Economic Resources

Disclaimer:

The following was created several years ago with links and standards from when it was created. This has not been update, but it can still provide a source for ideas. The Virtual Economics program mentioned can be obtained here. https://store.councilforeconed.org/shopping_product_detail.asp?pid=52408

Greetings Arizona Marketing Educator!

As part of my implementation plan through the University of Delaware’s masters in economics and entrepreneurship masters program, I created this document to provide resources to Arizona marketing and economics educators to assist us as we incorporate hands-on activities and resources with our students as we teach economic concepts. I hope you will find this helpful!

Concept 1: Foundations of Economics

PO 1. Analyze the implications of scarcity:

a. Limited resources and unlimited human wants influence choice at individual, national, and international levels.

• What is Economics

• Scarcity

• Choice, Opportunity Costs and Decisions

  • Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 1 from FOCUS High School Economics 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: Scarcity, opportunity costs, tradeoffs

b. Factors of production (e.g., natural, human, and capital resources, entrepreneurship, technology)

• Factors of Production

• Getting More or Using Less

  • Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 8 from FOCUS High School Economics 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: productivity, specialization and division of labor, investment in capital goods, and investment in human capital

• Learn More, Earn More

  • Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 9 from FOCUS High School Economics 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: human capital, income, standard of living

c. Marginal analysis by producers, consumers, savers, and investors

• The Economic Way of Thinking: Three Activities to Demonstrate Marginal Analysis

  • Virtual Economics CD –Economics in Action, Lesson 6, 14 Greatest Hits for Teaching High School Economics book

• Until the Last Unit Equals …

  • Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 15 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: marginalism, diminishing returns, marginal product, marginal cost

• Dumptown, USA: Making a Ton of Difference

  • Concepts: Benefit, budget, choice, communities and cities, cost/benefit analysis,

  • Costs, decision making, economic efficiency, incentive, marginal analysis, role of government

PO 2. Analyze production possibilities curves to describe opportunity costs and trade-offs.

• Production Possibilities Curve Constant and Increasing Opportunity Cost

• What's wrong with this picture?

  • Concept: Opportunity cost Click on link below paragraph for picture. The opportunity cost of getting the rebate includes the cost of the stamp and envelope, plus the time it takes to fill out the form, cut out the UPC code, get a copy of the receipt, address an envelope, and mail it off. For most of us, that cost is greater than $1. (Click on the picture to download a high resolution version of the image.)

  • Give and Take

    • Opportunity Costs

    • Scarcity and Choice by Liudmila Guinkel (Russia)

    • Productive Resources, scarcity and opportunity costs

PO 3. Describe the characteristics of the mixed-market economy of the United States:

a. Property rights

• Property Rights, the Tragedy of the Commons, and the Coase Theorem

  • Virtual Economics CD – FOCUS Economic Systems book by NCEE lesson 3

  • Concepts: Property rights, tragedy of the commons, coase theorem

• Why are Some Nations Wealthy?

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 10 from FOCUS Economic Systems

  • Concepts: Economic growth, productivity, property rights, saving and investment, physical capital and human capital, natural resources, trade

• Property Rights and Contracts as Economic Institutions

  • Virtual Economics CD lesson 2 from FOCUS Institutions and Markets

  • Concepts: Private property, communal property, intellectual property, market economy, incentives, legal foundations of a market economy, contracts

b. Profit motive

• Video Cartoon – “Going Places” (1948) Fun and effective examples showing capitalism, competition, and the profit motive.

c. Consumer sovereignty

d. Competition

• Video clip: NASA contracts to private firm

  • Small commercial firm lands contract with NASA. See video at link above. Discussion questions online at www.izzit.org

• Marketplace: Corporate Leap Frog

  • Concepts: Advertising, competition, non-price competition, price

  • This lesson will focus on competition among sellers and the factors that can make one company more successful than another in the same market. Competition between K-Mart, Wal- Mart, and Target will be examined to see what kinds of competition (price and non-price) can help one company 'leap' ahead of another.

• Fad or Fortune (this lesson was designed for 6-8 gr. But see note below for modifying it for 11th grade)

  • Concepts: Choice, competition, demand, exchange, markets, scarcity, voluntary exchange

  • “I tried a modified version of this with 11th grade students and they loved it. However, for any other high school teachers wanting to tie this in with a lesson on demand, the numbers given do not seem to have a lot of rhyme or reason to them. Students may argue that it does not reflect real market conditions.” - BJ St. Paul, MN

e. Role of the government

• Video Cartoon – “Make Mine Freedom” (1948) Cold war cartoon that compares the tenants of capitalism and communism.

