Unit 1: Lesson 1 - Economic Reasoning: Why Are We A Nation of Couch Potatoes?

Students examine visuals to identify an economic mystery regarding exercise and diet. They use the Guide to Economic Reasoning to analyze the costs and benefits of decisions about diet and exercise. They discover that human behavior is influenced by choices, costs, incentives, rules, voluntary exchange, and future consequences, even in decisions about diet and exercise.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Economic Systems
• Incentive
• Opportunity Cost
• Future Consequences
• Voluntary Trade

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #3: Allocation
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #5: Trade

Unit 1: Lesson 2 - Scarcity and Abundance

The lesson provides students with two definitions of the term scarcity. They apply these definitions to several examples of human behavior. In the second part of the lesson they use the definitions to explain why people may treat scarce resources as if they were not scarce.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Scarcity
• Alternative

• Standard #1: Scarcity

Unit 1: Lesson 4 - To Choose or Not to Choose? That Is Not the Question

Students make a decision after identifying the alternatives and their anticipated costs and benefits.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Scarcity
• Alternative
• Economizing Behavior

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #2: Decision Making

Unit 1: Lesson 5 - Rules Influence Economic Behavior

The lesson begins with a demonstration of how rules and incentives influence students' behavior in the classroom. Then students apply the same analysis to behavior in the larger economy. (WARNING: Given the unusual grading procedure specified in Procedure 5, this lesson may be hazardous to teacher's health.)

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Interdependence

• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #4: Incentives

Unit 2: Lesson 11 - Do Prices Matter to Consumers?

This lesson demonstrates how people use prices when they weight expected costs and expected benefits in making economic decisions. It helps students see how choosing a second-best good or service can in some cases improve their overall well-being.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Price
• Benefit
• Costs
• Substitute

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #8: Role of Prices

Unit 2: Lesson 12 - How Do Prices Influence My Behavior? Price Elasticity

Students review consumer and producer behavior in light of changing prices. They predict consumers' and producers' responses to changes in prices, product characteristics, costs of production, time and technology factors.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Price
• Substitute

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #8: Role of Prices

Unit 2: Lesson 6 - Why Did Communism Collapse?

Students examine and discuss visuals to solve an economic mystery regarding the command system of the Soviet Union.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Economic Systems
• Incentive
• Command Economy
• Market Economy

• Standard #3: Allocation
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #7: Markets and Prices
• Standard #8: Role of Prices
• Standard #10: Institutions

Unit 2: Lesson 7 - A Silver Market

Students participate in a simulation activity that shows how a competitive market works. Although most markets for goods and services are not as competitive as the silver commodity market, the example helps students gain an understanding of how prices are set in any market.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Competition
• Demand
• Incentive
• Markets
• Supply
• Consumer Surplus
• Producer Surplus
• Consume

• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #7: Markets and Prices

Unit 3: Lesson 15 - Why Do Some People Earn More Than Others?

Students examine and discuss visuals to identify an economic mystery regarding differences in income. They use the Guide to Economic Reasoning to analyze the problem and reach a tentative solution.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Opportunity Cost
• Human Capital
• Future Consequences
• Voluntary Trade

• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #3: Allocation
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #5: Trade
• Standard #13: Income
• Standard #15: Economic Growth

Unit 3: Lesson 16 - Making Choices About Saving and Investing

This lesson introduces the distinction between savings and the investment. It demonstrates how the price of money --the interest rate--is critical to making the right savings and investment choices. It explains when, under various conditions, it is or is not in people's best interest to save.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Inflation
• Saving
• Interest
• Investment
• Loanable Funds Market
• Purchasing Power
• Savings

• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #12: Interest Rates

Unit 3: Lesson 17 - Creating and Using a Budget

This lesson focuses on using budgeting to maximize consumer satisfaction. It describes a flexible view of budgets, linking them to markets and market information, and demonstrates how and why budgets should be reviewed and modified often.

Concepts:

• Budget
• Choice
• Income
• Price
• Marginal Analysis
• Diminishing Marginal Utility
• Substitute
• Utility

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #8: Role of Prices

Unit 3: Lesson 18 - Credit Management

This lesson is designed to help students make good consumer-credit decisions. Although using credit is beneficial at times, it often carries higher costs than many people realize. This lesson discusses the costs of credit in a manner that helps students calculate those costs and integrate them in short- and long-term decisions.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Economic Wants
• Income
• Interest
• Debt
• Secured Debt
• Unsecured Debt

• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #8: Role of Prices
• Standard #11: Money and Inflation

Unit 4: Lesson 20 - Why Helping Yourself Helps Others

Students examine and discuss visuals to identify an economic mystery regarding greed and self-interest. They use economic reasoning to analyze the mystery and reach a tentative explanation.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Competition
• Incentive
• Opportunity Cost
• Market Economy
• Future Consequences
• Voluntary Trade

• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #3: Allocation
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #8: Role of Prices
• Standard #9: Competition and Market Structure
• Standard #15: Economic Growth

Unit 5: Lesson 24 - Government and the Environment

Students examine and discuss visuals to identify an economic mystery regarding the failure of the Endangered Species Act. They are introduced to the concepts of market failure and government failure. Using the Guide to Economic Reasoning, they focus on positive and negative externalities in analyzing the Endangered Species Act as an example of government failure.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Externalities
• Incentive
• Opportunity Cost
• Future Consequences
• Government Failure
• Voluntary Trade

• Standard #1: Scarcity
• Standard #2: Decision Making
• Standard #3: Allocation
• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #5: Trade
• Standard #16: Role of Government and Market Failure
• Standard #17: Government Failure

Unit 5: Lesson 28 - The Economics of Voting

Students examine a visual to identify patterns of voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections. They analyze the costs and benefits of voting and discuss how people's voting behavior is influenced by incentives.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Rational Ignorance

• Standard #17: Government Failure

Unit 6: Lesson 31 - Measuring Unemployment: A Labor Market Mystery

Students examine an economic mystery regarding employment and unemployment statistics. They learn how the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures employment and unemployment. They use the Guide to Economic Reasoning and some arithmetic to solve the mystery of how employment and unemployment can increase at the same time.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Labor
• Labor Force
• Unemployment
• Unemployment Rate
• Employment Rate

• Standard #18: Economic Fluctuations

Unit 7: Lesson 39 - Why Go Global?

Students examine an economic mystery regarding the importance of U.S. participation in the global economy. They participate in a demonstration regarding imported clothing. They use the Guide to Economic Reasoning to explain that, while exports and imports may be a relatively small part of the U.S. economy, international trade benefits the United States and its trade partners.

Concepts:

• Choice
• Incentive
• Opportunity Cost
• Future Consequences
• Voluntary Trade

• Standard #6: Specialization