Social Studies Curriculum

Economics Framework

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Consumer Economics Course

Course Description

The course is designed to teach students basic economic concepts and how to apply those concepts to their everyday lives in their roles as workers, producers, consumers, savers, investors, and citizens.  The course provides an overview of micro and macroeconomics and an examination of the international scene.

Course Goals

Through this course students will:

1. Understand basic economic concepts such as scarcity, opportunity costs, economic incentives, and supply and demand.
2. Learn to use economic knowledge to make better decisions in real-world situations in which they participate as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.
3. Understand the roles and interrelationships of various sectors of the economy, including households, business, government, and financial intermediaries.
4. Gain an awareness of how and why they make decisions, and to use basic economic reasoning for analyzing a problem and arriving at a decision.
5. Learn and apply measurement concepts and methods, including ratios, percentages, index numbers, averages, charts, graphs, and tables.
   

Course Standards and Objectives

In Consumer Economics, students will:

Standard 1: Scarcity and Choice

1. Describe how scarcity forces people to make choices when allocating resources.
2. Explain how scarcity impacts business decision making.
   

Standard 2: Opportunity Cost and Trade-offs

1. Identify examples of tradeoffs.
2. Explain how opportunity costs impact individual and business decision making.
3. Interpret a production possibilities curve.
   

Standard 3: Economic Systems

1. Compare how traditional, command, and market economies allocate resources.
2. Identify the resources necessary to produce and distribute goods and services.
3. Explain why private property, prices determined by supply and demand, market competition, and entrepreneurship are necessary to the operation of the free enterprise system.
4. Apply his/her knowledge of the free enterprise system to the creation and operation of a student-run business.
   

Standard 4: Economic Incentives

1. Describe the responsibilities, risks, and rewards of entrepreneurship.
2. Apply the factors (responsibilities, risks, and rewards) in creating the student-run business.
   

Standard 5: Economic Institutions

1. Describe legal and economic institutions that operate in the market.
2. Differentiate among different types of business financing.
3. Analyze and decide how to finance the student-run business.
4. Compare and contrast the characteristics of sole proprietorship, partnership and corporate ownerships.
5. Operate a business based upon the corporate model.
   

Standard 6: Exchange, Money, and Interdependence

1. Understand that people engage in voluntary exchange of goods and services because they expect to be better off afterwards.
2. Explain how money facilitates exchange and list the three basic functions it performs.
   

Standard 7: Markets and Prices

1. Explain how prices ration goods and services.
2. Construct and administer a market survey to determine demand for potential products to be sold by the student run business.
   

Standard 8: Supply and Demand

1. Illustrate how changes in supply and demand effect market price.
2. Describe the interaction of supply and demand to create a market clearing price.
3. Explain the difference between price effect and a change in demand or supply.
4. Create and interpret supply and demand graphs.
   

Standard 9: Competition and Market Structure

1. Describe the role of competition and marketing in a market system.
2. Identify different market structures and how businesses compete in each.
   

Standard 10: Income Distribution

Describe how voluntary exchange between households and businesses create a circular flow of money, products, and resources.

Standard 11: Market Failures

Define externality and identify examples of both harmful and beneficial externalities as they apply to their business and community.

Standard 12: Role of Government

1. Describe the role of government including enforcement of private property rights, dealing with externalities, ensuring market competition, providing public goods and services, redistribution of income, promoting economic security and stabilizing the economy.
2. Incorporate into his/her business plan the government’s role as related to product and distribution.
3. Explain how federal, state and local governments raise and spend money.
   

Standard 13: Gross Domestic Product

1. Define gross domestic product (GDP) and explain what it measures and understand its limitations.
2. Explain how the profits from the student run business will affect the GDP.
   

Standard 14: Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand

Define aggregate supply and aggregate demand.

Standard 15: Unemployment

1. Identify and differentiate among the various types of unemployment within Alaska and describe it as an indicator of economic health.
2. Create projections on the sales of potential products based on local unemployment rates.

Standard 16: Inflation and Deflation

1. Define the role of inflation and deflation as it affects the economy as a whole and the student run business specifically.
2. Explain the role of government in controlling inflation and deflation and how it might effect the student run business.

Standard 17: Savings and Investment

1. List common services provided by banks and other financial institutions.
2. Explain how inflation impacts the student run business as well as consumers.
   

Standard 18: Monetary Policy

1. Explain the monetary policy tools government leaders are able to use to influence the economy.
2. Define the principle roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System.

Standard 19: Fiscal Policy

1. Analyze fiscal policy options of the government.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of different economic policies on the stability of the American economy.

Standard 20: Productivity

1. Describe the factors that effect productivity in American business and apply them to the student run business.
2. Explain how productivity is related to standard of living.

Standard 21: Economic Growth

Use economic indicators to identify the economy’s position in the business cycle.

Standard 22: Absolute and Comparative Advantage and Barriers to Trade

Explain why nations trade goods and services using the concepts of comparative and absolute advantage.

Standard 23: Exchange Rates and the Balance of Power

1. Describe barriers to international trade and what the effects will be on a national and global markets.
2. Calculate the price of a product in foreign currencies.

Standard 24: International Aspects of Economic Development

1. Evaluate problems facing less-developed countries.
2. Analyze current economic problems facing industrialized nations.

Vocabulary Words for Consumer Economics

An Introduction to Economics

Practical Economics: How Theory Works For You

	Voluntary exchange		Withdraw
	Income		Down Payment
	Consume		Binder
	Budget		Regulatory
	Credit		Financial institution
	Collateral		Investment
	Liquidity		Demand deposits
	Savings account		Time deposits
	Cashier's check		Certified checks
	Money orders		Stocks
	Annuities		Bonds
	Taxes		Tax exempt
	Loan		Mortgage
	Equity		Rate of return
	Interest rate		Principal
	Balance

Microeconomics: Markets, Prices, Business Competition

	Markets		Prices
	Supply		Demand
	Equilibrium		Competition
	Market failure		Externality
	Public good		Redistribute
	Shortage		Surplus
	Market share		Complementary good
	Substitute good

Macroeconomics: Managing the Nation's Economy

	Gross Domestic Product		Personal consumption
	Government spending		Business investment
	Net exports		Productivity
	Employment		Unemployment
	Inflation		Deflation
	Living standards		Economic output
	Monetary policy		Fiscal policy
	Federal Reserve System		Executive Branch
	Legislative Branch

The International Scene

	Specialization		International trade
	Economic development		Economic growth
	Developing nations		Industrial nations

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