• Who Decides?

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 2 from FOCUS Economic Systems

  • Concepts: Resource allocation, market economy, command economy

• Broad Social Goals

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 1 from FOCUS Economic Systems

  • Concepts: Broad social goals (efficiency, equity, freedom, growth, stability), command economy, market economy

• What and How Much should Government Do?

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 6 from FOCUS Economic Systems

  • Concepts: Role of government, command and market economy

f. Rational self-interest

g. Invisible hand

• Saving, Investing, and the Invisible Hand

• Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 17 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd Edition

• Concepts: Saving, investment, the stock market, the bond market, primary and secondary markets for financial securities, banks, the circular flow of income with financial intermediaries, the “invisible hand”

PO 4. Evaluate the economic implications of current events from a variety of sources (e.g., magazine articles, newspaper articles, radio, television reports, editorials, internet sites).

• Current Events: Go to current events blue circle and sign up for daily email alerts featuring current events. Izzit.org provides discussion questions that go along with certain current events featured. www.Izzit.org also provides current event news videos with discussion questions as well.

• Current event videos from Wall Street Journal

• Current events from EconEdLink: EconEdLink provides access to the latest economics news and information. Come here to learn more about what's happening in the world of economics and access related lesson plans.

• Wall Street Journal. (Get short, timely messages) from From

• International Monetary Fund posts current event videos for review

• A Word on the Economy: Why Is the Country Facing a Financial Crisis?

  • Need a little help understanding and explaining current events in financial markets to your students? Check out this easy-to-understand presentation on the current economic situation, developed by Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of the Fed's Banking Supervision & Regulation division.

PO 5. Interpret economic information using charts, tables, graphs, equations, and diagrams.

Concept 2: Microeconomics

PO 1. Describe how the interdependence of both households and firms is affected by trade, exchange, money, and banking:

a. Why voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain from the exchange.

• Why are Some Nations Wealthy

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 10 from FOCUS Economic Systems

  • Concepts: Economic growth, productivity, property rights, saving and investment, physical capital and human capital, natural resources, trade

b. Role and interdependence of households, firms, and government in the circular flow model of economic activity.

• The Circular Flow(s)

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 16, from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: Productive resources, resource payments, interdependence, circular flow of goods, services, productive resources, and money payments

• Markets and the Market System

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 1 from FOCUS Institutions and Markets

  • Concepts: Product markets, factor markets, allocative efficiency, circular flow model, shortage, surplus, market prices, law of demand, law of supply

c. Role of entrepreneurs in a market economy and how profit is an incentive that leads entrepreneurs to accept risks of business failure

• Entrepreneurship

  • In this lesson, students will learn how to assess the life and work of an entrepreneur from the list of famous entrepreneurs provided, and a list of entrepreneurial traits and characteristics that foster self-worth and individualism. From the Inside the Vault article, "Do You Want to be Your Own Boss?"

• The Entepreneur in you?

  • Concepts: Entrepreneurship, incentive, risk

d. Financial institutions and securities markets

e. Importance of rule of law in a market economy for enforcement of contracts.

PO 2. Describe how markets function:

a. Laws of supply and demand

• Demand and Supply—It’s What Economics Is About!

  • Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to list the determinants of demand and supply, recognize which factors will cause demand curves or supply curves to shift, determine equilibrium using a demand/supply graph, and show the effects on price and quantity when equilibrium changes. From the Inside the Vault article, "What Is Driving Oil Prices?"

• Supply and Demand Lesson on YouTube

b. How a market price is determined

• Markets Interact

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 5 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Equilibrium price and quantity, supply and demand, interdependence

• A Classroom Market for Crude Oil

  • Virtual Economics CD, Lesson 3 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: supply, demand, market clearing price, surplus, shortage

c. Graphs that demonstrate changes in supply and demand

• Graphin Girls- AP Economics Music Video #2 Class of 2010

• Pearl Exchange Activity- A hands-on activity where students buy and sell pearls in a simulated market.

