1. Economic Decision Making

2. Economics in Action Lesson 2 CONCEPTS TEKS Choices
(4) Economics. The student understands the basic principles of the U.S. free enterprise system.
Economizing behavior
(11) Economics. The student understands the basic concepts of consumer economics
Opportunity costs
(5) Economics. The student understands the concepts of scarcity and opportunity costs.
Scarcity
(5) Economics. The student understands the concepts of scarcity and opportunity costs.
Economic Systems
(10) Economics. The student understands traditional, command, and market economic systems
B) compare the U.S. free enterprise system with other economic systems

3. How would your students define economics?

4. Economics the science of decision making … ‘Economics’ evaluates
the study of choice…
‘Economics’ evaluates
relative cost
benefits of each alternative

5. Decision making… weighs the costs and benefits of alternatives
identifies the real or opportunity costs of a decision

6. Opportunity cost…. the best alternative not chosen
the next best alternative
What is the common misconception
regarding opportunity cost?

7. PACED Decision-Making Model
A very useful 5 step tool to help students reach personal and societal decisions.
The five steps are:

8. PACED Decision-Making Model
P. What is the PROBLEM?
A. What are the ALTERNATIVES?
C. What are the CRITERIA important to the decision?
E. EVALUATE each alternative.
D. Make a DECISION

9. Economic Reasoning
…an analysis of costs and benefits to make rational choices
Two basic economic premises:
People economize
People respond to incentives in predictable ways

10. Choices

11. Choices Making good choices helps us use limited resources wisely.
Most choices involve trade-offs…a little more or a little less of something.

12. Allocation
Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services.
Which methods are best?
Which piece of the pie do we use to allocate different kinds of goods and services?

13. Classifying economic activities
Each type of economic system represents:
A way of allocating resources
A way of making decisions

14. All economic systems must…
answer the same basic economic
questions
What…
How …
For whom…

15. Economic Systems
Traditional Economies - make decisions by repeating decisions of
previous generations
Command Economies - an authority figure makes the decisions
Market Economies – individuals and businesses make the decisions; price determines how goods and services are allocated

16. Relate concepts of this lesson to:
Travel
Regions Cities Videos Weather and more…

17. Plan a Texas vacation Two people 6 days $1000 allowance Activity 2.1
Students use the Paced
Decision-Making Grid

18. Decisions/Choices
Where?
When?
Mode of transportation?

19. Where? Big Bend Gulf Coast Hill Country Panhandle Plains
Piney Woods Region
Prairies & Lakes Region
South Texas Plains

20. When?
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer

21. Mode of transportation?
Car
Air
Bus
Bike
Other
Walk

22. Where to begin? Trip Ideas You are here: Home > Plan Your Trip >
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23. Texas Tourism How to Read this Report
VARIABLES CHARACTERISTICS RECOMMENDED USE
Demographics Segmented by age, income and household A fundamental description of travelers that can be used for all marketing and communication vehicles
Lifestages Age of the Household Head Household Income Children under Age 18 in Household A discriminating segmentation of target audience for media targeting,CRM among others
Young & Free 18‐34 years no
Young Family 18‐34 years yes
Maturing & Free 35‐54 years no
Moderate Family 35‐54 years Under $75K yes
Affluent Family 35‐54 years $75K or higher yes
Moderate Mature 55 years or older Under $60K no
Affluent Mature 55 years or older $60K or higher no
Lifestage analysis combines three variables ‐age, household income, and presence of children in the household ‐into one variable containing seven mutually‐exclusive segments defined above. Because of the age component, the lifestage segments are “moving targets” from year to year.
Generations Traveler’s Year of Birth A focused messaging approach that uses different mediums (radio, TV, and Internet) to target a specific audience
Millennial After 1981
Gen X 1965‐1980
Boomers 1946‐1964
Silent 1930‐1945
GI and earlier

24. Collecting information
The following documents highlight the latest tourism data available:
2008 Texas Travel Facts (.pdf 637KB)
2008 Top Leisure Destinations (.pdf 108KB)
2008 Top Attractions (.pdf 112KB)

25. Popular Texas sites… 11 Schlitterbahn 12.5% 1 Alamo 33.9%
2 Hill Country 23.3%
12 Fort Worth Stockyards 12.1%
3 Galveston Island 22.5%
13 Six Flags Fiesta Texas 11.5%
4 State Capitol 17.9%
14 Texas State Fair 11.0%
5 Six Flags Over Texas 17.3%
15 Cabela's 10.8%
6 San Marcos Outlet Malls 17.2%
16 Kemah Boardwalk 10.2%
7 Bass Pro Shops 15.3%
17 Space Center Houston 10.0% (NASA's Johnson Space Center)
8 Sea World of Texas 14.7%
18 Texas Motor Speedway 10.0%
9 Paseo del Rio (River Walk) 14.1%
19 Fort Worth Zoo 9.8%
10 South Padre Island 13.0%
20 Dallas Museum of Art 9.6%