History teaches us that properous advanced national economies like the U.S. share a common institutional framework conducive to creativity, production, and exchange. That institutional framework of individual freedom, rule of law, clearly stated rights to private property, and open competitive markets shapes incentives to encourage material advance. The multiple perspectives approach to historical-scholarship requires viewing events, trends, and developments through a variety of analytical lenses. Often overlooked in traditional history curricula are the insights that the economic way of thinking adds to social, political, and geographic perspectives. Emphasizing the role of institutions, Economic Forces in American History looks at the impact of seven key forces in shaping the development of the United States.

This course will explore the relation of women and men in both pre-industrial and modern societies to the changing map of public and private (household) work spaces, examining how that map affected their opportunities for both productive activity and the consumption of goods and leisure. The reproductive strategies of women, either in conjunction with or in opposition to their families, will be the third major theme of the course. We will consider how a place and an ideal of the “domestic” arose in the early modern west, to what extent it was effective in limiting the economic position of women, and how it has been challenged, and with what success, in the post-industrial period. Finally, we will consider some of the policy implications for contemporary societies as they respond to changes in the composition of the paid work force, as well as to radical changes in their national demographic profiles. Although most of the material for the course will focus on western Europe since the Middle Ages and on the United States, we will also consider how these issues have played themselves out in non-western cultures.

This course is designed for students particularly concerned with the practical problems of operating in large formal organizations, either from an operational or a research perspective. It will focus, as the title suggests, upon different forms of economic organizations and institutions in advanced and developing industrial societies and the theories (and theoretical perspectives) which might help us to understand them.

This is presentation of some basic economic ideas for the beginning community college student.

This activity helps a student recognize the consequences of Type I and Type II errors in hypothesis testing.

This is a collection of downloadable video clips on the theme of Economic Systems, with guiding questions for students. Clips are drawn from the following PBS WIDE ANGLE documentaries: "To Have and Have Not" (2002), "A State of Mind" (2003), "Ladies First" (2004), "1-800-INDIA" (2005), "Border Jumpers" (2005).

This lesson introduces students to the three main types of economic systems, command, market, and mixed. Students work with limited knowledge, not knowing about mixed systems until the very end. This allows students to see the pieces of command systems and market systems that are present in the United States and in their “ideal” economies.

Lecture notes for a lesson at MIT on game theoretical approaches to decision making, including decision making with uncertain information and analysis of risk. The lesson primarily covers game theory and not economic applications.

This set of three activities were written by Sophie Haci and Rachel Polukuri of Houston Community College. They cover demand change, minimum wage, and opportunity cost.

Looking for engaging content for your economics courses? The Institute for Humane Studies has curated this collection of educational resources to help economics professors enrich their curriculum. Find videos, interactive games, reading lists, and more on everything from opportunity costs to trade policy. This collection is updated frequently with new content, so watch this space!

This lesson plan is for an accelerated, academically gifted 4/5th grade combination class. The unit of study is economics (Social Sciences). The SCoS goals and objectives cross grade levels and curriculum areas because of the nature of the children for whom this lesson was designed. This lesson was designed as a supplemental lesson for a unit I taught called Mini-Society. I taught this unit for the first time this year after attending a workshop at Chapel Hill, NC. This lesson enhances the Mini-Society unit in which children create their own businesses.

Here you will find links to Economics resources for grades K-12, curated from Smithsonian Learning Lab, Council for Economic Education (CEE), Econ Lowdown, EconEdLink, Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF).

The department of economics at Elon changed its curriculum in 1995 to require an independent senior thesis for all majors. Since that time, this activity has evolved tremendously. In 2009, we changed the curriculum again to require a 2 semester hour Fall seminar component to go along with the 2 semester hours. of independent research each student completes in the Spring of their senior year.

This textbook, Economics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises: … Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives. … Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem.

Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students’ economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know.