• Shifting Curves: Demand and Supply Shifts in the Gasoline Market

  • Students create a graph of gasoline supply and demand and identify the market-clearing price. Students learn about the determinants of supply and demand. They graph a decrease in demand for gasoline and a decrease in supply of gasoline to understand how those factors affect prices. Note: Students should know what supply and demand are and be able to graph supply and demand data as well as draw supply and demand graphs. From the Inside the Vault article, "Why Do Gasoline Prices React to Things That Have Not Happened?"

• The Market Never Stands Still

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 4 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Determinants of demand shifts and determinants of supply shifts

d. How price ceilings and floors cause shortages or surpluses

• Price Controls – Too high or too low

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 6 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Markets and prices, supply and demand, price ceiling, price floor, shortages and surpluses, rationing

e. Comparison of monopolistic and competitive behaviors

• Econ Concepts in 60 Seconds: Perfect Competition in the Short Run

• Perfect Competition Inc- AP Economics Music Video #1 Class of 2010

• Econ Concepts in 60 Seconds: The Ultimate Monopoly Review for AP Economics

• When there isn't pure competition

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 14 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Competition and market structures, interdependence in imperfect competition, non-price competition, collusion, antitrust policy and regulation of natural monopolies

f. Theory of production and the role of cost

• Focus on Economic Data: U.S. Employment and the Unemployment Rate - March 7, 2008

  • Concepts: Costs, costs of production, economic growth, factor endowments, full employment, labor, labor force, labor market, macroeconomic indicators, production, productivity, trade-offs among goals, types of unemployment, unemployment, unemployment rate

PO 3. Describe how government policies influence the economy:

a. Need to compare costs and benefits of government policies before taking action

• Fed Orders Interest Rate Cut

  • Concepts: Aggregate Demand (AD), deflation, federal reserve, federal reserve structure, fiscal policy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation, monetary policy, tools of the Federal Reserve

b. Use of federal, state, and local government spending to provide national defense; address environmental concerns; define and enforce property, consumer and worker rights; regulate markets, and provide goods and services

• The Role of Government: The National Debt vs. The Deficit

  • Concepts: Budget, budget deficit, budget surplus, fiscal policy, national debt, surplus

• Public Goods

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 11 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Public goods and services, taxes, non-exclusion principle, shared consumption, “free riding” problems

• Third-party Costs and Benefits

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 12 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Market failures, externalities (spillover benefits and costs), transaction costs

• Rich Man, Poor Man

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 10 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Income, transfer payments, personal distribution of income, functional distribution of income, proprietors’ income, corporate profits

c. Effects of progressive, proportional, and regressive taxes on different income groups

• Income Taxes: Who Pays and How Much?

  • Using data collected from the Internal Revenue Service for the tax year 2003, students will become involved in an inquiry of individual federal income taxes. The lesson is divided into sections that address specific questions, such as: Why do we have an individual income tax? What is individual federal income tax? How is it paid? When is it paid? How is the individual income tax structured? What is a perfect tax structure? What are the different categories of taxes? What is the correlation between tax burden and income groups? What if the tax structure were changed? What effects would a different tax structure have on taxpayers? What effect would a different tax structure have on the government? From the Inside the Vault article, "Income Taxes: Who Pays and How Much?"

• U.S. Income Inequality: It's Not so Bad

  • The lead article in the spring 2010 issue of Inside the Vault discusses redistributing wealth through taxation. In this lesson, students will examine the ability-to-pay principle of taxation. Students will compare a progressive tax system and a flat tax system by analyzing the same household scenarios using one system and then the other.

d. Role of self-interest in decisions of voters, elected officials, and public employees

• Public Choice: Economics goes to Washington and into the voting booth

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 13 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Self-interest, expected benefits and costs of voting, information and search costs, special interest effects, government failure

Concept 3: Macroeconomics

PO 1. Determine how inflation, unemployment, and gross domestic product statistics are used in policy decisions.

• Which Came First—Democracy or Growth?

  • Students will compute real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP per capita for three fictional countries and will answer questions related to actual data on GDP and GDP per capita. The Index of Economic Freedom will be used to compare and contrast the relationship between the degree of a country’s economic freedom and the total output of that country and its standard of living. Students will both map and rank a sample of countries using GDP, GDP per capita and freedom index data. From the Inside the Vault article, "Which Came First—Democracy or Growth?"

