Министерство образования Российской федерации

МОУ «Гимназия №5» города Рязани
  Реферат по прикладной экономике на тему:

“
Economic Phenomena                    in Folk Tales”

Выполнила ученица
Проверил учитель экономики
Оценка:
   Рязань 2010 год

Plan

1.   Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..2

2.   The problem of scarcity………………………………………………………..3

·             “The Mitten”……………………………………………………………………3

·             “The Happy Prince”………………………………………………………..5

3.   Cost & Benefit……………………………………………………………………….7

·             “Country Mouse and Town Mouse”………………………………….7

4.   Barter & Exchange………………………………………………………………..10

·             “Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar”……………………………………………………10

·             “Jack and the Beanstalk”……………………………………………….13

·             “Simple Simon”……………………………………………………………….17

5.   Specialization………………………………………………………………………..19

·             “The Tortoise and the Hare”………………………………………….19

6.   Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….22

7.   The list of the used literature……………………………………………..23
Introduction
This year I have chosen a class with economic bias. I thought it would be really very difficult and boring, but it turned out to be very interesting and useful in everyday life.

Learning economics made me think that it’s not just pure knowledge; it’s a storehouse of wisdom.

Studying economics helped, helps and will help people in everyday life.

So I wanted to find out if economic phenomena can be also met in folk tales of different nations as far as the folk tales reflect people’s wisdom to the highest extent.

The Mitten

                                       

Economic Phenomenon:

·        The problem of scarcity

The first economic phenomenon that can be met more often in folk tales than any other ones is the problem of scarcity. It’s a constant condition of human beings that exists because society has unlimited wants and needs, but limited resources used for their satisfaction. In other words, while we all want a bunch of stuff, we can't have everything that we want. In slightly different words, this scarcity problem means:

ü     that there's never enough resources to produce everything that everyone would like produced;

ü     that some people will have to do without some of the stuff that they want or need;

ü     that doing one thing, producing one good, performing one activity, forces society to give up something else;

ü     that the same resources can not be used to produce two different goods at the same time.

We live in a big, bad world of scarcity. This big, bad world of scarcity is what the study of economics is all about. That's why we usually subtitle scarcity: THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM

The well-known tale “The Mitten” is practically about this economic problem.

Nicky’s grandmother knits him brand new white mittens for winter and warns him that they would be difficult to keep up with if dropped in the snow. But Nicki insists, and his grandmother gives in. On the first day outside with the snow mittens, Nicki drops one on the ground. While he is looking around for it, all the animals (the mole, the hare, the hedgehog, the owl, the badger, the fox, the bear and the mouse) begin to burrow inside the warm mitten. The knitted mitten stretches larger and larger until finally the bear sneezes and everyone shoots out of the mitten. Soon, Nicki finds his mitten, unaware of the events that have taken place while it was lost. He returns home to his grandmother with both mittens, although one is quite larger than the other!

The events of the story illustrate the concept of scarcity - in this case, scarcity of space. Scarcity is what occurs when there isn't enough of something to meet the demand for it. All of the animals wanted to live in the mitten, but it was made to fit a small boy's hand. The story shows some ways in which things can go wrong when there isn't enough of something to go around.

The Happy Prince

                                                  

Economic Phenomenon:

·        The problem of scarcity

The next tale where we are faced with the problem of scarcity is “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde.

One night a little swallow flew over the city where a beautiful statue was stood. The swallow’s friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before but ha had not because he was in love with the most beautiful reed. The other swallows had told him that his love was ridiculous because the reed had no money and too many relations, and she was always flirting with the wind.

While he was flying he saw the statue, it was covered by thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two sapphires and a large red ruby glowed on his sword. When he was alive he did not know what tears were, he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed. The courtesy used to call him the Happy Prince, and when he died the Town Councillors decided to build the statue which was set up so high that he could see everything.

The swallow decided to sleep on the statue’s feet, but just when he was putting his head under his wings, he felt a drop of water, and then another, when he looked up he realized that the Happy Prince was crying because he could see the misery and ugliness of his own city. So the Happy Prince asked the swallow to be his massager. Thought a small window the Happy Prince could see a very poor seamstress who was embroidering passion flowers on a satin grown, and he could also see her ill boy. They had no food to eat, so the Happy Prince told the swallow to take out one ruby from his sword and you give it to them.

