ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II–
Common Core Unit Plan
Economics Unit I
Title of Unit: Introduction to Economics:
Scarcity, Wants/Needs/Opportunity Costs,
Production, Land, Labor Capital, Types of
Economic Systems, Labor, Costs and Revenues
Curricular Areas Included: Economics Lessons
1 – 7.
Grade Level: 12
Korpics 2013
Time Frame : 3 Weeks Approximate Depending on
Shortened Period Schedule /Snow Days/ ½ Days
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Overview : Section 1: Scarcity and the Factors of Production
Although people's wants and needs are unlimited, the resources to satisfy these wants and needs are limited
Section 2: Opportunity Cost
All human decisions involve trade-offs. The next best alternative to any choice is called an opportunity cost.
Section 3: Costs and Revenues
Production possibilities curves help economists analze an economy's use of its resources.
Section 4: Types of Economies & Economists
Traditional, Mixed, Command, Free Market, Capitalism, Keynes, Marx, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman
Section 5: Labor
The role of labor issues, unions and collective bargaining.
Do Now:
Focus Standards:
NYS Social Studies for Economics, the Enterprise
System and Finance.
Which car to buy? How many hours to study?
Which movie to see? How do you make your everyday choices? http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/pub/economics.
pdf
Common Core Standards:
If you're like most people, you constantly face decisions because you don't have enough time and money to do everything. At its most basic level, economics is the study of how people make choices when they face a limited supply of resources
12.RH.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013
12.RST.4
Essential Questions:
1. Economics is the social science that studies how people use scarce resources to satisfy unlimited needs and wants. You'll notice it's a social science because it's about how people interact and why they behave in certain ways. In some respects, it's a lot like psychology because we talk about and make decisions based on our understanding of why people do what they do.
"Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 11
–12 texts and topics."
SUMMARY:
2. Although people's wants and needs are unlimited, the resources to satisfy these wants and needs are limited Should people be categorized into stratification based on morality based solely on age?
3. Although people's wants and needs are unlimited, the resources to satisfy these wants and needs are limited
4. Scarcity, in general terms, means that the demand for something is much greater than the supply, or there is not enough money to buy it. So how do people get what they need?
5. The exact definition in economics is that there are insufficient resources to satisfy everyone's needs and wants, there isn't enough for everyone to get what they want at a zero price. You know something is scarce if you try to offer it for free, and you don't have enough of it for everyone who stands in line to get it.
6. So, how does a society decide who gets what? Do the legal standpoints conflict or coincide?
7. Producers charge a price for it. That way, whoever values it the most will pay the most for it. This is how scarce resources are allocated, or divided up and distributed, efficiently in our
Lesson #1 is Scarcity
The study of economics begins with the concept of scarcity. Scarcity describes the condition in which our wants are greater than the resources available to satisfy those wants. We face the problem of scarcity every day whether we think about it or not. It might be nice to dream about a world without scarcity, but the sad reality is that the things we want are scarce because the resources that are needed to produce them are scarce. If you want a new skateboard, it takes wood, tools, and labor (all of which are resources) to produce that skateboard.
The people who own the wood, the tools, and the labor want something in return for their use because they have other ways they could be used. If the wood were not used for skateboards, it might be used to build windows or baseball bats. Economist
Thomas Sowell says it this way: “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it.”
Lesson #2 is Choice
This condition of limited resources to meet unlimited wants leaves us in a situation in which we must constantly choose which of our wants we will seek to satisfy. For example, because time is scarce you must choose whether you will sleep away the morning or go to school. You must choose whether to spend your allowance or save your allowance.
Scarcity prohibits you from saving and spending the same dollar, you must choose. If you decide to spend it, you must choose whether you want to buy a video game or a DVD of your favorite movie. If you save your allowance, will you save it for a car or for college? On a broader level, scarcity forces society to choose how to use resources as well. Will a piece of land be used as a park or for a housing development? Will tax revenue be used for healthcare or for education?
2

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– economy. When you go to the store, you can't buy everything you want, so you must make choices to buy one thing instead of another
8. This is called Opportunity Cost
9. An economy is, therefore, a system in which suppliers produce the goods and services that consumers demand. It's where consumers make choices about what to consume, and producers decide what to produce, how to produce and distribute it?
Korpics 2013
Lesson #3 is Opportunity Cost
The next logical step is that when making choices people incur a cost. If you choose to buy a video game instead of a movie, you incur an opportunity cost. Economists define an opportunity cost as the most highly valued opportunity given up when you make a choice. So the opportunity cost of buying the video game is that you cannot buy the DVD. The opportunity cost is the opportunity lost. The opportunity cost of spending money is the lost opportunity to save the money. On a social level, the opportunity cost of using land for parks is land not available for building houses. The opportunity cost of tax revenues spent on healthcare is the lost opportunity to spend the money on education. Keep in mind that the opportunity cost is the most highly valued opportunity given up. Think about this: when your alarm clock went off this morning, you had a number of options open to you. Assuming you first chose to get out of bed, you could have chosen to:

