
PRINCIPAL
103
Credits and acknowledgments
Teaching materials and excerpts from the following books and newspapers (in alphabetical order):
Bruce BARTLETT, “‘Financialization’ as a Cause of Economic Malaise”, The New York Times, June 11, 2013
Yoram BAUMAN and Grady KLEIN, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume 1: Microeconomics, New-York:
Hill and Wang, 2010 [p.188-192]
Yoram BAUMAN and Grady KLEIN, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume 2: Macroeconomics, New-York:
Hill and Wang, 2012 [188-192]
Michael DUCKWORTH, Oxford Business English Grammar and Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
Paul EMMERSON, Business Grammar Builder, Intermediate to Upper-intermediate, 2d ed., Oxford: Macmillan
Education, 2010 [82-84; 74-75; 78-79]
Sean FLYNN, Economics for Dummies, 2d edition, Wiley Publishing, 2011 [331-340]
James FORDER, Economics, A Beginner’s Guide, Oneworld, 2016 [44-52, 99-106]
Thomas L. FRIEDMAN, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, HarperCollins Publishers, 2000 [308-310]
Michael GOODWIN and Dan E. BURR, Economix, How our economy works (and doesn’t work) in words and pictures,
New York: Abrams Comicarts, 2012 [257-266]
Jayati GHOSH, “Women are the engines of the Indian economy but our contribution is ignored”, The Guardian,
online edition, Saturday 16 July 2016
Torben IVERSEN and Frances ROSENBLUTH, Women, Work, & Politics, The Political Economy of Gender Inequality,
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010 [vi-viii; 5-7]
N. Gregory MANKIW, Principles of Economics, The Dryden Press, 1998 [542-544]
Michael MCCARTHY et al., Cambridge Grammar for Business, Cambridge University Press, 2009 [86-87, 96-97,
100-101]
Jeffrey D. SACHS, Common Wealth, Economics for a Crowded Planet, Penguin Books, 2009 [3-4, 31-32]
Joseph E. STIGLITZ, Globalization and Its Discontents, W.W.Norton & Co, 2003 [153-155]
Peter STRUTT, Market Leader Business Grammar and Usage, Pearson Education Limited, 2000 [52, 54, 56, 58, 60]
Gwyn TOPHAM et al., “The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal explained”, The Guardian, online edition, Wednesday
23 September 2015,
Bruce WATSON, “The troubling evolution of corporate greenwashing”, The Guardian, online edition, 20 August
2016
Michel VAN DER YEUGHT, Manuel d’anglais de la bourse et de la finance, Editions Ophrys, 2013 [50-53]
104