--China’s exports to UK: handicrafts, textiles, farm & sideline produce
--UK’s exports to China: power generating equipment for oilfields, auto fittings, container ships, air ground equipment, foodstuffs, tobacco manufacturing equipment
Lecture 3
National Economy
Group Work
• Work in groups of four or five. Each one gives the presentation she/he is resposible for:
--industry --agriculture --transport & communication --Thatcherism • Listen to others and ask a question when you don’t
in U.K.? 6. What is “British Disease”? 7. Make comments on Thatcherism.
Contents
• 1. General Survey • 2. Company Law and Framework of Industry • 3. Industries • 4. Agriculture • 5. Transportation and Communication • 6. British Disease and Thatcher’s Medicine • 7. Cities
--gradually became self-sufficient after the first oil was brought ashore from the North Sea in 1975
--net exporter of oil
--oil reserves belong to the state, oil production under government control,private oil companies have a large stake in Middle East oil production
understand. Discussion is a must. • A summary of the British economy is to be handed in
next time. Group members take turns in writing a summary. The summary writer should put her/his name on the page/s she/he hands in, for the summary will be graded.
• comprehensive industial system based on a large number of skilled workers, scientific management, advanced technology
• London as a financial centre of the world (economy) • Long coastline with many fine harbours (foreign trade) • Favourable climate (agriculture and husbandry)
QuestiΒιβλιοθήκη ns1. Why is U.K. a trading nation? 2. What are the major industries in U.K.? And
their respective characteristics? 3. What role did the textile industry play? 4. What’s the characteristic of agriculture in U.K.? 5. What’s the transportation & communication like
• The UK is a trading nation:
--limited domestic market
--inadequate home supply of raw materials
--import & export
• Britain’s major trade partners are industrial countries. Sino-British trade has been expanding for years:
2. Company Law and Framework of Industry
• The UK is a market economy. Its economic system is known as capitalism which protects private ownership and free enterprise. It provides the investment climate for capitalist production through competition.
• nulear power --first nuclear power station built in 1956 --more than 15 nuclear power stations by now • iron & steel industry --largest manufacturing industry --major steel-producing nation, exporting a large
• forms of industrial orgazinations:
--company
--corporation
--incorporation
--limited liability (Ltd.) company
--unincorporated private business
• State-owned enterprises :
--over ¾ of UK’s GDP
• Monopoly
--the English law defines a monopoly as “a situation where at least a quarter of a particular kind of goods or service is supplied by or to a sigle person, or more people acting in the same manner”
--sick industry, falling output and consumption since WWI
• oil production
--no land-based oilfields
--almost wholly dependent for its oil supplies on imports in the past
--public trasportation , water supply, production of coal, steel, electricty, oil
--less than ¼ of UK’s GDP
• Private businesses:
--agricultural, manufacturing, distributive, financial, service induatries
than half of its domestic consumption --the British Steel Corporation & privatization
• motor vehicle industry --1/3 cars for export --leading world producer/exporter of agricultural tractors --most auto companies owned by foreign investors --famous brands: Austin Morris, Range Rover, Dodge,
• coal-mining
--Coal Act of 1938 made coal resources property of the state in 1942
--Coal Industry Nationalization Bill nationalized the coalmining industry
Rolls Royce • new industries --microprocessors, computers, biotechnology, other
high-tech industries --europe’s largest collection of foreign-owned chip
proportion of its steel to US and EU nations --main steel-producing areas: Yorkshire, Wales,
Scotland, West Midlands --not self-sufficient in iron ore, importing more
--passed laws to fight against monopolies and to prevent monopolies from distorting the role of market forces