Room 117
Course Overview: AP Economics is a semester-long course that focuses on how individual, firms and organizational structures make economic decisions and how they are to conduct the appropriate cost-benefit analysis to determine associated trade-offs. Supply and demand analysis is developed to demonstrate how market prices are determined; how those prices determine an economy’s allocation of goods and services; how factors of production are allocated in the production process and how goods and services are distributed throughout the economy. Students will use and interpret a variety of economic graphs and models. Finally, the course will look at the concepts of efficiency and equity within the market and evaluate the effects of a government’s decision to intervene.
Objectives:
Students will successfully be able to:
1. Discuss the basic economic problems facing
consumers in American society.
2. Evaluate how individuals and businesses make economic decisions.
3. Discuss ways people invest money to save for the future.
4. Analyze how economic policy affects the individual, state,
nation and world.
5. Evaluate various economic policies in light of Catholic Social Teaching.
Required Materials:
_ Pens or pencils_ 3 Ring Binder- calculator
_ Notebook Paper_ Composition Notebook - Textbook
Completion of assignments
1) All assignments will be turned in on time or early. Late
assignments will not be accepted.
2) Students who do not complete all of the required projects will struggle to pass the
class.
Course Requirements
1) Two major projects (select one)
Project #1: In groups of three, complete an advertising project.
Please see attachment for directions.
Project #2: In pairs, you must complete a budgeting exercise by
planning a vacation for Spring Break 2016. The project will
include being graded by your partner (See attached handout for details)
2) Three smaller individual projects
3) A Stock Market Project. Please see attachment for directions.
4) Detailed paper on the effects of the individual, state, nation and
world on an economic issue.
5) Midterm and Final Exam
Grading Scale
Students will be graded according to the scale described on page 22 of the Student Handbook. Grades of Fail will be earned by those students who:
1) Earn below 60%; and/or
2) Do not do a majority of the work required; and/or
3) Do not follow the school's attendance policy
Group Project: Advertising project
Groups will be required to take a product, supplied by the teacher,
and create an advertising campaign for the product. The product
is an item rarely seen in advertisements. There will be
five parts to this project. ALL MEMBERS OF THE GROUP WILL
RECEIVE THE SAME GRADE REGARDLESS OF THE
CONTRIBUTION OF EACH GROUP MEMBER.
1. The group must create a 30 second television/YouTube commercial
using some type of video recorder.
2. The group must create a 30 second radio commercial using an
audio recorder.
3. The group must create a print advertisement for either a
website, magazine or billboard.
4. A written report telling why the group decided to do what they
did, how they did it, the audience that was targeted, and other pertinent information.
5. Prepare and present an oral presentation of your work to the
class, including viewing the video, listening to the radio commercial and seeing the print advertisement. All group members must participate. The presentation should last 15 minutes maximum.
When working on your advertisements, remember the following:
1. What is your target audience (gender, age, economic status, etc.)
2. Where/when will this advertisement be shown?
Requirements for the project:
1. Obscene language/images will result in a zero for that portion
of the assignment.
2. The ad convinces the consumer to purchase the product.
3. The project must be creative.
4. The message in the ad was clearly understood.
5. The ad's target audience is clearly understood.
6. The ad can be viewed by people of all ages, at all times during
the day.
Individual Assignments
Choose only three of the following. A Class Calendar will be provided with necessary due dates.
1. Compile a record of your economic activities for one week.
What did you earn? What goods and/or services did you buy? At
the end of the week, analyze your list. What were your economic
needs? What were your economic wants?
2. Select ten common items for sale at local grocery stores.
Compile a record of price changes, if any, in at least two different
stores over one month. Analyze overall price changes and the
variations from store to store. The objects chosen must be the
exact same item (ex 10 oz. can of Campbell's chicken noodle
soup).
3. Analyze how similar products are advertised on television or in
newspaper advertisements. How does each try to create a
demand for its product? Is price mentioned? Is nonprice
competition important?
4. Study the classified section of a local newspaper for
employment opportunities. Analyze the information for two weeks
and present a report on job opportunities in your community.
5. Choose a business you would like to own and operate, and
then decide whether it should be a sole proprietorship or
partnership. After giving this consideration, answer the following
questions: (a) What good or service would you like to provide? (b)
What types of skills or training could you bring to the business? (c)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the ownership
form you have chosen?
