Economics
Howard High School
Corey Roper
croper.howardhs@bibb.k12.ga.us
Course Description: The economics course provides students with a basic foundation in the field of
economics. The course has five sections: fundamental concepts, microeconomics, macroeconomics,
international economics, and personal finance. In each area, students are introduced to major concepts
and themes concerning that aspect of economics.
This course has an End of Course Test (EOCT).
Economics Domains
In order to provide reliable measures of student achievement, as well as to give structure to the
assessment program, the content standards contained in the GPS were grouped into content
domains. Each domain was created by combining standards that share similar content characteristic.
Five domains were identified for Economics:
• Fundamentals of Economics
Assessment in this domain focuses on basic economic concepts and skills: scarcity and opportunity cost, supply
and demand as it relates to scarcity, factors of production, marginal costs and benefits, different economic
systems, productivity, the allocation of resources, and the role of government in economic systems.
• Microeconomic Concepts
Assessment in this domain focuses on economic concepts and skills that deal with human behavior and choices
as they relate to relatively small units – an individual, a business firm, or a single market. These concepts and
skills include the circular flow of goods and services in a market economy, production and distribution, supply
and demand, competition, and types of business organizations in the U.S. economy.
• Macroeconomic Concepts
Assessment in this domain focuses on economic skills and concepts that deal with human behavior and choices
as they relate to the entire economy. These skills and concepts include measures of economic activity, the
Federal Reserve System and monetary policy, and the federal government and fiscal policy.
• International Economics
Assessment in this domain focuses on factors that account for international trade, comparative and absolute
advantage, trade barriers and trading blocks, exchange rates, and general arguments for and against free
trade.
• Personal Finance Economics
Assessment in this domain focuses on economic skills and concepts that deal with personal economic decisions
related to spending, saving, and investing, banks and other financial institutions, the use of credit, insurance,
the effects of monetary and fiscal policy on personal economic behaviors, and factors that account for personal
income earned in the workforce.
ORGANIZATION OF COURSE/PACING GUIDE:
Unit 1: Foundations (10 days) – scarcity, choices, opportunity costs, trade-offs, factors of production,
marginal thinking, production possibilities curve, economic systems, 3 basic economic questions,
broad social and economic goals, property rights, market failures, government regulations,
deregulation, circular flow diagram, product market, factor market, households, firms.
Unit 2: Specialization (10 days) – rational decision making, marginal benefits, production possibilities,
specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, standard of living, human capital, inputs, outputs,
externalities, labor, absolute advantage, comparative advantage.
Unit 3: Personal Finance (15 days) – productivity, standard of living, human capital, money as a unit
of exchange, positive and negative incentives, personal spending and saving, banks and financial
institutions, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, credit, interest rates, risk-management strategies, wages,
earnings of workers.
Unit 4: Microeconomics I (10 days) – supply, demand, price, profits, equilibrium, incentives, price
ceilings, price floors, elasticity, graphing supply and demand, price floors and ceilings, substitution
effect, income effect, shortages, surpluses.
Unit 5: Microeconomics II (5 days) – theory of the firm – business organization, sole proprietorship,
partnership, limited partnership, general partnership, limited liability partnerships, corporations,
mergers, stock, bond, multinational corporation, conglomerate, cooperatives, market structure.
Unit 6: Macroeconomics (12 days) – GDP –nominal and real, inflation, business cycle, unemployment,
recession, aggregate supply, aggregate demand, deficit, Federal Reserve system, monetary policy,
taxes, fiscal policy, CPI, GNP, stagflation.
Unit 7: International Business (10 days) – absolute advantage, comparative advantage, balance of
payments, tariffs, quotas, embargo, standards, subsidies, EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, monetary policy, fiscal
policy, taxes, barriers, advocates.
GRADING POLICY:
85 % of the grade will come from:
Homework/Classwork: 30%
Tests: 35%
Projects 35%
15 % of the grade will come from:
End of Course Test
CLASS EXPECTATIONS:
I have high expectations for my students!! I expect that you will read, study, and participate in class.
Economics has an EOCT, and it is required for graduation. If you participate fully in this class you will
do well!! Help is available if you need it. Don’t wait until it’s too late!!!!
CLASS RULES:
- Arrive on time.
- Be prepared to work.
- Be in dress code (appropriate clothing, tucked in shirts, IDs, etc.)
- Respect the learning environment.
- Note: All rules included in the Bibb County School District Code of Conduct will be
enforced.
ATTENDANCE:
Attendance is critical!! There is no substitute for being in class and participating. Pay attention to
your attendance.
BELLRINGERS:
There will be a bellringer assignment each day when you arrive. You should keep these in a section of
your notebook so that they will be in order and ready to turn in at a moment’s notice. Number them
according to the bell # (not by date). It’s okay to write on the back of the paper. If you are absent,
you need to ask a neighbor for the bellringer, or ask me for it. Bellringers will be taken for a grade
(with no prior notice) at least twice in the semester. This will be a project grade.
PROJECTS:
There will be several projects assigned throughout the semester. Please note that projects carry the
same weight as tests, and are therefore an excellent opportunity to boost your grade if tests are
challenging for you. You should also note that receiving a grade of zero on a project will have a very
negative impact on your average. Don’t waste this opportunity!!! The opportunity cost of not doing
a project may be the time spent retaking this course.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
I do not accept late work. Homework is due at the beginning of class – not at the end, not the next
day. This is the only way to ensure that it is not done in class as we discuss it.
MAKE-UP WORK:
If you are absent you have three days to make up work. If there is a problem doing this, please talk to
me about the situation. We can work something out.
TESTS:
Tests will be made up of multiple choice, short answer and occasionally a more complex question
that must be answered and explained step by step. Tests will be announced well in advance (aloud
and written on my board). There is no reason not to know about a test. If you are absent the day
before a test you are still expected to take the test. If you have an extended absence, we will work
together to make arrangements for making things up.
EXTRA CREDIT?
Please make sure you are completing assigned work before asking for extra work!! Generally, if you
do what is assigned there will not be a need for extra work. If you haven’t done what you needed to
do to start with, no extra credit work will be available.
Helpful site:
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/
This site has EOCT information, study guide, and practice questions.
Disclaimer: The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; all information contained in the
course syllabus/calendar is subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class and a revised
syllabus distributed to students to be shared with their parents/guardians.