There following night the Happy Prince saw a man in a cold garret trying to finish a play but he was too cold to write, so the Happy Prince asked the swallow to take out a sapphire of his eyes and to give it to him in order to buy wood. The following day, he saw a match-girl whose matches had fallen in the gutter so her father was going to hit her if she did not bring home some money. In order to help the girl the Happy Prince asked the swallow to pluck out the sapphire of his eyes to give it to her. As a result of this action he became blind and the swallow had to fly over the city in order to tell him what he had seen. He saw two children crying of hunger and a lot of poverty so the Happy Prince decided to take out all the golden leaves so as to give them to the poor children.

At last the swallow knew that he was going to die because of the cold winter and he decided to stay with the Happy Prince. He asked the swallow o kiss his lips as he loved him, when he did so he fell down at his feet. At that moment a crack sounded inside the statue, it was the Prince’s heart.

Early, the next morning the Mayor saw the statue but, as he was not beautiful, it was not useful any more, so he decided to pull it down and melted in a furnace but the broken led heart did not melt so it was thrown away on a dust-heap where the dead swallow was also lying

God told one his angels to bring him the most precious things in the city, and the angels took Him the dead bird and the leaden heart, so God said: you have nightly chosen, in my garden of paradise this little bird shall sing forever, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.

The events described in this tale show the concept of scarcity of money. The poor people (the woman, the little boy, the young man, who writes a play, the little match-girl and others) don’t have any money even to survive and the Prince tries to help them.

The Country Mouse and The Town Mouse

                                                 

Economic Phenomena:

·  Cost/Benefit Analysis

·  Decision Making

Benefit is monetary or non-monetary gain received because of an action taken or a decision made.

Costs are an amount that must be paid or spent to buy or obtain something. The effort, loss or sacrifice necessary to achieve or obtain something.

Once a little mouse who lived in the country invited a little Mouse from the city to visit him.  When the little City Mouse sat down to dinner he was surprised to find that the Country Mouse had nothing to eat except barley and grain.

"Really," he said, "you do not live well at all; you should see how I live!  I have all sorts of fine things to eat every day.  You must come to visit me and see how nice it is to live in the city."

The little Country Mouse was glad to do this, and after a while he went to the city to visit his friend. The very first place that the City Mouse took the Country Mouse to see was the kitchen cupboard of the house where he lived.  There, on the lowest shelf, behind some stone jars, stood a big paper bag of brown sugar.  The little City Mouse gnawed a hole in the bag and invited his friend to nibble for himself. The two little mice nibbled and nibbled, and the Country Mouse thought he had never tasted anything so delicious in his life.  He was just thinking how lucky the City Mouse was, when suddenly the door opened with a bang, and in came the cook to get some flour.

"Run!" whispered the City Mouse. And they ran as fast as they could to the little hole where they had come in.  The little Country Mouse was shaking all over when they got safely away, but the little City Mouse said, "That is nothing; she will soon go away and then we can go back." After the cook had gone away and shut the door they stole softly back, and this time the City Mouse had something new to show: he took the little Country Mouse into a corner on the top shelf, where a big jar of dried prunes stood open.  After much tugging and pulling they got a large dried prune out of the jar on to the shelf and began to nibble at it.  This was even better than the brown sugar.  The little Country Mouse liked the taste so much that he could hardly nibble fast enough. But all at once, in the midst of their eating, there came a scratching at the door and a sharp, loud MIAOUW! 

  "What is that?" said the Country Mouse.  The City Mouse just whispered, "Sh!" and ran as fast as he could to the hole.  The Country Mouse ran after, you may be sure, as fast as HE could.  As soon as they were out of danger the City Mouse said, "That was the old Cat; she is the best mouser in town,--if she once gets you, you are lost."  

 "This is very terrible," said the little Country Mouse; "let us not go back to the cupboard again."

"No," said the City Mouse, "I will take you to the cellar; there is something especial there."

So the City Mouse took his little friend down the cellar stairs and into a big cupboard where there were many shelves.  On the shelves were jars of butter, and cheeses in bags and out of bags.  Overhead hung bunches of sausages, and there were spicy apples in barrels standing about.  It smelled so good that it went to the little Country Mouse's head.  He ran along the shelf and nibbled at a cheese here, and a bit of butter there, until he saw an especially rich, very delicious-smelling piece of cheese on a queer little stand in a corner. He was just on the point of putting his teeth into the cheese when the City Mouse saw him. 

  "Stop! Stop!" cried the City Mouse. "That is a trap!"

The little Country Mouse stopped and said, "What

is a trap?"