Lurking beneath our natural desire to ensure that water will always be available to perform its many life-supporting functions is the fear that it will run out. Our thinking (in truth, our feeling) about water tends to be dominated by myth and misunderstanding. We believe that our 'need' for water is exponentially greater than other wants and needs; we also believe that this intense 'need' confers special status, making water a unique resource. We mistrust the ability of people to recognize water's special status, and we assert that only through common or public ownership can we preserve water for future generations. Paradoxically, while our conviction that water is unique derives from our knowledge of its many important uses, we have trouble acknowledging the value of water in anything other than pristine form. We tend to assume that, when it comes to water, there's no such thing as 'too clean.' Unfortunately, in acquiescing to these myths, we make things worse; we create for ourselves an intellectual box that constrains our ability to conserve the resource we value so highly. These lessons challenge the myths and use economic reasoning to suggest a new way to think about our use of this vital resource. In brief, the lessons assert: (1) that in economic terms, water is not fundamentally different from any other resource, good, or service; and (2) that many of the answers to our concerns about water conservation and water quality can be found in markets, the same institution that provides us bread, shoes, underwear, tractors, flowers, computers, charities, flu shots, bubblegum, the collectible craze of the moment, and the myriad other products we find 'essential' to the way we wish to live.

This course uses theoretical models and empirical studies to help understand the economics behind various internet businesses. We will begin with a discussion of relevant topics from industrial organization (IO) including monopoly pricing, price discrimination, product differentiation, and barriers to entry. The main part of the course will be a discussion of a number of online businesses. In the context of those businesses, we will discuss extensions and applications of the ideas from the first section of the course.

In both macroeconomics and microeconomics principles courses, economists teach the virtue of markets as an allocative mechanism. But markets sometimes fail. This example allows students to simulate the market failure associated with a common property resource, a salmon fishery, and evaluate ways to control fishing. The simulation also shows the distributional results of different allocative mechanisms. The simulation was developed by Paul Romer at Stanford University and is available on the Aplia web site.

Economics for Leaders (EFL) is designed to introduce young individuals to an economic way of thinking about national and international issues, and to promote excellence in economic education by helping teachers of economics become more effective educators. The curriculum materials, including background outlines for teachers and classroom-ready simulations and activities to engage students, support the teaching of critical thinking skills by equipping students with the tools of the economic reasoning. Five economic reasoning propositions for the foundation for teaching and learning the economic way of thinking.

An Introduction to Economic Thinking for Public Policy

Short Description:
Economics for the Greater Good teaches the central concepts of economics through applications to global challenges and domestic public policy issues. The chapters introduce and apply key economic concepts such as production or supply and demand to challenges including hunger, homelessness, poverty, trade, pollution, crime, discrimination, and health care.

Long Description:
Economics for the Greater Good: An Introduction to Economic Thinking for Public Policy teaches the central concepts of economics through applications to global challenges and domestic public policy issues. Chapters tackle issues of hunger, homelessness, rent control, minimum wages, globalization and trade, crime, discrimination, poverty and anti-poverty programs, education, pollution, health care, social safety nets, and government spending. Both microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts are introduced, including production, markets, supply and demand, price controls, models of trade and trade restrictions, cost-benefit analysis, budget constraints, public goods, externalities, taxes and subsidies, and government budgets and debt. Each chapter presents evidence on a pressing social problem, introduces an economic model to help understand that problem, and discusses evidence on what programs and policies work to alleviate global challenges.

Word Count: 54058

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

As many who entered the labor market following the Great Recession know all too well, graduating with a college degree does not mean you’ll easily fall into a good career. Four-year college graduates with entry-level jobs actually earned more in 2000 than they’re earning today and student loan debt burdens are higher than ever.

Does this mean you should skip college or drop-out? Not necessarily. Unemployment is still lower for those with undergraduate and higher degrees. However, understanding the economics behind the labor market will make finding a career a more manageable task.

The labor market in the United States has undergone many changes in the past few decades. Whereas we once had many manufacturing jobs that required little training or specialized skills, the labor market today demands more people who can work with computers and information technology.

Choosing a good career requires planning beyond getting a college education. You’ll want to carefully consider the career options available for your major, as well any specialized skills you’ll need to build outside of the classroom.

It’s also essential to understand how supply and demand affect your career options. How many people are also choosing that major vs. how many employers are looking for those skills? Is a particular career path susceptible to being replaced by a machine? What about outsourcing in the global labor market? What about laws and regulation – does it require an occupational license?

There’s a lot to think about! Choosing a career is a huge decision and understanding how supply and demand rule the labor market will help you better navigate your future.