Economics Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Economic Standard
D.12.1

National Output 
and Income

Explain how decisions about spending and production made by households, businesses, and governments determine the nation's levels of income, employment, and prices

Economic Concepts
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  ||  Unemployment  ||  Inflation  ||  National income

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Links to Content Information

blue check mark Budget of the US Government Fiscal Year 2001
blue check mark Bureau of  Labor Statistics - Links to current information on employment, unemployment, and the labor force.
blue check mark Chicago Board of Trade - Learn everything you ever wanted to know and more about the world's oldest, largest and leading futures and options marketplace.
blue check mark A Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget - The Guide is designed to give you a walking tour of the budget of the Federal Budget. In these pages, we will outline for you how the Government raises revenues and spends money, how the President and Congress enact the budget, why the budget deficit and Federal debt have been problems, and what the President hopes to accomplish with his 2000 budget.
blue check mark Consumer Price Index - Compare the value of a U.S. dollar on different dates and calculate the Consumer Price Index.
blue check mark Economics Data and Links - Links to statistics about U.S. economy, labor force and earnings,  productivity, income and wealth, income distribution, poverty, output, and much more.
blue check mark  Hoover's Online - Hoover's Online is a business service with information on the world's top 1500 companies.
blue check mark Measuring the National Economy - Chapter 15  from Essential Principles of Economics: A Hypermedia Text, First Revised Draft
blue check mark Monthly Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
blue check mark Reach Your Goals By Saving! - A calculator to determine how long it will take to save for something at various interest rates.
blue check mark Spending - To learn about your spending options, choose from these categories:  The Money Quiz,   Love the Idea of Owning a Credit Card?, and  Renting vs. Buying 
blue check mark Summary on National Income Accounting - Describes the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
blue check mark U.S. National Debt Clock - Up-to-date outstanding public debt figures.

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Links to Lesson Plans and other Suggested Teaching Strategies 

blue arrow Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?: The Effects of the New Deal on the Great Depression - Lesson plan, student pages and resources for learning about the Depression, the New Deal, and their effect on people's lives.
blue arrow A Case Study: Gross Domestic Product - Students learn the meaning of Gross Domestic Product and how it is determined.
blue arrow A Case Study: The Inflation Rate - Students learn the meaning of inflation and the Consumer Price Index.
blue arrow A Case Study: The Unemployment Rate - This lesson looks at the meaning and effects of the unemployment rate and the role of Federal Reserve in unemployment.
blue arrow National Budget Simulation -  Grades 11-12.  This simulation is designed to involve students in the intricacies of the budget process, the frustrations of politics, and the "no-win" solutions. The simulation helps students understand the budget-balancing process and to interest them not only in this particular unit but in government itself.
blue arrow Consumer Borrowing and Saving  - Grades 11-12. To give students the needed background in the positive and negative aspects of credit, its impact upon individuals and the nation, and practical knowledge and understanding of the wise use of credit. 
blue arrow Developing a Financial Investment Portfolio - Grades 9-12. Students are given scenarios for three individuals. They act as financial advisors and develop a financial investment portfolio for each client using internet references as they analyze the various saving options.
blue arrow Fed Orders Interest Rate Cut - Grades 9-12. What makes the Federal Reserve change interest rates, and what effect do cuts have on the economy?
blue arrow If You Hear a Hoot, Then This Site is Kaput - Grades 9-12. Should the Endangered Species Act of 1973 be revised in order to increase economic growth without endangering listed species? Can this even happen?
blue arrow Is the Price of Gasoline Really Too High? - This lesson is designed to help students explore the issues associated with pricing in a market system, considering that producers must compete for consumer dollars, and with price determined by the interaction of supply and demand.
blue arrow Look Who's Footing the Bill - An introductory WebQuest on democracy and the national debt. By working as a team, a group of students can work cooperatively to answer the question: What's so big about a $5 trillion dollar debt?
blue arrow National Budget Simulation - This simple simulation gives a feel of the trade-offs which citizens and policy makers will need to make to balance the budget. There are three ways to play the game,  offering different levels of detail.  This site also includes links to information about the Federal Budget.
blue arrow Places and production - Middle and High School level.  Students calculate the US GDP and various examples from South America. Using this information, they make inferences about per-capita income. From Focus on Economics: Geography, �National Council on Economic Education.
blue arrow The Rich Nations Mystery - Why are some countries very wealthy and others so poor? In this lesson you will learn about the factors that contribute to a nation's standard of living.
blue arrow  U.S. Senate Rejects Minimum Wage Bill - Grades 9-12. Students will look at the issues involved in determining the minimum wage.
blue arrow Other Web Sites - This page lists web sites offering a wealth of lesson plans for teaching economics, in addition to these lesson plans.

