Academic Standards for Economics

 

6.1.  Economic Systems

6.1.3.  Grade 3

6.1.6.  Grade 6

6.1.9.  Grade 9

6.1.12.  Grade 12

Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the and skills needed to…

A.  Describe how individuals, families and communities with limited resources make choices.

 

B.  Describe alternative methods of allocating goods and services and advantages and disadvantages of each.

 

 

 

 

 

C.  Identify local economic activities.

·          Employment

·          Output

 

 

 

D.  Identify examples of local businesses opening, closing, expanding or contracting.

 

 

 

 

A.  Describe and identify the characteristics of traditional, command and market systems.

 

 

B.  Explain the three basic questions that all economic systems attempt to answer.

·          What goods and services should be produced?

·          How will goods and services be produced?

·          Who will consume goods and services?

 

C.  Define measures of economic activity and relate them to the health of the economy.

·          Prices

·          Employment

·          Output

 

D.  Explain the importance of expansion and contraction on individual businesses (e.g., gourmet food shops, auto repair shops, ski resorts).

 

A.  Analyze the similarities and differences in economic systems.

 

 

B.  Explain how traditional, command and market economics answer the basic economic questions.

 

 

 

 

 

C.  Explain how economic indicators reflect changes in the economy.

·          Consumer Price Index (CPI)

·          Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

·          Unemployment rate

 

D.  Describe historical examples of expansion, recession and depression in the United States.

 

 

A.  Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of traditional, command and market economics.

 

 

B.  Analyze the impact of traditional, command and market economics on the United States economy.

 

 

 

 

 

C.  Assess the strength of the regional, national and/or international economy and compare it to another time period based upon economic indicators.

 

 

D.  Describe historical examples of expansion, recession, and depression internationally.

 

 

 

6.2.  Markets and the Functions of Governments

6.2.3.  Grade 3

6.2.6.  Grade 6

6.2.9.  Grade 9

6.2.12.  Grade 12

Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the and skills needed to…

A.  Define and identify goods, services, consumers and producers.

 

B.  Identify ways local businesses compete to get consumers.

 

 

C.  Identify and compare means of payment

·          Barter

·          Money

 

D.  Identify groups of competing producers in the local area.

 

 

E.  Identify who supplies a product and who demands a product.

 

 

F.  Define price and identify the prices of different items.

 

 

 

 

G.  Define what a tax is and identify a tax paid by most families.

 

 

 

H.  Identify government involvement in local economic activities.

 

 

 

 

 

I.  Identify goods and services produced by the government (e.g., postal service, food inspection).

 

J.  Explain the relationship between taxation and government services.

 

 

K.  Identify forms of advertising designed to influence personal choice.

 

 

L.  Explain why most countries create their own form of money.

 

A.  Describe market transactions in terms of goods, services, consumers and producers.

 

B.  Describe the costs and benefits of competition to consumers in markets.

 

 

C.  Explain the funtion of money and its use in society.

 

 

D.  Define economic institutions (e.g., banks, labor unions).

 

 

E.  Explain how the interaction of buyers and sellers determines prices and quantities exchanged.

 

F.  Describe how prices influence both buyers and sellers and explain why prices may vary for similar products.

 

 

 

G.  Explain how taxes affect the price of goods and services.

 

 

 

H.  Describe the Pennsylvania and United States governments’ roles in monitoring economic activities.

 

 

 

 

I.  Identify and describe public goods.

 

 

 

J.  Explain the cost and benefits of taxation.

 

 

 

K.  Explain how advertisements influence perceptions of the costs and benefits of economic decisions.

 

L.  Explain what an exchange rate is.

A.  Explain the flow of goods, services and resources in a mixed economy.

 

B.  Analyze how the number of consumers and producers affects the level of competition within a market.

 

C.  Explain the structure and purpose of the Federal Reserve System.

 

 

D.  Analyze the functions of economic institutions (e.g., corporations, not-for-profit institutions).

 

 

E.  Explain the laws of supply and demand and how these affect the prices of goods and services.

 

F.  Analyze how competition among producers and consumers affects price, costs, product quality, service, product design, variety and advertising.

 

 

G.  Contrast the largest sources of tax revenue with where most tax revenue is spent in Pennsylvania.

 

 

H.  Analyze the economic roles of governments in market economics.

·          Economic growth and stability

·          Legal frameworks

·          Other economic goals (e.g., environmental protection, competition)

 

I.  Explain how government provides public goods.

 

 

J.  Contrast the taxation policies of the local, state and national governments in the economy.

 

 

K.  Interpret how media reports can influence perceptions of the costs and benefits of decisions.

 

L.  Explain how the price of one currency is related to the price of another currency (e.g., Japanese yen in American dollar, Canadian dollar in Mexican nuevo peso).

A.  Analyze the flow of products, resources and money in a mixed economy.

 

B.  Evaluate the operations of noncompetitive markets.

 

 

C.  Analyze policies designed to raise or lower interest rates and how the Federal Reserve Board influences interest rates.

