Economics Introduction Research Project
We have studied politics.
We have studied religion.
Now we are going to take some time to study one of the most important forces in world history: economics.
Before we can understand the rest of the major issues that we will study this semester (especially China and the Korean Peninsula), it is important that we
get a basic understanding of some economic terms and concepts, as well as an introduction to some of the thinkers who created and described those ideas.
Your task (in pairs or individually):

Research and take notes on the economic terms, ideas, and personalities on this list.
o You will be tested on these terms, ideas, and people.

Create a short illustrated book that describes, explains, and illustrates these ideas to young adults.
o Create explanations, illustrations, and examples that will explain these concepts to an 8th grader.
Your Young Adult Book will include:

An appealing, colorful, and relevant cover

An exciting and creative title (economics is super-exciting!).

Thorough and easily understood explanations written in your own words.

Instructive images (hand drawn or copied and pasted).
___/10
___/5
___/20
___/10
Total:
___/45
Content: Your Young Adult book will contain explanations of all of the following, organized by chapter:
I.
Chapter 1: Terms and Tools (one sentence each, at least three images)
a. Economics:
 Definition,
 Examples of impact on people’s daily lives and in world events.
b. Scarcity:
 Definition
 Examples of scarce resources and the effect of scarcity
c. Currency (money)
 Include historical examples of different types of currency
d. Inflation
e. Deflation
f. Recession
g. Economic bubbles (and one example of a real historical “bubble”: tulips, houses, stocks, railroads, beanie babies, etc…)
II.
Chapter 2: Economic systems (one paragraph and one image for each system):
1. Capitalism
 Explain how it works (the “free market”)
 Adam Smith’s idea of the “Invisible hand”.

Give examples of nations that use this system
2. Socialism

Explain how it works

Give examples of nations that use this system
3. Communism

Explain how it works

Describe a “Command economy”

Give examples of nations that use(d) this system
III.
Chapter 3: Economic Thinkers (one paragraph and one image for each thinker)
4. Adam Smith
5. Karl Marx
6. John Maynard Keynes
7. Frederich Hayek
IV.
Chapter 5: Poetic Conclusion
Write a poem, song, rap, or series of Haiku that include at least six (6) of these terms and two (2) of these people.
If you work in pairs: create an additional page that includes brief (one-two sentence descriptions) and images related to:
1. The Stock Market
2. Bull Market
3. Bear Market
4. GDP
Potential Resources:
1.
2.
3.
4.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Demand.html
http://economics.about.com/od/economics-basics/u/Microeconomics-101.htm
http://economics.about.com/od/economics-basics/u/Macroeconomics-101.htm
http://www.investopedia.com/