6. Visit a local food store offering no-name generic items. Select
12 grocery items and compare the cost of generic, and several
name brand goods. Be sure to compare items of equal size and
packaging. Compare the cost per ounce, per serving or per unit
price. Display the results in the form of charts. Include an
analysis of your findings
7. Prepare a budget for your senior year high school expenses.
Include all possible expenses that you may incur during this
school year. You should include the following expenses, but do
not limit yourself to just these: dances, athletic events, graduation
expenses (pictures, ring, announcements, obligations, dues,
party, etc), and educational trips. Analyze this budget. How will
you pay for these? What savings do you have that can be used?
Stock Market
1) Select five stocks from the Stock Market and chart
their progress for 30 days.
2) Research each of the companies selected and write a one to
500 word report on each stock. You should try to include the
following:
A) History of the company (when founded, etc.)
B) What does the company do?
C) What are some of the major products/services that the
company provided
D) Other pertinent information you deem necessary
3) At the end of the four weeks, analyze each of the companies'
performance. Was this a good investment? Why or
why not?
Term Paper
The paper will be written in four parts. Each part will be due separately on Turnitin.com and assembled at the end of the semester. The due dates for the paper are
listed in the calendar. Students will select from topics provided. The papers must include all of the following information:
Part #1 of Paper:
1) Analyze a public issue in terms of:
A) Production
B) Distribution
C) Consumption
2) Analyze how this issue affects:
A) Individuals
B) Households
C) Businesses
D) Governments
E) Environment
Part #2 of Paper
1) Explain how scarcity of resources impacts decisions concerning production and
distribution of goods and services.
Part #3 of Paper
1) Compare the rules and procedures of different economic systems by examining the effect on the following:
A) Supply
B) Demand
C) Capital
D) Prices
E) Roles of Institutions
F) Natural resources
Part #4 of Paper
Examine the Moral and Ethical issues surrounding this topic following a basic understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and the use of the Compendium.
Possible Topics for Term Paper
1) Business relocation (must include from city to city, state to state
and country to country)
2) Impact of the Federal Reserve decisions
3) Climate change and the Global Economy
4) Immigration, emigration and US Economy
5) Education and the Economy
6) Rise of Internet Trade and the Local Economy
7) Job Outsourcing and the US Economy
8) Corporate Mergers/Downsizing and the Local Economy
9) Labor Strikes and the Global Economy
10) The Economics of Water
11) The Economics of Food
12) Crime and economics
Outline:
Unit 1: An Introduction to Economics
- Learn concepts: scarcity, choice and the balance between wants and needs, opportunity cost, and marginal analysis;
- Evaluate the function of the four Factor of Production (land, capital, labor, and entrepreneurs) identifying the value of each;
- Work with and evaluate factors affecting the production possibilities frontier and the circular flow model (tracking spending, resources and factors of production through the Product and Factor Markets); understanding how economic factors impact consumer choice;
- Investigate the functions of the free market capitalistic structure;
Unit 2: Supply and Demand – How Markets Work
- Learn the determinants of supply and demand, create and manipulate models of markets for description, analysis and prediction;
- Identify non-price factors effecting the market and graph these changes to explain the markets ability to battle dis-equilibrium.
- Understand the significance and role of prices in a market economy;
- Calculate and use the concepts of elasticity of demand and supply to evaluate quantitatively the degree of price and resource re-allocation in the market.
Unit 3: The Economics of the Public Sector
- Analyze external costs and benefits (focus on positive and negative externalities and proposed solutions)
- Understand characteristics of public goods, private goods, and common goods;
- Explore how the distribution of personal income in an economy is measured and discuss issues related to income distribution.
Unit 4: Costs and Revenues – emphasis on graphs and models
- Understand Law of Diminishing Returns by creating tables and graphing “production function” within a given market.
- Manipulate tables by calculating Costs (fixed, variable, marginal), Total and Marginal Revenue, and identifying Profit and Loss, Break-even and Shut Down Points.
- Explain and show graphically how production and pricing decisions are made for firms.
Unit 5: Perfect v. Imperfect Competition:
- Evaluate the relationship between Industry and Firm;
- Explore the concepts of Profit Maximization, Long and Short-run Equilibriums;
- Identify and evaluate Monopolies, Natural Monopolies, Oligopolies, and Monopolistic Competition by recreating and understanding the changes in the economic models.
- Investigate the barriers to market entry and the justifications for economics of scale.
Unit 6: The Role of the Government
- Evaluate the impact of government price controls and taxes on the market by creating graphs and identifying Consumer and Producer Loss and Gain.
- Become familiar with the components of government budgets and evaluate tax policies;
- Evaluate Market Failures, externalities and “Free Riders”.