ECONOMICS IN THE NEWS

Mrs. Hamrick’s Economics and Personal Finance Class

Economics and economic concepts are all around us. Everything is economics! In fact, you have probably used a dozen or more economic concepts today. In order to recognize economic concepts around us, you will be looking for one newspaper article that discusses or involves the economic concept we are learning in this unit. You will get a copy of the article and write a summary of the article and what economic concepts it involves. Be on the lookout! You will have at least one article due each unit. THEARTICLE AND SUMMARY ARE WORTH 25 POINTS. The guidelines for the project are below.

ARTICLES

  • The articles must be from reputable news sources.
  • Articles must be actual news articles. Q&A’s do not count; movie reviews do not count
  • Examples of reputable sources would be: The Washington Post, the Washington Times, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, etc.
  • You may NOT use news sources like People Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Rolling Stone, Martha Stewart Living.
  • You may NOT download articles from television news programs (e.g. ABC News, CNN, etc.)
  • You may NOT download articles from online news sources (e.g. Yahoo! News, MSN News)
  • You MAY download articles from reputable PRINT news sources (e.g. washingtonpost.com, newsweek.com). However, I prefer the print articles.
  • Your article must address one of the concepts we are CURRNTLY learning in class. If you are unsure, ask me before the due date!!!

JOURNAL

  • Each article counts 25 points toward your final grade.
  • You may turn it in early, but NO ARTICLES WILL BE ACCEPTED LATE
  • In order to receive all 25 points per article, you must include ALL of the following:
  • A copy of the article (5 points)
  • One paragraph (5 or more sentences) summarizing the main points of the article (4 points),
  • stating what economic concept it addresses (3 points)
  • why it represents that economic concept (6 points)
  • why you chose this particular article (3 points)
  • how you could or do use this principle/concept in your daily life. (2 points)
  • Neatness (2 points)

TOPICS FOR ECON IN THE NEWS:

Unit 1: Due 9/27

  • Scarcity
  • Choice, tradeoffs
  • Opportunity Costs
  • Marginal Utility
  • Market, command, traditional economies
  • Benefits of trade

Unit 2: Due 11/1

  • Supply and Demand
  • Markets
  • Elasticity
  • Price Ceilings and Floors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Monopolies, Oligopolies, Perfect Competition

Unit 3: Due 12/6

  • Banks, banking
  • Investing
  • Business organizations (corporations, partnerships, etc.)
  • Forming a business
  • Fair wages, distribution of income

Unit 4: Due 1/24

  • Public and private goods
  • Business regulation
  • Taxes
  • Unemployment
  • GDP
  • Inflation
  • Federal Reserve