"That thing is a trap," said the little City Mouse.  "The minute you touch the cheese with your teeth something comes down on your head hard, and you're dead."  

The little Country Mouse looked at the trap, and he looked at the cheese, and he looked at the little City Mouse.  "If you'll excuse me," he said, "I think I will go home.  I'd rather have barley and grain to eat and eat it in peace and comfort, than have brown sugar and dried prunes and cheese,--and be frightened to death all the time!" 

  So the little Country Mouse went back to his home, and there he stayed all the rest of his life.
    The Country Mouse will find that he likes the town in many ways. The things he likes about the town are the BENEFITS he could gain if he chose to live in town. Country Mouse also will discover some things he does not like about the town. Those things are the COSTS he would experience if he chose to live in town.
Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar

                          

Economic Phenomena:

• Barter
• Exchange

These phenomena are used in folk tales very often; we are faced with them practically in each folk tale.

An exchange involves trading goods and services for other goods and services or for money. Barter, however, does not involve the use of money. Barter is the direct trading of goods and services for another goods and services. Voluntary exchange occurs when all participating parties expect to gain.

MR and Mrs. Vinegar lived in a vinegar bottle. But one day, when Mr. Vinegar was from home, Mrs. Vinegar accidentally broke their home. Mr. Vinegar then said they’ll take the door and go forth to seek fortune. They walked very long and were very tired and decided to spend the night on a big tree. In the middle of the night, Mr. Vinegar was disturbed by the sound of voices of a band of thieves, who met to divide their booty. Mr. Vinegar could listen no longer; his terror was so great that he trembled and trembled, and shook down the door on their heads. They ran away and he scrambled out of the tree, and went to lift up the door. And he found forty golden guineas. Mrs. Vinegar offered him to go to the fair at the neighboring town and to buy a cow, because she can make butter, sell it and live very comfortable Mr. Vinegar joyfully agrees, takes the money, and off he goes to the fair. When he arrived, he walked up and down, and at length saw a beautiful red cow. It was an excellent milker, and perfect in every way. He bought the cow for forty guineas and drove it backwards and forwards to show it. By and by he saw a man playing the bagpipes. 'Well,' thought Mr. Vinegar, 'if I had but that beautiful instrument I should be the happiest man alive my fortune would be made.' So he went up to the man and asked to give him this wonderful instrument. 'Well,' said the man, 'as you are a friend, I don't much mind parting with it: you shall have it for that red cow.' 'Done!' said the delighted Mr Vinegar. So the beautiful red cow was given for the bagpipes. He walked up and down with his purchase; but it was in vain he tried to play a tune, and instead of pocketing pence, the boys followed him hooting, laughing, and pelting.

Poor Mr Vinegar, his fingers grew very cold, and, just as he was leaving the town, he met a man with a fine thick pair of gloves. He went up to the man and said to him that he would like to have them. 'What will you give?' said the man; 'as you are a friend, I don't much mind letting you have them for those bagpipes.' 'Done!' cried Mr. Vinegar. He put on the gloves, and felt perfectly happy as he trudged homewards.

At last he grew very tired, when he saw a man coming towards him with a good stout stick in his hand.

'Oh,' said Mr Vinegar, 'that I had but that stick! I should then be the happiest man alive.' He said to the man: 'Friend, what a rare good stick you have got!' 'Yes,' said the man; 'I have used it for many a long mile, and a good friend it has been; but if you have a fancy for it, as you are a friend, I don't mind giving it to you for that pair of gloves.'

Mr. Vinegar's hands were so warm, and his legs so tired, that he gladly made the exchange. As he drew near to the wood where he had left his wife, he heard a parrot on a tree calling out his name: 'Mr Vinegar, you foolish man, you blockhead, you simpleton; you went to the fair, and laid out all your money in buying a cow. Not content with that, you changed it for bagpipes, on which you could not play, and which were not worth one-tenth of the money. You fool, you had no sooner got the bagpipes than you changed them for the gloves, which were not worth one-quarter of the money; and when you had got the gloves, you changed them for a poor miserable stick; and now for your forty guineas, cow, bagpipes, and gloves, you have nothing to show but that poor miserable stick, which you might have cut in any hedge.' On this the bird laughed and laughed, and Mr. Vinegar, falling into a violent rage, threw the stick at its head. The stick lodged in the tree, and he returned to his wife without money, cow, bagpipes, gloves, or stick, and she instantly gave him such a sound cudgelling that she almost broke every bone in his skin.
     The events in this story show a barter system. Mr. Vinegar changed cow for bagpipes, bagpipes for gloves and gloves for stick (without using any money).  

