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Government/Econ (Period 6)

Course Description

 

  1. The study of twelfth-grade economics provides students with a unique opportunity to consider the impact of choice on individuals, groups, and institutions. It offers a lens to understand and analyze human behavior, and it builds a student’s ability to make informed decisions based on relevant economic information such as an analysis of costs and benefits; the trade-offs between consumption, investment, and savings; the availability and allocation of natural resources; the distribution of resources among investors, managers, workers, and innovation; the role of the government in supporting, taxing, and investing in industries; and human and physical capital.

    Economics functions as a lens through which to consider the impact of governmental action (or inaction) on the lives of citizens. Understanding how the economy functions and how economic reasoning can inform decision making will provide students with the tools to become financially literate and independent. Economics is the study of how people choose to use resources. It is also a discipline that analyzes how to promote productive economic activities such as entrepreneurship, education and government investment in infrastructure, and research; it studies how to promote full employment, fair wage growth, and return on capital; it explores how to avoid financial dislocations and predatory business practices; and it argues how best to provide basic safety-net supports such as retirement for each citizen.

    The resources people use are land, labor, and capital; these resources are finite, or what some people call scarce. Scarcity means that resources, such as natural and human resources, are limited in quantity compared with the competing demands for their use. In this one-semester economics course, students examine more deeply the choices they make and explore how these choices have consequences that ripple across the world. (California State Standards)