This three-week unit is an introduction microeconomics ("micro" for short), the study of individual and business behavior in the economy. After this unit, you will be able to explain how to find the point of allocative efficiency for any society, buy stock on the commodities market, and draw supply and demand curves to show how a market price is reached. You'll also be able to explain corporations, economies of scale, and where labor organizing fits along the Left-Right political spectrum in economics.

Week 8

__Thu., Oct. 25: UNIT 2 TEST. Unit 2 Terms check. Copy Unit 3 Terms into notebook from Unit 3 Checklist: Civ and Econ Unit 3 Checklist.doc . Complete Unit 3 Word Find. (2 points)

__Fri., Oct. 26: Progress Friday: Teacher-student conferences and Unit 3 Word Find. Get this in class.

Week 9: Last week of 1st Quarter

__Mon., Oct. 29: Learning goal: Draw production possibilities curves. 1. Test review (10 minutes). 2. Production Possibility Curves review and assignment (40 minutes) Visuals: PPC Review.ppt Homework: Three Bears PPC (3 points, may also be counted toward ten points on Unit 2 test)--get this in class.

__Tue., Oct. 30: Learning goal: Define allocative efficiency and value, examine a demand curve. 1. Review 3 Bears assignment. (3 minutes) 2. Introduction to microeconomics and allocative efficiency (7 min.): If we knew how much the bears valued salmon and berries, we'd know where they'd want to be on that line. That point is known as the point of allocative efficiency. Visual: Intro to Unit 3.ppt For your terms, allocative efficiency is this: producing the combination of goods or services that generates the most value. But how do you define value? Write this down in your notebook: Value = personal satisfaction. 3. Homework Cards Demand Curves (15 minutes). BUT value for you is not the same as for others. Value is how much you want something. "Demand" is how much EVERYONE wants something. Demand Curve for Get Out of Homework Free Cards. 4. FREE TIME TO CHECK GRADES AND WORK ON OUTSTANDING ASSIGNMENTS. (15 minutes)

__Wed., Oct 31  Learning goal: Define demand. Reading 1: Ch. 14, Section 1, p. 308-312. (5 pages) 1. Define rent, interest, demand, supply, market price in your Terms. 2. Describe in your own words the circular flow of economic activity. 3. What effect will a rise in the price of a product have on its demand and its supply? 4. What factors affect your choices as a consumer? Visuals: Unit 3 Reading 1.ppt

__Thu., Nov. 1: (LAST DAY OF QUARTER) Learning goal: Examine demand, define cost, draw a supply curve. Determine allocative efficiency. Review PPCs and allocative efficiency. Cost of Carrots Activity (3 points).

Week 10

__Mon., Nov. 5: Learning goal: Experience interaction of supply and demand. Use supply and demand curves to show how markets determine equilibrium price/market price. 1. Review allocative efficient amount of carrots (10 minutes). (For first rotation, create the cost curve.) Bort Market Game (3 points) (40 minutes).

__Tue., Nov. 6: Learning goals: Explain changes in supply, demand, and price. Describe how one market affects others. Demonstrate voting skills by locating your polling place, voting (if 18+), and voting in mock election at school. 1. Review Bort Market activity/Price lecture. 2. Mind Your P's and Q's Game (3 points). Big idea: Price is a reflection of scarcity. Homework 1: Election Activity (3 points), due Thursday: Map the results on this worksheet: Civics Elections Homework.doc

__Wed., Nov. 7: Learning goal: Define entrepreneur, sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.Reading 2: Ch. 14, Section 2, p. 312-317 (6 pages) Unit 3 Reading 2.ppt 1. Define entrepreneur, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, stock in your Terms. 2. Why are entrepreneurs important to the American economic system? 3. What is the payment a business makes for the use of each factor of production? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a sole proprietorship? 5. What factors led to the rise of large business during the 1800s? 6. Why are corporations considered a vitally important part of the American economy?

__Thu., Nov. 8: First movie day of the year: Watched the first half of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jazb24Q2s94

Week 11

__Mon., Nov. 12: 1. Reading Day (Pete absent). Learning goal: Define labor unions, collective bargaining, boycott, strike. Reading 3: Ch. 14, Section 3, p. 318-323 (6 pages) 1. Define labor unions, collective bargaining, boycott, strike in your Terms. 2. What changes caused the growth of wage labor in the 1800s? 3. Describe the major weapons that unions and employers have used in their disputes. 4. What are three important gains that labor unions have made for workers since the 1930s? 5. What is one example of a service business? 6. What are some of the ways the changes taking place in today's labor force may affect you as an adults?

