自学考试英美国家概况302317第十八章Word格式文档下载.docx

1、tronics. It produces a major portion of the worlds machinery, auto-Imobiles, oil, electrical energy, and chemicals, although its share isdecreasing rapidly. The value of American exports increased from $ 97 billion in the 70s to $ 393.5 billion in 1990, and the value ofimports rose from $ 100 billio

2、n to $ 495. 3 billion during the sameperiod. Americas Gross National Product （GNP） rose from 2,626billion in 1981 to $ 5, 465 billion in 1990 and the per capita incomerose from $ 10,949 to $ 19,220 in the same period. Now Americahas more than half of the European market in transistors, - oil refin-i

3、ng, farm products, telecommunications, and computers. TheAmerican people enjoy a better standard of living than most of thenations in theWOTId. The United States has less than 6% of the worlds population.Yet it produces about 25 % of the total world output. It has experi-enced remark4ble economic gr

4、owth. The achievement has not comeabout simply by chance. This fast growth has been attributable tomany factors. First, the geographical location.of the United Statesprovides very good conditions for the country to grow and becomestrong. Second, the United States has been blessed by being a land300

5、-rich in mineral resources and fertile farm soil, together with a mod-erate climate. Third, America has been fortunate in having enoughpeople to provide the labour necessary for a constantly expanding e-conomy . A fourth factor is the quality of available labour - The Unit-ed States has a skilful an

6、d willing labour force. The American labourforce is not only hard-working, but also willing to experiment, tochange and to learn new technologies.L The Economic System of the United States The United States has a free-market economy with a dominantprivate sector. The privately owned and operated bus

7、inesses, includ-ing farms, produce about 85 % of the total output of goods and ser-vices. People in independent professional practice, such as doctors,lawyers and accountants, produce about 3 % of the total. Govem-ment enterprises account for the rest. Industries such as coal, steel,motor vehicle an

8、d shipbuilding, are all privately owned. The postalservice （but not the telephone） . the road system and, of course, na-tional defense are government-run at the federal, state or/and locallevels. Only 25% of electricity and railways are state-owned. In theUnited States private ownership accounts for

9、 a larger share of the e-conomy than in any other developed country. However, the government has always been an important elementin the American economy. Traditionally, leaders of the US govern-ment have been reluctant to become involved in the private sector,except for transportation. This attitude

10、 began to change during thelatter part of the 19th century, when farm and labour movementsbegan to ask the government to intercede on their behalf. After aperiod of prosperity （1920-1929） , government involvement in the301economy increased during the Great Depression （1929-1937）. Gov-ernment underto

11、ok massive public works programs and the completeoverhaul and regulation of banking to help the economy to recover.In the postwar years government involvement was again emphasizedwhen the United States adopted the Keynesian theory in running theeconomy. However, by the end of the 1970s, economic gro

12、wth haddecreased. Unemployment and inflation had continued to rise. TheAmerican economy was plagued by stagflation. In the early 1980s,under the Reagan Administration, the traditional Keynesian ap-proach was replaced by new monetarist policies. Such policies soughtto fight inflation by increasing su

13、pply and reducing demand. On the one hand, taxes were cut to increase economic dynamism. On theother hand, interest rates were raised to reduce the supply of mon- ey. These policies lasted for about ten years in the United States. As.a result, inflation and unemployment were brought under control. H

14、owever, these economic policies also led to a big increase in public borrowing and trade deficit. Apart from stagnation the American e- conomy is now facing another problem of increasing foreign debtsand trade deficit. The American economy is characterized by a high degree ofmonopoly. Many of the na

15、tion-s basic industries are represented byonly a few major corporations. For example, in the automobile in-dustry there-are three giants. They are General Motors, Ford andChrysler. In the field of electrical supplies, General Electric controls amajor share of the business. In computers, International BusinessMachines has the dominant position. In recent years many co