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 13 - How Markets Allocate Resources

Students read I, Pencil, by Leonard Read, to gain an understanding of Adam Smith's concept of the invisible hand of the marketplace. Students see that a system of market prices brings about cooperation without coercion. Then students use supply and demand analysis to explain how a change in one market tends to affect related markets.

Concepts:

• Markets
• Supply
• Complements
• Invisible Hand
• Secondary Effects
• Substitute

• Standard #7: Markets and Prices
• Standard #8: Role of Prices

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 5: Lesson 29 - Can Taxes Be Incentives?

Students examine different types of taxes and criteria for determining a fair tax. Students work in pairs to predict how changes in taxes will change people's behavior.

Concepts:

• Incentive
• Taxes
• Substitute

• Standard #4: Incentives
• Standard #16: Role of Government and Market Failure