__Tue., Nov. 13: Second movie day of the year: Watched the second half of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jazb24Q2s94 

__Wed., Nov. 14: Learning goals: Define productivity and economies of scale. Distinguish fixed from variable costs. 1. Corporations discussion: Is bigger always better? Wal-Mart update. (15 minutes). 2. Why bigger companies thrive: Define economies of scale in your Terms: cost advantages of expanding a business. Short-Run Production Simulation (30 min.):Short-Run Production Simulation.ppt    Define fixed costs, variable costs in your Terms. Define marginal cost in your Terms: the increase or decrease in costs as a result of one more or one less unit of output. Define productivity in your Terms: efficiency of production. 

__Thu., Nov. 15: Learning goal: Define commodity and speculation. 1. Short-run Costs and Profit Maximization worksheet (25 min.). Lecture: Long-run Costs and Economies of Scale (5 minutes) 2. Homework 2: Buying Stock Activity (3 points) due Tuesday:Homework 2 Stock Market.doc 3. Unit 3 Study Guide: Unit 3 Micro Study Guide Final.doc Define speculation in your Terms: investment involving high risk but also the possibility of high profits. Define commodities in your Terms: 1. a good with the same value no matter who produced it (e.g. gold, coffee beans, oil), 2. natural resources necessary to produce other goods and services. Full learning goals: Define commodities. Explain how world events and market speculation can affect commodity and other prices. For example: Commodities-grains, minerals, oil, fruits, natural gas, wood. Effects-unrest in oil-producing nations raises the price of oil which raises the cost of energy of producing many goods and services. 

__Fri, Nov. 16: No School Friday.

Week 12

__Mon., Nov. 19: Review Day participation (3 points) 1. Lecture follow-up on last Monday's reading: Left-Right Activity. Command and free enterprise, labor and capital on left-right spectrum.  Big idea: Define broad economic goals and describe the trade-offs that exist between them; evaluate how different economic systems achieve these goals in theory and in practice. For example: Economic goals: efficiency, equity, security, stability, freedom, growth. Trade-offs: a market-based economy may achieve the goals of efficiency and freedom, but sometimes at the expense of security and equity; a command economy is more equitable in theory than in practice. 2. Study Guide review.

__Tue., Nov. 20: Unit 3 Jeopardy: http://www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy/usergames/Nov201247/game1353325514.php

UNIT 3 TEST (100 points). Show Unit 3 Terms (10 points) Unit 4 Terms: Unit 4 Terms.doc Unit 4 Word Find:Unit 4 Word Find.pdf Start of Unit 4: Market Failures and the Role of Government

__Wed., Nov. 21:  NO SCHOOL TODAY

Unit 3 Learning goals:

After this unit, you will be able to:

__Define rent, interest.

__Define demand and value.

__Draw a demand curve.

__Define supply and cost. Draw a supply curve.

__Determine allocative efficiency.

__Use supply and demand curves to show how markets determine equilibrium price, a.k.a. market price.

__Graph and explain how firms determine price and output through marginal cost analysis.

__Explain ways firms engage in price and nonprice competition.

__Describe how one market affects others.

__Define productivity and economies of scale (not in book). Distinguish fixed from variable costs.

__Define entrepreneur, sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.

__Define stock and describe the stock market.

__Define commodities (not in book: natural resources necessary to produce goods and services).

__Explain how world events and market speculation affect commodity and other prices.

__Define labor unions, collective bargaining, boycott, strike.

__Explain the role of productivity, human capital, unions, demographics, and government policies in determining wage rates in labor markets.
__Demonstrate voting skills by locating your polling place, voting (if 18+), and voting in mock election at school.

Unit 3 Terms: allocative efficiency, market, rent, interest, demand, supply, market price/equilibrium price, entrepreneur, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, stock, economies of scale, fixed costs, variable costs, marginal cost, productivity, speculation, commodities, labor unions, collective bargaining, boycott, strike.

Leftover goals or lessons:

__Marginal Cost
__Curt's Tacos lesson

__Abbreviated Value and the Environment Activity (3 points).

__Graph and explain how firms determine price and output through marginal cost analysis.

 __Describe the stock market and explain how world events and market speculation.

 __Explain ways firms engage in price and nonprice competition.