PO 2. Explain the effects of inflation and deflation on different groups (e.g., borrowers v. lenders, fixed income/cost of living adjustments).

• Economic Ups and Downs

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 18 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: Business cycles, GDP, Unemployment, CPI, recession, inflation, economic growth, fiscal policy

PO 3. Describe the economic and non-economic consequences of unemployment.

• What Is Unemployment, How Is It Measured, and Why Does the Fed Care?

  • In this lesson, students read and interpret choropleth maps, which contain unemployment data. They compare verbal descriptions of the labor market from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book with the mapped data. In addition, students compare unemployment data for different years. Students access or observe how to access this data online.

PO 4. Analyze fiscal policy and its effects on inflation, unemployment, and economic growth.

• Aggregate Supply and Demand: The Sum of Their Parts

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 20, from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Aggregate demand and supply, GDP, Fiscal policy, monetary policy

PO 5. Describe the functions of the Federal Reserve System (e.g., banking regulation and supervision, financial services, monetary policy) and their influences on the economy.

• Macroeconomic Stabilization Policies and Institutions

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 10 from FOCUS Institutions and Markets

  • Concepts: Unemployment, inflation, fiscal policy, automatic stabilizers, monetary policy, central banks (Federal Reserve Bank), discount rate, reserve requirement, open market operations

• Focus on Economic Data: The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy, April 28, 2010 http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=909&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Central banking system, Federal Reserve, macroeconomic indicators, monetary policy, money supply, tools of the Federal Reserve

PO 6. Explain the effects of monetary policy on unemployment, inflation, and economic growth.

• Money, Interest and Monetary Policy

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 19, from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Money supply, inflation, open market operations, reserve requirements, discount rate, interest rate

PO 7. Determine how investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and the health, education, and training of people can raise future standards of living.

• Learn More, Earn More

  • Virtual Economics CD – Lesson 9 from FOCUS High School Economics 2nd Edition

  • Concepts: Human capital, income, standard of living

Concept 4: Global Economics

PO 1. Analyze the similarities and differences among economic systems:

a. Characteristics of market, command, and mixed economic systems, including roles of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services

• Broad Social Goals of an Economic System

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 2 from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Broad social goals (economic efficiency, equity, freedom, growth, security, stability), tradeoffs, market economy, command economy

b. Benefits and costs of market and command economies

• Crossing Borders: The Globalization Debate

  • http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/assets/lesson_plans/08ITV_Globalization.pdf

  • Students will consider both sides of the globalization debate—the benefits and the costs—by reading and discussing the article "Crossing Borders: The Globalization Debate" from the Spring 2008 issue of Inside the Vault. Working in groups, students will analyze statements regarding the benefits and costs of globalization, categorize the statements and discuss them.

c. Characteristics of the mixed-market economy of the United States including such concepts as private ownership, profit motive, consumer sovereignty, competition, and government regulation

• I Don't Want Much, I Just Want More: Allocation, Competition and Productivity

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=532&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Competition, market economy, productivity, scarcity

d. Role of private property in conserving scarce resources and providing incentives in a market economy

• Eminent Domain

  • http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/assets/lesson_plans/07ITV_EminentDomain.pdf

  • Concepts: Students will examine three Supreme Court rulings and analyze possible positive and negative impacts of the Court's decision on eminent domain. The lesson covers: benefits, costs, eminent domain, public good and trade-offs. From the Inside the Vault article, "Eminent Domain: Should Private Property Be Taken for Public Use?"

PO 2. Describe the effects of international trade on the United States and other nations:

a. How people and nations gain through trade

• Why is Globalization so Controversial

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 1 from FOCUS Globalization

  • Concepts: Economic institutions, barriers to trade, voluntary exchange, specialization, factor endowments, gains from trade

b. How the law of comparative advantage leads to specialization and trade

• Econ Concepts in 60 Seconds: Comparative Advantage

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpTBjRf8lGs&feature=related

• Why People Trade, Domestically and Internationally

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 2 from FOCUS Globalization

  • Concepts: Absolute advantage, comparative advantage, opportunity cost, production possibilities table

c. Effects of protectionism, including tariffs and quotas on international grade and on a nation’s standard of living

• Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Why Do We Need the WTO?

