2. UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY A WORKSHOP SPONSORED BY: PRESENTED BY BRETT BURKEY FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION

3. UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY-OVERVIEW  Created by the Council on Economic Education  39 Lessons that show how economics can be taught in U.S. history  39 Lessons are grouped into 10 units

4. THE UNITS  Unit One: Three Worlds Meet  Unit Two: Colonization and Settlement  Unit Three: Revolution and the New Nation  Unit Four: Expansion and Reform  Unit Five: Civil War and Reconstruction

5. THE UNITS  Unit Six: The Development of the Industrial United States  Unit Seven: The Emergence of Modern America  Unit Eight: The Great Depression and World War II  Unit Nine: Postwar United States  Unit Ten: Contemporary United States

6. EACH LESSON INCLUDES  Standards in Economics and History  CEE Standards in Economics  National Standards in History  Website: http://ushistory.councilforeconed.org/visuals.php  Assessment  Multiple choice  Essay

7. AGENDA  INTRODUCTIONS / FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMICS  THE GREAT EPIZOOTIC / A LESSON ON SUPPLY & DEMAND  THE CIVIL WAR / LESSONS 18 & 19  FREE SILVER & MONEY PANICS / LESSONS 27 & 28 WITH REFERENCES TO THE WIZARD OF OZ AND 1907-2007  LUNCH  THE GREAT DEPRESSION & NEW DEAL / LESSONS 30 & 31  THE NO GOOD 1970s / LESSON 36  USING MACROECONOMIC DATA TO PREDICT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS  CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION FORM

8. GOALS FOR THE DAY  Introduce basic economic concepts  Economic way of thinking / mysteries  Demonstrate some lessons  Play along for the fun  See how lessons are done  Whisper to neighbor about how you will do a better job  Express dismay over my lack of knowledge about U.S. history  Forum for discussion

9. What Can Economics Contribute?  Economics stresses the idea that all people make choices.  But, they don’t know at the time what the consequences of their choices will be. All social phenomena emerge from the choices that individuals make in response to expected costs and benefits to themselves. Paul Heyne

10. Guide to Economic Reasoning 1. People choose. 2. People’s choices involve costs. 3. People respond to incentives in predictable ways. 4. People create economic systems that influence individual choices and incentives. 5. People gain when they trade voluntarily. 6. People’s choices have consequences that lie in the future.

11. BUT LIMITED OR SCARCE RESOURCES! SOCIETY HAS VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED WANTS...

13. Do the Benefits outweigh the cost? Scales of Economics Expected marginal benefits Expected marginal costs Choices are primarily marginal – not all or nothing.

14. There Is No Such thing As A Free Lunch. Everything has a cost. This cost [opportunity cost] is one of the most important concepts of the PPC. Food Computers 100 40 50 20 Gained food, gave up computers, opportunity cost was computers. Gained computers, gave up food, so opportunity cost was food.

15. S carcity Choices Opportunity Costs O pportunity Benefit Opportunity Set [“what is possible for $10,000”] O pportunity Cost

16. Action or policy that encourages individuals to act in a particular way by increasing the benefits of their actions

17. Action or policy that discourages individuals to act in a particular way by increasing the costs of their actions

18.  If you want people to do more of an activity, change the incentives by increasing the marginal benefit or decreasing the marginal cost of the activity.  If you want people to do less of an activity, change the incentives by decreasing the marginal benefit and increasing the marginal cost of the activity.

19. Using incentives and disincentives, design a policy to:  induce teachers to teach well  induce support for war  induce able-bodied welfare recipients to go to work  induce people to change their spending habits  induce farmers to leave farming  induce a housing boom