Semester Economics
1st Quarter Plan
 Economic Goals- Economic Security, Economic Stability, Economic Growth, Economic
Freedom, Economic Efficiency, and Economic Equity
o Rate the 7 Economic Goals and defend our reasoning by describing the causes and
effects of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth
o Apply the Chapter 1 vocabulary to our own life
o Rewrite the Chapter 1 vocabulary words and create a visual representation for 4
of 6 words
 Economic Principles- Costs vs. Benefits, Scarcity Forces Tradeoffs, Thinking at the
Margin, Future Consequences Count, Markets Coordinate Trade, Trade Makes People
Better Off, and Incentives Matter
o Demonstrate how scarcity forces tradeoffs by determining examples of that
principle in our own life
o Explain how choices often have long-run unintended consequences
o Investigate one of the 7 Economic Principles and create a poster
o Share each principle with the class in a group presentation
 Factors of Production- Land, Labor, Capital, and Entrepreneurship
o Identify the four factors of production
o Watch “I, Pencil” and categorize the factors of production into their appropriate
category
 Production Possibilities Frontier- examining the marginal costs and marginal benefits of
movement along the Production Possibilities Frontier
o Describe how consumers and businesses make decisions by explaining the impact
of opportunity cost on the PPF
o Determine the marginal cost and marginal benefit associated with movement
along the PPF
 Economic Systems- Traditional Economy, Command Economy, Market Economy, and
Mixed Economy
o We will compare the ways that different economic systems answer the three
basic economic questions.
o We will describe how the market economy demonstrates Adam Smith’s idea of
the invisible hand.
o We will analyze the economic goals of each economic system and determine
which one we think is best.
 Gains From Trade- Voluntary Exchange, Specialization, Absolute Advantage, and
Comparative Advantage
o We will examine how individuals, organizations, and nations benefit from trade.
o We will evaluate how voluntary exchange increases the wealth of an economy by
trading within small groups, larger, groups, and the entire classroom.
o We will define and give examples of specialization, division of labor, voluntary
exchange, barter, money, economic interdependence, absolute advantage, and
comparative advantage.
o We will evaluate the benefits of trade and the consequences of opening up trade
internationally.
o We will examine the benefits of specialization in the economy.
o I will determine comparative advantage in various economic scenarios
 Measuring the Economy- understanding and interpreting Gross Domestic Product,
Unemployment Rate, and Inflation
o We will demonstrate knowledge of a nation’s economic goals, including full
employment, stable prices and economic growth, by describing economic
indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), consumer price index (CPI), and
unemployment rate.
o We will list the components that make-up GDP.
o We will evaluate why there are a variety of ways to measure the economy by
explaining the limitations of each measurement.
o We will describe the causes and effects of inflation by analyzing the effects of
inflation on our purchasing power.
o We will determine the limitations to each mode of measuring the economy.
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