            











































Jack and the Beanstalk

                        

Economic Phenomena:  

• Barter
• Exchange

The tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” also focuses on the problems of barter and exchange.

Once upon a time there lived a poor widow who had an only son named Jack. She was very poor, for times had been hard, and Jack was too young to work. Almost all the furniture of the little cottage had been sold to buy bread, until at last there was nothing left worth selling. Only the good cow, Milky White, remained, and she gave milk every morning, which they took to market and sold. But one sad day Milky White gave no milk, and then things looked bad indeed. And mother sent Jack to the market to sell the cow.

On his way to the market he met a butcher, who offered Jack to exchange his cow for magical beans. If you plant them overnight, by the next morning they'll grow up and reach the sky.

"Done!" cried Jack, who was so delighted with the bargain that he ran all the way home to tell his mother how lucky he had been. But oh! How disappointed the poor widow was. She was very angry and threw the beans out of the window into the garden.

When Jack woke up the next morning, the room was almost dark; and he jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see what the matter was. The sun was shining brightly outside, but from the ground right up beside his window there was growing a great beanstalk, which stretched up and up as far as he could see, into the sky.

"I’ll just see where it leads to," thought Jack, and with that he stepped out of the window on to the beanstalk, and began to climb upwards. He climbed up and up and he found himself in a new and beautiful country. A little way off there was a great castle, with a broad road leading straight up to the front gate. But what most surprised Jack was to find a beautiful maiden suddenly standing beside him.

"Good morning, ma'am," said he, very politely.

"Good morning, Jack," said she; and Jack was more surprised than ever, for he could not imagine how she had learned his name. But he soon found that she knew a great deal more about him than his name; for she told him how, when he was quite a little baby, his father, a gallant knight, had been slain by the giant who lived in yond castle, and how his mother, in order to save Jack, had been obliged to promise never to tell the secret.

"All that the giant has is yours," she said, and then disappeared quite as suddenly as she came.

As he drew near to the castle, he saw the giant's wife standing at the door.

She fed him, but warned him about her husband, who could eat Jack. But before he had half finished it there came a terrible knock at the front door, which seemed to shake even the thick walls of the castle. It was the giant.

He ate the dinner and sad: "Wife, bring me my money-bags." So his wife brought him two full bags of gold, and the giant began to count his money. But he was so sleepy that his head soon began to nod, and then he began to snore, like the rumbling of thunder. Then Jack crept out, snatched up the two bags, he made his way down the beanstalk back to the cottage before the giant awoke. Jack and his mother were now quite rich; but it occurred to him one day that he would like to see how matters were going on at the giant's castle. So while his mother was away at market, he climbed up. The giantess was standing at the door, just as before, but she did not know Jack, who, of course, was more finely dressed than on his first visit.

He asked her to give him something to eat. The giantess had a kind heart, and after a time she allowed Jack to come into the kitchen. But before he had half finished it there came a terrible knock at the front door. It was the giant.

He ate his dinner and called out: "Wife, bring the little brown hen!" The giantess went out and brought in a little brown hen, which she placed on the table. This hen gave golden eggs!

The giant fell asleep and as soon as he began to snore, Jack crept out of the oven, went on tiptoe to the table, and, snatching up the little brown hen, made a dash for the door. Then the hen began to cackle, and the giant began to wake up; but before he was quite awake, Jack had escaped from the castle.

 Jack and his mother had now more money than they could spend. But Jack was always thinking about the beanstalk; and one day he crept out of the window again, and climbed up, and up, and up, and up, until he reached the top.

This time he was careful not to be seen; so he crept round to the back of the castle, and when the giant's wife went out he slipped into the kitchen and hid himself in the oven. The giant came and ate his dinner.

When the giant had finished, he called out: "Wife, bring me the golden harp!" So she brought in the golden harp, and placed it on the table. "Sing!" said the giant; and the harp at once began to sing the most beautiful songs that ever were heard. It sang so sweetly that the giant soon fell fast asleep; and then Jack crept quietly out of the oven, and going on tiptoe to the table, seized hold of the golden harp. But the harp at once called out: "Master! Master!" and the giant woke up just in time to catch sight of Jack running out of the kitchen-door. Before he could pick himself up, Jack began to climb down the beanstalk, and when the giant arrived at the edge he was nearly half-way to the cottage. The giant began to climb down too; but as soon as Jack saw him coming, he called out: "Mother, bring me an axe!" and the widow hurried out with a chopper. Jack had no sooner reached the ground than he cut the bean-stalk right in two. Down came the giant with a terrible crash, and that, you may be sure, was the end of him. What became of the giantess and the castle nobody knows. But Jack and his mother grew very rich, and lived happy ever after.