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 11 from FOCUS Institutions and Markets

  • Concepts: International economic institutions, gains from trade, tariffs, public goods, market failures, monetary policy, property rights, competition

d. How exchange rates work and how they affect international trade

• The Family Vacation

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=798&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Exchange, Exchange Rate, Money

  • Students will take a surprise trip around the world. As they travel, they will use clues to discover where they are going. They will then figure out how much money they have spent in U.S. dollars, using exchange rates.

• The Big Mac Index

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=156&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Characteristics of money, currency, exchange rate, price

  • How fast can you say "twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesep icklesonionsonasesameseedbun?" This question was asked of millions of TV viewers in the now famous 1970s McDonald's television commercial promoting the Big Mac.

e. How the concepts of balance of trade and balance of payments are used to measure international trade

• Trade, Investment, and the Balance of Payments

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 12 found in FOCUS Globalization

  • Concepts: Balance of payments, current account, financial account, balance of trade, credits, debits, exports, imports, investment, saving

f. Factors that influence the major world patterns of economic activity including the different costs of production between developed and developing countries

• Marketplace: Doing Business in Afghanistan

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=773&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Benefit, choice, costs, costs of production, economic growth, entrepreneur, externalities, incentive, investment, public goods, role of government, trade-off

g. Economic connections among different regions, including changing alignments in world trade partners

• Why is Globalization so Controversial

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 1 from FOCUS Globalization

  • Concepts: Economic institutions, barriers to trade, voluntary exchange, specialization, factor endowments, gains from trade, (WTO)

h. Identify the effects of trade agreements (e.g., North American Free Trade

• The NAFTA Debate

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 18 from FOCUS International Economics

  • Concepts: Free trade agreements, tariffs and trade policy

Concept 5: Personal Finance

PO 1. Explain how education, career choices, and family obligations affect future income.

• Invest in Yourself

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 3 from Learning Earning and Investing High School

  • Concepts: Human capital, income, investment in human capital, opportunity costs

PO 2. Analyze how advertising influences consumer choices.

• Marketplace: Real(ity) Estate

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=371&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Advertising, Choice, Competition, Trade-off

  • This lesson teaches students about opportunity cost through some steps of buying a house. It also shows students how advertising affects consumer decision-making.

• Marketplace: Teen Nightclubs

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=479&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Advertising markets

PO 3. Determine short-and long-term financial goals and plans, including income, spending, saving,and investing.

• National Endowment of Financial Education High School Financial Planning Program

  • http://hsfpp.nefe.org/

PO 4. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of using various forms of credit and the determinants of credit history.

• Extra Credit: It's No Fairy Tale

  • http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/assets/lesson_plans/08ITV_ExtraCredit.pdf

  • This lesson uses a specific scenario to demonstrate how to apply the statistical and economic information in "Extra Credit: The Rise of Short-term Liabilities," the lead article in the fall 2008 issue of Inside the Vault. Students read a story that illustrates some of the trends and concerns discussed in the article. The facts of the story are then analyzed to identify the debt trap and to generate solutions to the problem. Using an online calculator, students calculate the amount of time it takes to pay off a credit card based on the monthly payment amount.

• Consumer credit: Buy now, pay later, And more

  • http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/buy9-12.pdf

  • Concepts: Credit, consumer credit, decision making, opportunity cost, interest

Credit Cards 101

Credit Card Basics

Financial Concepts Students Learned From Using Credit Cards

How Students Get Into Credit Card Trouble

How to Use Credit Cards the Right Way

PO 5. Explain the risk, return, and liquidity of short-and long-term saving and investment vehicles.

• The Benefits of Investing Early

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=603&page=teacher

  • Concepts: Interest, Investing, Savers. The students will see how compounding returns make investing at a young age pay off.

• National Endowment of Financial Education High School Financial Planning Program

  • http://hsfpp.nefe.org/

PO 6. Identify investment options, (e.g., stocks, bonds, mutual funds) available to individuals and households.

• Developing a Financial Investment Portfolio

  • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lesson=566&page=teacher

  • Concept: Investment

• Saving, Investing, and the Invisible Hand

  • Virtual Economics CD, lesson 17, from FOCUS High School Economics, 2nd edition

  • Concepts: Saving, investment, the stock market, the bond market, primary and secondary markets for financial securities, banks, the circular flow of income with financial intermediaries, the invisible hand