Go to school

Watch TV, or

Go to the mall
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10. Economists study the economy by using certain mathematical models, and these models will explain why people behave the way they do. These are call production, possibilities and supply and demand curves.
11. What are incentives? Do you use these? Are these used on you?
Now, what is the opportunity cost of going to school?
Is it watching TV and going to the mall? No.
Because of the scarcity problem, you would have only been able to do one of those options if you weren’t at school, so you are only giving up the opportunity to do one of them, more specifically the one you were most likely to do. So if you were to place a value on your choices you would choose the activity you valued most, which was go to school, your opportunity cost would be the one on which you placed the next highest value, watching television.
Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman was fond of saying,
“ There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Imagine that the friendly neighborhood pizza restaurant set up a table full of pizza boxes outside your school about lunchtime and put up a sign that said Pizza and soda $0.00. Why wouldn’t that be a free lunch? It didn’t cost you anything right? Well, it may not have cost you in terms of money, but any situation which forces you to make a choice results in an opportunity cost. Or consider this: you may spend several hours this evening tweeting and texting friends at no additional monetary cost to your phone plan. You may think of this as free, but there is a cost.
What opportunity did you give up? In his famous quote,
Milton Friedman was reminding us of the lessons we have learned today: because of scarcity we must choose

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013 and choice means that there is an opportunity cost. So
4 the reason there is no free lunch is that your choice to eat pizza out on the sidewalk in front of your school means that you are giving up the opportunity to dine elsewhere, such as a local burger stand. Perhaps your evening spent tweeting and texting at home was an evening not spent with other friends at a football game.
These three concepts – scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost – help form the foundation for economic thinking and reasoning.
Lesson #4 is Factors of Production
The need for land, labor and capital in production of goods and services and capital goods. Included is the issue of specialization and the comparisons of urban vs. suburban vs. rural micro economies and specialization plays a role from more to less.
Circular flow and the flow chart from households
(consumers) to and services though the economy. In the model, producers are termed as "firms" while consumers are referred to as "households."
Firms supply goods and services
Households consume these goods and services. Factors of production (land, labor, capital) are supplied by the household to firms and the firms convert these into finished products for household consumption
Lesson #5 is Costs and Revenues
Cost – the total amount of money it takes to produce an item (to pay for ALL Factors of Production).
Revenues – the total amount of $ a company or the government takes in Fixed Costs – the amount of money a business MUST pay each month or year
(like rent and Capital expenses).
Variable Costs – the amount of money a business pays that changes over time (Labor and Raw Materials).
Total Costs =
Fixed + Variable Costs.
Marginal Costs – the additional Cost of the NEXT UNIT produced. Profit
– the difference between Total Costs and Revenues.
This is WHY you’re in BUSINESS (Profit
Motive.)Profit=Revenues-Total cost. Profit
Motive=why you are in business---to make
MONEY(principles of Capitalism) Cost Benefit
Analysis: immediate or short term satisfaction can lead to missing the long-term benefits.

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013
Lesson #6 is Types of Economic Systems
Economic Questions answered by custom.
Predominately Agricultural. Developing or “3rd
World”Trade and barter oriented. Low GDP & PCI
(per capita income = avg. inc.) For Example immediate spending on cheap stuff instead of longterm savings will lead to lower economic prosperity.
Economic questions answered by the government.


Very little economic choice
No private ownership
Communism
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Old Soviet Union, old Communist China, Cuba and
North Korea economist. Author of “Communist
Manifes to” and “ Das Kapital” Government should control economy and distribute goods and services to the people. Founder of revolutionary socialism and communism Market reforms in China in the mid
1970s.Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.Collapse of the
Soviet Union 1991.
Free Market Capitalism (w/ some Mixed Economies)
Economic questions answered by producers and consumers

Limited government involvement


Private property rights
Wide variety of choices and products
U.S., Japan Competition
– more businesses means lower prices and higher quality products for consumers (US!) to buy.
Voluntary Exchange
– businesses and consumers MUST be free to buy or sell what and when they want.
Private Property
–
Individuals and businesses MUST be able to get the benefits of owning their OWN property. Government doesn’t control it.
Government involvement and ownership and control of property, of decision making, and companies.
Socialism
 Government control of business
 Social “safety net” for people
 Common in Europe, Latin America, and Africa
Keyensian Economics Government should intervene in economic emergencies through tax and spending
(Fiscal Policy) and changing the money supply
(Monetary Policy).This is done to smooth out the business cycle (expansion and recession) and keep

