2013 National
Economics
Challenge:
Strategies for
Success
Erin A. Yetter
Economic Education Specialist
FRB – St. Louis – Louisville Branch
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this presentation are
that of my own and do not necessarily reflect
the positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.
Outline for discussion
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Go through online registration
Discussion competition details
Review economic content
View online resources
Answer questions
Online portal
• Registering yourself & registering your
students (subsequent slides)
Competition Details
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Eligibility
Divisions
Time
Scoring
Important Dates
Official rules here
Scarcity
• The fact that our wants are greater than
the resources we have available to satisfy
those wants.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 1
Decision Making
• Effective decision making requires us to
compare the costs and benefits of a
decision.
• Resource: Financial Fitness for Life,
Lesson 3
Resources
• What we use to produce goods and services.
• Resources are classified into four types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Land
Labor
Capital
Entrepreneurship
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown, Podcast
Series, Episode 2
Resource Allocation
• Deciding who gets what.
• Resource: Focus: Economic Systems
Lessons 2 and 5
Incentives
• Anything that motivates action.
• They can be either positive or negative &
people usually respond to them in
predictable ways.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 3
Trade (aka Exchange)
• Giving up one thing to get another.
• Resource: Comparative Advantage Online
Course for Consumers
Specialization
• Occurs when people concentrate their
production to what they can produce at the
lowest cost.
• Resource: Comparative Advantage Online
Course for Consumers
Markets and Prices
• A market exists anywhere buyers and
sellers interact.
• This interaction determines market prices.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 12
Demand
• The quantity of a good or service that
buyers are willing and able to buy at all
possible prices during a certain time
period.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 6
Supply
• The quantity of a good or service that
producers are willing and able to offer for
sale at each possible price during a given
time period.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 7
Role of prices
• Prices send signals and provide incentives
to buyers and sellers.
• Resource: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 12
Competition
• Because resources are scarce, people must
compete to obtain them.
• With respect to markets, competition among
– Buyers: results in higher prices.
– Sellers: usually results in lowers prices, unless the
# of sellers is limited.
• Resource: Supply & Demand online course
Market Structure
• The characteristics of a firm that influence the
firm's output and pricing decisions.
• Four basic types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Perfect competition
Monopoly
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly
• Resource: AP Economics, Unit 3 Microeconomics,
Lesson 1
Institutions
• Exist and are created to help individuals
and groups accomplish their goals.
• Common types of institutions: banks,
unions, markets, corporations, legal
systems & governments
• Resource: Focus: Institutions and
Markets, Lesson 2
Money
• Money is anything commonly accepted in
exchange for goods and services.
• Money functions as a store of value, unit of
account, and medium of exchange.
• Resources: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 9 and Currency &
the Fed lesson
Inflation
• A sustained increase in the average price
level.
• Resources: The Economic Lowdown,
Podcast Series, Episode 4 and The Great
Inflation lesson
Interest Rates
• The cost of borrowing or saving money.
• Resource: Soar to Savings Online Course
for Consumers
Income
• Payment people receive for providing
resources in the marketplace.
• Resource: Journey to Jo’burg: A South
African Story lesson
Entrepreneurship
• A characteristic of people who assume the
risk of organizing productive resources to
produce goods and services.
• Resource: Ben Franklin: Highlighting the
Printer Lesson
Economic Growth
• An economy’s long-run ability to produce
more output.
• Resource: GDP and Pizza online course
Economic Fluctuations
• Changes in a nation’s overall levels of
income, employment, and prices.
• Resources: GDP and Pizza online course
and Unemployment online course –
business cycles discussion
Market Failure
• When market fail to allocate resources
efficiently.
• Four major types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Externalities – The Economic Lowdown, Podcast Series, Episode 11
Asymmetric information
Public goods - Focus: Institutions and Markets, Lesson 7
Market control
Role of Government
• The government can sometimes improve
market outcomes, for example, with the
provision of public goods and the
enforcement of property rights.
• Resource: Economics in Action, Lesson 5
Unemployment
• Considered unemployed if you are 16 years or
older, do not have a job, have actively looked
for work in the previous four weeks, and are
currently available for work.
• Resources: The Economic Lowdown, Podcast
Series, Episode 5 and The Story of
Unemployment online course
Fiscal Policy
• Decisions to change spending and taxation
levels by the federal government.
• Resource – High School Capstone
Economics, Unit 6 Lesson 35
Monetary Policy
• Central bank actions involving the use of
interest rate or money supply tools to
achieve such goals as maximum
employment and stable prices.
• Resource: In Plain English, online course
Other online resources
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Econ Challenge Practice Test from UNL:
http://www.econchallenge.org/index.html?s=18&l=11
Econ Challenge Practice Tests from CEE:
http://www.councilforeconed.org/events/national-economicschallenge/sample-tests/
FRB – Minneapolis’ Economic Literacy Test:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/econlit/test.c
fm
– Answers with explanations:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=3580
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Glossary of Economic Terms:
http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/glossary/
N. Gregory Mankiw’s 10 Principles of Economics:
http://www.swlearning.com/economics/mankiw/principles2e/principles.ht
ml
Questions?
• In general or about this webinar, contact
Erin Yetter at erin.a.yetter@stls.frb.org
• Specific to your state, contact your local
coordinator