Purpose

This one semester course is designed to introduce and assist students the learning of basic economic theories and application of these in today's society.  Students will be taught information and skills so they can become active, productive and responsible persons within the world of personal, national and global economics.

Students will study and learn about economics in the following areas:

• Basic economic systems, especially of the United States.
• The practical roles of the consumer.
• Markets, prices and business competition.
• Money, banking and investing.
• International trading.
• Global economy.

Students will gather, analyze, interpret, evaluate and summarize economic issues and situations.  Students will gather information from books, newspapers, data sets and other sources.  They will organize, interpret and present information in various ways.  Electronic technologies may be utilized to access and manage information.  Students will formulate and draw conclusions from hypotheses and report findings orally and in writing.  Use of appropriate technology will be encouraged.

In their study of economics, students will address multiple views of issues.  They will identify and discuss possible solutions within the parameters of a capitalistic system and democratic government.  Students will develop respect for other views, especially those from foreign cultures and economic systems that differ from the economy of the United States.

Students will look at economic issues and determine how they as individuals can become involved in solving economic problems.  As the students examine economic issues, they will develop responsible individual and group plans to address and resolve each issue.  The plans may include projects that affect their home, school, community, state or nation.

Design a strategy for earning, spending, saving, and investing their resources

• Students looks at the difference between total income and disposable income and examine how the choices they make about consumption, saving, and investing affects their daily lives.
• Students develop a budget for their work life.
• Students examine the process of buying a car.

Analyze ways individuals can select suppliers of goods and services and protect themselves from deception in the marketplace.

• Students examine deception in the marketplace.

Evaluate the impact on households of alternative solutions to societal problems such as heath care, housing, or energy use.

• Students explore health care issues from a national and individual point of view.

Outline the decision-making process through when deciding whether to export to a foreign market.

• Students research free trade as it functions in the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Students examine the short term and long-term economic affects of free trade.

Evaluate ways to resolve conflicts resulting from differences between business interests and community values.

• Students examine the relationship between business and the community.

Describe the use of economic indicators and assess their accuracy.

• Students determine how economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), and unemployment rates reflect the state of the economy.

Distinguish monetary and fiscal policy and explain how each might be applied to problems such as unemployment and inflation.

• With the goal of economic growth in mind, students weigh the costs and benefits of fiscal and monetary policies.

Compare governmental approaches to economic growth in developing countries.

• Students examine the role the United States can and does play in the economic growth of less developed nations.

Evaluate a government spending program on the basis of its intended and unintended results

• Students examine the role of the federal government and the Federal Reserve System for "fixing" the economy.

Select criteria to use in evaluating tax policy.

• Students will examine the various criteria for evaluating tax policy in the United States.

 Use case studies to exemplify how supply and demand, prices, incentives, and profits determine what is produced and distributed in a competitive world market.

• Students examine the three forms of business organization: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.
• Students study the laws of supply and demand to determine the equilibrium market price.
• Students discover the competitive market structures of perfect competition and monopolistic competition.

Describe relationships between a domestic economy and the international economic system.

• Students examine the relationship between the American domestic economy and the world economy.

Evaluate the United States and other economic systems on their ability to achieve broad social goals such as freedom, efficiency, equity, security, development, and stability.

• Students examine the economic goals of society: economic freedom, economic efficiency, economic equity, economic security, full employment, price stability, and economic growth.

Describe relationship among various economic institutions that comprise economic systems such as households, business firms, banks, government agencies, and labor unions.

• Students are introduced to three sectors of the economy: households, businesses, government.  They learn the role and functions of each economic sector and explore the relationships between and among them.
• Students explore the effects that certain institutions have on the flow of goods, services, resources (land, labor, capital investment), and money in an economy.

Compare and contrast a free market economic system with other economic systems.

• Students learn the three basic economic questions that every society must answer:  What will be produced?  How will it be produced? For whom will it be produced?

Evaluate the benefits and problems of an economic system built on voluntary exchange.

• Students are introduced to the fundamental problem of scarcity.
• Students explore the four productive resources, land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
• Students learn about the elements of the free market system:  enterprise, competition, voluntary exchange, private property, the profit motive, and limited government.

Trace the historical development of international trading ties.

• Students discover absolute and comparative advantage as they examine the benefits of specialization.

Explain how specialization, interdependence and economic development are related.

• Students examine trade restrictions such as tariffs and quotas, and product standards.
• Students explore the effects of currency exchange rates on international trade.

Describe the effect of currency exchange, tariffs, quotas, and product standards on world trade and domestic economic activity.

• Students examine currency exchange, tariffs, quotas, and product standards on world trade and their effect on the American economy.