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013 6 inflation low.
Lesson #7 Labor and Unions
Wages – what companies pay employees for their labor (usually based upon an hourly rate).Blue Collar
Manufacturing, work with hands. Usually the ‘labor’ in production Salary – the amount of pay a person gets over a year (espec ially for “professional” jobs).White Collar ‘Office’ jobs. When Production
Decreases: control production Downsizing – laying off employees to save costs. Outsourcing – sending jobs and manufacturing overseas or contracting to outside companies to save money.Bankruptcy – government allows business to restructure it’s debt, but now all profits go to paying off debt rather than to the owners/investors. Out of Business – lose all your business, money, and profits. The current trend in the U.S. is that manufacturing jobs are declining.
PROJECT: Follow up: Comparison of Maybrook,
Montgomery Village, and Walden. Lag/Lead indicators, growth evaluation, efficiency, problems, factors….teams will redefine these communities and present their pros/cons, current problems, future issues, possible solutions and and interview with a member of town/village council.
Student Objectives
– Specific Student Outcomes:
-Understand that the economy refers to the management of the resources of a country. The basic economic problem is that needs and wants are unlimited, but resources are scarce. Resources, also known as factors of production, include land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. Scarcity means that resources are limited, and because resources are scarce, people must make choices. Economics is the social science that studies how people use scarce resources to satisfy unlimited needs and wants. Finally, economists study incentives, which are rewards that motivate people to behave in certain ways.
-Explain why every decision involves tradeoffs. Summarize the concept of opportunity cost. Analyze
Milton Friedman’s “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Describe how people make decisions by thinking on the margin. Describe the role of entrepreneurs in a free market economy. Outline and understand the factors of production and the differences between each and understand what a production possibilities curve is and how it shows efficiency, growth and cost. a
-Understand why markets exist. Analyze circular flow models and discuss how each impacts the other. Describe the self regulating nature of the marketplace. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of a free market economy.
-Identify the five economic questions each society must answer. Analyze how societal values determine how a country answers these economic questions. Define the characteristics of a traditional, command, mixed, and free market economies. Recall the development of communism from the times of Karl Marx and Adam Smith.

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013
-Discuss the role of labor and the evolution of workers rights, labor unions and collective bargaining and how this all impacts total costs.
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What evidence will show that students understand?
http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/economic-short-takes/opportunity-cost-nationaleconomic-education-video-contest-2009-first-place-winner
Quiz: Lesson 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Tests: Unit I and Unit II (Chapters 1 and 2 in total)
Local Communities Project: Maybrook, Walden, Village of Montgomery
– Where does their future stand economic analysis teams. (see above description)
Activities, Tasks, Projects:
Interactive Activity
Place Winner
Discussion:
Do Nows: via website
PROJECT:
: Video Clip: Opportunity Cost
What is the difference between needs and wants? How does economics impact your own life? How has economics changed your life in the last few years.
Explanation of Class & Expectations
See Notes and Powerpoint Links http://www.vcsd.k12.ny.us//Domain/246
Comparison of Maybrook,
Montgomery Village, and Walden. Lag/Lead indicators, growth evaluation, efficiency, problems, factors….teams will redefine these
–
National Economic Education Video Contest, 2009 First
Formal and Informal Assessments:
 Online Quiz
 Inquiry
 Discussion
 Written answers to handouts
 Readings from primary sources and current economic texts
 Questions from primary source readings.
 Reading from textbook.
 Questions from textbook
 Projects
 Cumulative questions on Unit Exams
Visual: (Differentiation of Learning)
 Videos: “ 30 Days ” Outsourcing and Minimum

Wage
Videos: True Life : My parents are Broke, “I’m homeless.” “I’m Starting a Business.” “I’m paying

My Way through College.”
Videos : “World of Jenks” Street Queen” communities and present their pros/cons, current problems, future issues, possible solutions and interview with a member of town/village council.
Resources: Curriculum Links

Prentice Hall Essential Questions Journal: Chapters
1,2.
 http://education-portal.com/academy
 http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/pub/economics.
pdf
 http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources
 http://teachers.hfcsd.org/webpages/tnassivera
Vocabulary
 Scarcity
 Wants/Needs


Opportunity Costs
Production Possibilities Curve
 Supply
 Demand
 Incentive
 Capital

ECONOMICS COMMON CORE UNIT I /II– Korpics 2013
 “No Free Lunch”
 Goods/Services
 Shortage
 Factors of Production
 Land/labor/capital


Human/physical capital
 Margin
Diminishing Marginal Utility
 Cost/benefit analysis
 Production Possibilities Curve
 Efficiency
 Profits
 Safety net
 Innovation
 Households
 Laissez faire

 privatization
Collective bargaining.
Modifications/Accommodations/Differentiation: As per I.E.P.’s and 504’s
 Reading outloud
 Blooms Taxonomy in Questioning
 Refocusing and explaining as needed
 Notes provided if needed online as well as all class readings/notes/handouts for students who are home tutored, adhd, or have other modifications necessitating provided notes however this resource is an option for all students and will only result in more transparency, parental involvement and organizational issues common to adolescents.
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