Muskingum Valley ESC Standards-Based Business Course of Study
Course: BUSINESS FOUNDATIONS
Unit: 5 - ECONOMICS
Benchmark
A. Analyze how
opportunity cost
and trade-offs
affect or influence
decision making.
B. Explain why
societies develop
economic systems,
identify the basic
features of
different economic
systems and
analyze the major
features of the
U.S. economic
system.
Indicators
Resources
1. Explain the concept of marginalism as it applies to producers and consumers.
2. Correlate the relationship between scarcity or choice and the production possibilities
frontier.
3. Evaluate the trade-offs inherent in solving problems in society according to economic
goals (e.g., economic growth, equity, efficiency, security, employment, stability and
freedom.
4. Discuss what a government could do to stimulate economic growth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Describe the role of the entrepreneur as a driving force in the U.S. economy.
2. Contrast existing economies and how they answer the three questions every economic
system must answer.
3. Analyze how the economic system, resources and culture affect each other.
4. Analyze how wages and prices are determined in command and market economies.
5. Contrast command, mixed and market economies based on the criteria of freedom,
efficiency, equity, security, employment, stability and growth.
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Muskingum Valley ESC Standards-Based Business Course of Study
C. Analyze the
role of core
economic
institutions and
incentives in the
U.S. economy.
1. Explain how cultural traditions and customs influence economic behavior in the United
States.
2. Discuss how specific financial and non-financial incentives influence economic
behavior of individuals in different ways.
3. Contrast how the market system requires give and take between institutions and
individuals.
4. Discuss ways in which profits are used in a market-oriented economy.
5. Identify major functions of the public sector in the market.
6. Discuss reasons why a society’s allocation of resources will be affected by its laws,
public policy and taxation.
____________________________________________________________________________________
D. Analyze the
roles of markets
and prices in the
U.S. economy.
E. Understand the
characteristics of
monopolies and
the role of
government in
regulating
monopolies.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain the law of demand, law of supply and equilibrium price.
Analyze the relationship of price to supply and demand.
Identify determinants of supply and demand.
Graph the supply-demand curves that show increases and decreases, and explain why
these changes occur.
5. Explain how the equilibrium price changes according to changes in supply or demand.
6. Explain how a market reacts to shortages and surpluses.
7. Explain how a market reacts to government intervention.
8. Describe the concepts of elasticity and inelasticity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Describe the characteristics of a monopoly and an oligopoly.
2. Give examples of monopoly and oligopoly.
3. Determine the role of government in preventing private monopolies and regulating
public monopolies.
4. Examine U.S. laws and government regulations that are designed to impact
competition.
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Muskingum Valley ESC Standards-Based Business Course of Study
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------F. Explain how
costs, economic
risks, government
regulations,
research,
diminishing
returns and the
law of profit
maximizations
affect productivity.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Assess costs and economic risks when investing in human and physical capital.
Discuss the effects of government expenditures, regulations and tax policies.
Explain the value of research and development.
Distinguish between fixed, variable, explicit and implicit costs.
Explain the principle of diminishing returns and the law of profit maximization.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Discuss examples of taxes based on the ability to pay and benefits.
G. Understand
2. Explain government’s redistribution of income through taxation, spending and
the bases of taxes
assistance programs and the effects on people and business.
and monetary
3. Identify monetary policies used by the Federal Reserve System to regulate the
policies.
economy.
4. Identify fiscal policies used by the federal government to regulate the economy.
5. Analyze the effects of the national debt or surplus on the economy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------H. Discuss the
role of currency in
international
trade.
1. Determine how the supply and demand of currency affects foreign exchange rates.
2. Differentiate between currency appreciation and depreciation.
3. Analyze how a change in the value of a nation’s currency affects the level of imports
and exports.
4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tariffs, quotas and embargoes.
5. Distinguish between the balance of trade and the balance of payments.
6. Analyze various trade agreements among countries.
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Muskingum Valley ESC Standards-Based Business Course of Study
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I. Analyze the
various effects of
economic
indicators.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Compare and contrast recovery, expansion, low and peak of the business cycle.
Differentiate among frictional, structural, cyclical and seasonal unemployment.
Interpret the Consumer Price Index in relation to purchasing power.
Identify and analyze economic indicators and methods to validate opinions about the
state of the economy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------J. Demonstrate an 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of unemployment on the state, the
understanding of
country and the world.
the effects of
unemployment.
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