Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 3

TEXT 1 THE ORIGIN OF nature.

GOVERNMENT V. It derives its right from the


immediate and express
1 Government is both a fact and a appointment of God;--
right. Its origin as a fact is simply VI. From God through the Pope, or
a question of history; its origin as a visible head of the spiritual
right or authority to govern, is a society;--
question of ethics. VII. From God through the people;--
Whether a certain territory and its VIII. From God through the natural
population are a sovereign state or law.
nation, or not--whether the actual
ruler of a country is its rightful TEXT 2
ruler, or not--is to be determined GOVERNMENT AND
by the historical facts in the case; THE STATE IN LATIN
but whence the government AMERICA
derives its right to govern, is a 1 Many inhabitants of the rural areas
question that can be solved only of the Andes suffer from poverty,
by philosophy, or, philosophy inequality, and exclusion from
failing, only by revelation. economic and social resources. The
situation in these areas is extreme and
2 Political writers, not carefully disestablishes political, economic,
distinguishing between the fact and humanitarian, and security
the right, have invented various ramifications. For example, the
theories as to the origin of widespread lack of opportunity in
government, among which may be licit industries, together with
named-- permanent economic instability
I. Government originates in the right complicates domestic and
of the father to govern his child. international efforts to eradicate coca.
II. It originates in convention, and is At the same time, the persistence of a
a social compact. huge territory with a nominal or
III. It originates in the people, who, nonexistent state presence
collectively taken, are sovereign. exemplifies rural populations without
IV. Government springs from the opportunities and vulnerability to
spontaneous development of
1
violence and criminality. equipment. This meant that existing cars
TEXT 3 MEASURING NATIONAL simple deteriorated with age, without
OUTPUT being replaced. So did most
Taken and adapted from Basic refrigerators, apartment buildings and
Economics Science, 2007 other parts of the national stock of
wealth. Wartime government posters
1. National output during a year said.
can be measured in a number of ways.
The most common measure today is the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which 3. After the war was over, there
is the sum of total everything produced was a tremendous increase in the
within a nation’s borders. An older and production of cars, refrigerators,
related measure, the Gross National housing, and other parts of the nation’s
product (GNP) is the sum total of old accumulated stock of wealth which had
goods and services produced by the been allowed to wear down or wear out
country’s people, wherever they or their while production was being devoted to
resources may be located. These two urgent wartime purposes. The durable
measures of national output are equipment of consumers declined in
sufficiently similar that people who are real value between 1944 and 1945, the
not economists need not bother about last year of war_ and then more than
the differences. For the United States, double in real value over the next five
the difference between GDP and GNP years, as the nation’s stock of durable
has been less than one percent. assets that had been depleted during the
war was replenish. This was an
2. The real distinction that must be unprecedented rate of growth. Business
made is between both these measures of as well had an accelerated growth of
national output during a given year _ a durable equipment after the war.
flow of real income_ versus the
accumulated stock of wealth from the 4. Just as national income does not
past. During war World II, for example, refer to money or other paper assets, so
American production of automobiles national wealth does not consist of these
stopped, so that factories which pieces of either, but of the real goods
normally produced cars could instead and services that such things can buy.
produce tanks, planes and other military Otherwise, any country could get rich
2
immediately by printing more money.

5. Sometimes national output or


national wealth is added up by using the
money prices of the moment, but most
serious long-run studies measure output
and wealth in real terms, taking into
account price changes over time. This is
necessarily an inexact process because
the prices of different things change
differently over time. In the century
between 1900 and 2000, for example
the real cost of electricity, eggs,
bicycles, and clothing all declined in the
United States, while the real cost of
bread, beer, potatoes and cigarettes all
rose

You might also like