Everyday Economics Lessons

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Everyday Economics Lessons

Everyday EconomicsHelp broaden your students’ understanding of the underlying economic principals behind current events, as well as other more basic economic concepts.

FOR THE WEEK OF August 29, 2010

Elementary

Article Link: "In Celebration of Play," Saturday, August 28, 2010, The Denver Post, 3B

Economic terms:

  • Play:  voluntary activity associated with fun and leisure—not work.\
  • Bond:  a form of debt.  School districts ask voters to approve bond issues when they need to build or improve schools.  Voters must approve these bonds before the school districts can borrow the money.

Economic Concepts:

  • Allocation:  a method that society uses to distribute scarce resources.  Every allocation system decides 1) what will be produced, 2) how it will be produced, and 3) who gets what.  In this article the use of the playground equipment may be determined by:  sharing, force, first come/first served. 
  • Common (property):  a resource that is owned by everyone in the community.  A park, road, school, or other public property is owned by the members of the community.  The problem with common property is that it tends to be neglected or abused because no one takes responsibility for taking care of it.

Discussion: The article describes and pictures the opening of a new playground at a public school.  The playground is special because it has a garden and other features not normally found in a playground.  Read more about this type of playground at this link:  http://bond.dpsk12.org/learning_landscapes.  People from the surrounding neighborhood were invited to celebrate the grand opening of the playground.  Anyone can use these playgrounds.

Questions for discussion: Why do you think Denver Public Schools built these playgrounds around the city?  Why did almost every neighborhood get a playground?  Why do you think building new playgrounds is a good idea for the school?  For the neighborhood?  What is the fairest way for every child to get to use the playground?


Secondary

Article Links: "An eat-local scramble," Saturday, August 28, 2010, The Denver Post, 5B

Economic terms:
  • Producers:  an individual or organization that provides goods or services.
  • Alternative market:  defined in economics as a “substitute good or service.”  A good that can be used instead of another good. 
  • Sales:  money received in exchange for goods or services.
  • Supply:  is the amount of a good or service that a business is willing and able to provide to buyers at a particular price and at a particular time.
  • Recall:  is a request to return to the producer a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues.

Economic Concepts:

  • Consumer preference:  preferences express the desires and choices of the consumer to purchase one good over another.  Producers pay close attention to consumer preferences because these preferences change over time.  In this article consumers are afraid of the salmonella in mass-produced eggs and are choosing to buy from small, local egg farmers.
  • Agricultural producers:  large-scale, industrialized, food producers.  The term agribusiness is used negatively, synonymous with corporate farming. It is often contrasted with smaller family-owned farms.

Discussion: This article describes how the salmonella outbreak in a few large egg farms has frightened consumers.  As a result, there is increased demand for local, presumably safer, eggs.  Egg production is normally done in large barns where the chickens are confined to maximize egg production and management.  The article features a farm that allows its chickens to roam freely for food and return to a nest to lay eggs.

Questions for discussion: Why do you think it is a good (or bad) idea to buy eggs from the super market?  What would you predict about prices of eggs produced by small farms versus large industrial egg farms?  There is an opportunity cost to buying eggs from a local farm.  What are some of those costs?  What do you predict will happen to egg prices over the next few months?  Why?

Handy Dandy Guide
6 core economic Principals
Colorado Model Content Standards for Economics
Everyday Economics is written by Dennis Grogran, Program Director, Colorado Council for Economic Education. For information about CCEE's other programs, call 303-752-2323 or e-mail dgrogan@ccee.net.
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