ECONOMICS & ECONOMICS HONORS

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Course Name: Economics
Course Code: 2102310
Honors Course Code: 2102320
AP Course Code:
Description:

Whether you are buying a car or renting a movie, your financial transactions affect you and the world around you. How all this buying and selling creates an economy will become clear when you enter the virtual world of Econ City.

In Econ City, you will learn how government, business and the individual consumer influence our economic system. In the shopping mall, you will see how your buying decisions influence the kind of products stores decide to sell. At corporate headquarters, you will examine how businesses compete for your dollar. At the bank, you will find out how wealth is measured. And when you consult with your financial advisor, you will discover how much you are worth, and how to spend what you have wisely.

The purpose of this course is to help you become a more informed consumer, producer, investor and taxpayer. Your choices will directly affect your future, regardless of the city in which you live.

Prerequisites: None

Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments / 32-36 weeks or 1 block/18 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts:

Segment 1:

* Scarcity and choices
* Economic incentives
* Motivation of consumers, producers, workers, savers, and investors
* Fiscal and monetary policies
o How fiscal and monetary polices affect economic activity
o Money supply of the country
o Well being of individuals, businesses, regions, and the nation.
* Supply and demand
o Relationship between price and quantity demanded and the relationship between price and quantity supplied.
o Market equilibrium
o Changes in demand and supply and changes in quantity demanded and quantity supplied
o Shortages
o Surpluses
o Overall effects on the economy and consumer and producer behavior.
* Business structures, competition and the business cycle
o Development of and operation of businesses
o Benefits of competition and the effects of the business cycle
* Credit history and the positive and negative impacts that credit can have on an individual’s financial life
* Government taxes, policies, and programs and the impact on individuals, groups, businesses, and regions
* State of the economy
o Basic terms and indicators to measure the economy’s levels of performance
* Determine how wages and prices are determined in a market, command, traditional-based, and mixed economic system
* Examine how economic systems can be evaluated by ability to achieve broad social goals such as freedom, efficiency, equity, security, and growth
* Factors that have led to increased international interdependence and basic concepts associated with trade between nations
* Personal economic skills, credit and budgeting

Course Assessment and Participation Requirements: Besides engaging students in challenging curriculum, VLACS guides students to reflect on their learning and to evaluate their progress through a variety of assessments. Assessments can be in the form of self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, writing assignments, projects, research papers, essays, oral assessments, and discussions. Instructors evaluate progress and provide interventions through the variety of assessments built into a course, as well as through contact with the student in other venues.