 

D.  Evaluate changes in economic institutions over time (e.g., stock markets, non-government organizations).

 

E.  Predict how changes in supply and demand affect equilibrium price and quantity sold.

 

 

F.  Identify and analyze forces than can change price.

·          Government actions

·          Weather conditions

·          International events

 

G.  Evaluate types of tax systems.

·          progressive

·          proportional

·          regressive

 

H.  Evaluate the economic roles of governments.

·          Macroeconomics (e.g., tariffs and quotas, exchange rates, trade balance)

·          Microeconomics (e.g., price controls, monopolies, cartels)

 

 

I.  Evaluate government decisions to provide public goods.

 

 

J.  Evaluate the social, political and economic changes in tax policy using cost/benefit analysis.

 

K.  Analyze the impact of media on decision-making in consumers, producers and policymakers.

 

L.  Analyze how policies and international events may change exchange rates.

 

 

6.3.  Scarcity and Choice

6.3.3.  Grade 3

6.3.6.  Grade 6

6.3.9.  Grade 9

6.3.12.  Grade 12

Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the and skills needed to…

A.  Define scarcity and identify limited resources.

 

 

 

 

 

B.  Identify and define wants of different people.

 

 

C.  Identify and define natural, human and capital resources.

 

 

D.  Identify costs and benefits associated with an economic decision.

 

E.  Explain what is given up when making a choice.

 

 

F.  Explain how self interest influences choice.

 

 

A.  Explain how scarcity influences choices and behaviors.

·          personal decision-making

·          family decision-making

·          community decision-making

 

B.  Explain how limited resources and unlimited wants cause scarcity.

 

C.  Describe the natural, human,  and capital resources used to produce a specific good or service.

 

D.  Explain the costs and benefits of an economic decision.

 

E.  Define opportunity cost and describe the opportunity cost of a personal choice.

 

 

F.  Explain how negative and positive incentives affect choices.

.

A.  Describe ways to deal with scarcity.

·          Community

·          Pennsylvania

·          United States

 

 

B.  Analyze how unlimited wants and limited resources affect decision-making.

 

C.  Explain how resources can be used in different ways to produce different goods and services.

 

D.  Explain marginal analysis and decision-making.

 

E.  Explain the opportunity cost of a public choice from different perspectives.

 

 

F.  Explain how incentives affect the behaviors of workers, savers, consumers and producers.

 

 

A.  Analyze actions taken as a result of scarcity issues in the regional, national and international economics.

 

 

 

B.  Evaluate the economic reasoning behind a choice.

 

C.  Evaluate the allocation of resources used to produce goods and services.

 

 

D.  Evaluate regional, national or international economic decisions using marginal analysis.

 

E.  Analyze the opportunity cost of decisions by individuals, businesses, communities and nations.

 

F.  Evaluate in terms of marginal analysis how incentives influence decisions of consumers, producers and policy makers.

 

 

 

 

6.4.  Economic Interdependence

6.4.3.  Grade 3

6.4.6.  Grade 6

6.4.9.  Grade 9

6.4.12.  Grade 12

Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the and skills needed to…

A.  Define specialization and the concept of division of labor.

 

B.  Explain why people trade.

 

 

C.  Explain why goods, services and resources come from all over the nation and the world.

 

D. Identify local resources.

·          Natural (renewable, nonrenewable and flow resources)

·          Human

·          Capital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E.  Define interdependence and identify examples of interdependence.

 

 

F.  Explain why some products are produced locally while others are not.

 

 

G.  Identify local geographic patterns of economic activities.

·          Agriculture

·          Travel and tourism

·          Mining and mineral extraction

·          Manufacturing

·          Wholesale and retail

·          Health services

 

A.  Explain the advantages and disadvantages of specialization and division of labor.

 

B.  Describe how specialization leads to more trade between people and nations.

 

C.  Identify and define imports, exports, inter-regional trade and international trade.

 

D.  Explain how the location of resources, transportation and communication networks and technology have affected Pennsylvania economic patterns.

·          Agriculture (e.g., farms)

·          Forestry (e.g., logging)

·          Mining and mineral extraction (e.g., coal fields)

·          Manufacturing (e.g., steel mills)

·          Wholesale and retail (e.g., super stores, Internet)

 

E.  Explain how specialization and trade lead to interdependence.

 

 

F.  Explain how opportunity costs influence where goods and services are produced locally and regionally.

 

G.  Describe geographic patterns of economic activities in Pennsylvania

·          Agriculture

·          Travel and tourism

·          Mining and mineral extraction

·          Manufacturing

·          Wholesale and retail

·          Health services

 

A.  Explain why specialization may lead to increased production and consumption.

 

B.  Explain how trade may improve a society’s standard of living.

 

C.  Explain why governments sometimes restrict or subsidize trade.

 

D.  Explain how the location of resources, transportation and communication networks and technology have affected United States economic patterns.

·          Labor markets (e.g., migrant workers)

·          Interstate highway system and sea and inland ports (e.g., movement of goods)

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