Jack and the old man traded the cow and beans. The old man bartered the beans for the cow.

                      






















Simple Simon Meets a Producer


                                  

Even some rhymes use these economic terms as barter, exchange and their plots. For example, a classic rhyme Simple Simon and the Pie-Man.
Simple Simon and the Pie-Man.
Simple Simon met a pieman

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

"Let me taste your ware."
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

"Show me first your penny."

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

"Indeed, I have not any."
Simple Simon went a-fishing

For to catch a whale;

All the water he had got

Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look

If plums grew on a thistle;

He pricked his fingers very much,

Which made poor Simon whistle.
Consumers and producers need each other. Consumers need producers to make the goods and services they buy and use. Producers need consumers to buy the goods and services they want to sell.

This classic rhyme contains some other economic phenomena:

·         Capital Resources (Resources made and used to produce and distribute goods and services; examples include tools, machinery and buildings).

·         Consumers (People who use goods and services to satisfy their personal needs and not for resale or in the production of other goods and services).

·         Goods (Tangible objects that satisfy economic wants).

·         Producers (People and firms that use resources to make goods and services).

·         Production (The act, process or result of manufacturing or refining something).

·         Services (Activities performed by people, firms or government agencies to satisfy economic wants).


          The Tortoise and the Hare

                        

Economic Phenomenon:

• Specialization

In the economic sense, it’s the social phenomenon of individual human beings or organizations each concentrating their productive efforts on a rather limited range of tasks. Specialization entails focusing on a narrow area of knowledge or skill or activity. It involves a person's or an organization's adapting for the unusually effective or efficient performance of some particular function, often at the expense of the individual's or organization's ability to perform most other functions for themselves, which are then necessarily left to others with more appropriate skills or talents or abilities. Like the division of labor, specialization generally comes about because it is discovered (usually by trial and error) that the individuals or groups concerned can increase their productivity (and hence, under a market economy, their incomes) through greater specialization according to the principle of comparative advantage.

The well-known tale “The Tortoise and the hare” is about this economic phenomenon.

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then one day, the irate tortoise answered back: "Who do you think you are? There's no denying you're swift, but even you can be beaten!" The hare squealed with laughter.

"Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there's nobody in the world that can win against me, I'm so speedy. Now, why don't you try?"

Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was planned, and the next day at dawn they stood at the starting line. The hare yawned sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how painfully slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap. "Take your time!" he said. "I'll have forty winks and catch up with you in a minute."

The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the tortoise. But the creature was only a short distance away, having barely covered a third of the course. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby field. But the heavy meal and the hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the tortoise, now halfway along the course, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning post. And smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoise's face when it saw the hare speed by, he fell fast asleep and was soon snoring happily. The sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards the winning post since morning, was scarcely a yard from the finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate, his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and he'd be first at the finish. But the hare's last leap was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him to the winning post. Poor hare! Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him.

"Slowly does it every time!" he said.

 What a great community of workers there is in the story of the "Tortoise and the Hare!" A family of squirrels runs the marketplace, the family of pigs owns a bakery, and families of the dogs and cats own the local dairy. Mr. R.S. Tortoise and Daniel Hare should respect each other's attributes, but Mr. Hare thinks Mr. Tortoise is too slow. This classic story illustrates just how wonderful Specialization is!
Conclusion

So, at the end of my work I want to sum up my research and to say that I have proved my hypotheses.

I claimed that a lot of economic phenomena can be met in different folk tales, and it is really so. As we can see, practically in each folk tale we can face these phenomena.

It is not difficult and frightful to study economy, it is actually very interesting and exciting.

Study economy and don’t be afraid of it!
     The list of the used literature
·        “The Mitten” by Jan Brett

·        “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde

·        “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Elizabeth Jenkins

·        “English Fairytales”

·        The Internet:

ü           www.econedlink.org

ü           www.ongoing-tales.com

ü           www.amosweb.com

ü           www.auburn.edu

·        “The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life” by Steven E. Landsburg

·        “Applied Economics” by Brian Atkinson, Frank Livesey, Bob Milward