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List of Curricular Materials and Learning Activities

blue push pin Focus on Economics: Civics and Government, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • Unit 2, Lesson 5--How Has Federal Government Spending Changed? - Students examine a list of selected Federal government expenditures to determine which have grown and declined the most in importance in recent years and examine patterns of change, pp. 27-33.
  • Unit 3, Lesson 6--How Can Changes in the Federal Government's Budget Stabilize the Economy? - An examination of the Business Cycle of unstable swings in a market economy and how fiscal policy changes in the spending and taxing levels of government impact the economy, pp. 37-42
  • Unit 3, Lesson 7--Who Should Control the Money Supply--the U.S. Congress or the Federal Reserve? - Students learn that the money supply increases when banks make loans, and that by controlling bank lending activity, the Federal Reserve System attempts to control the supply of money in the economy, pp. 43-47.
  • Unit 3, Lesson 8--To What Extent Do Economic Conditions Determine the Outcome of Presidential Elections? - Students are introduced to four major indicators of macroeconomic performance and compare changes in these indicators with the outcomes of U.S. Presidential elections from 1960 to 1992, pp. 48-51.
  • Unit 3, Lesson 11--What Can the Government Do About Unemployment? - An understanding of the three types of unemployment and the various policies government can pursue to alleviate unemployment is developed, pp. 61-65.
blue push pin Focus: High School Economics, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • 18--Economic Ups and Downs - Students use economic data to learn about business cycles; to determine the relationships between GDP, inflation, and unemployment; and to understand how expansions and contractions in the economy can affect their own career goals, pp.165-171
  • 19--Aggregate Supply and Demand: The Sum of Their Parts, and More - Students compete to identify various components and effects of aggregate supply and demand, pp.172-186 
blue push pin Economics and the Environment, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • Unit 3, Lesson 8:  Don't Rain on My Parade! - Students learn the economic consequences of trades on the traders and on others who may be affected by the trades.  p.90
  • Unit 6, Lesson 15:  Students learn how people making decisions in the market for a nonrenewable resource decide when the resource will be used; they also learn how the price of the resource reflects its growing scarcity.  p.172
  • Unit 7, Lesson 19: How Many Children Can Mother Earth Stand? - The effect of economic development on population growth is illustrated. p. 213
blue push pin World History: Focus on Economics - From Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Relevant lessons: 
  • 1--The First Economic Revolution - Students learn to use four basic principles of economic reasoning to understand why some nomadic groups may have shifted to a settled agricultural lifestyle. p.1
  • 2--Making Clothes and Houses Out of Wheat - Students perform a simulation that shows how increases in agricultural productivity allowed Neolithic farming cultures to raise their living standard. p. 6
  • 6--The Decline of Spain - Students work in groups to study the Spanish economy of the 16th century and draw conclusions for developing nations today.  p. 31 
  • 9--The Industrial Revolution - Students decide whether each of a number of characteristics of French and of British society in the 1800s had a positive or negative effect on economic growth.  p. 49
  • 10--How the Industrial Revolution Raised Living Standards - Students perform a simulation that illustrates division of labor and improved capital goods.  They study and discuss a reading on Josiah Wedgwood which illustrates those and other causes of productivity.   p.54
blue push pin Economies in Transition: Command to Market, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Relevant lessons: 
  • 4:  Klips and Kupons - Students participate in a simulation where they discover how a change in the money supply can cause changes in the price level.  Some of the consequences of inflation and hyperinflation are also examined.  p. 43
blue push pin Virtual Economics: An Interactive Center for Economic Education, Version 2 - Each exhibit includes teaching tips, background information, a list of lessons, and video and audio clips that give additional information about the topic.  Available from Economics America (search catalogue). 
  • In section MacroEconomics, see exhibits:
    • Aggregate Supply/Aggregate Demand
    • Inflation
    • Monetary Policy
    • Fiscal Policy
    • Unemployment
    • GDP
blue push pin Focus: International Economics, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Lesson 19:  Privatization Around the World - Students review and evaluate the approaches most widely used to privatize public enterprises and services.  p.177

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National Content Standard 18

    Scroll down the linked page to locate the grade 12 benchmarks 

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Email an expert

    Professor Jim Grunloh, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 

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Developed by 
Lynn Kirby, Ph.D.,
Education and Technology Consultant and
Larry Weiser, Ph.D., Program Director, EconomicsWisconsin
University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point