Essential Questions 

1. Describe the uses of real GDP and explain its limitations as a measure of the standard of living

2. Describe the types of unemployment, define full employment, and explain the link between unemployment and real GDP

3. Adjust money values for inflation and calculate real wage rates and real interest rates.

4. Explain what determines the natural rate of unemployment

5. Identify the costs of inflation and the benefits of a stable value of money

Content 

Our country’s performance in the economic field comes from our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This measure of performance is very specific to production from citizens that is immediate and not secondary and how it contributes into our national income and fight debt levels. It is beneficial to not only understand the importance of maintain a stable but growing GDP, but also to fully comprehend what does affect our nation’s performance indicator.

The political adjustments made to influence GDP can have some major side effects and issues within the economy. If too much growth takes place in either the private or public sector of our economy, then inflation can create an economic situation brought about as an unintended consequence. This can also create an issue with rising unemployment within the system. As an economist, are decisions best met by intending to influence GDP or those that reduce inflation and unemployment?

Unit Outline

A. National Income

B. Inflation

C. Unemployment

Skills 

Bloom's Taxonomy

Webb's Depth of Knowledge

GDP, consumption expenditure, government expenditure, net expenditures, net imports and exports, depreciation, real and nominal GDP, potential GDP, business cycle, recession, unemployment rate, working-age population, labor participation rate, marginally attached/discouraged/full-time/part-time workers, frictional/structural/cyclical/natural/full unemployment, potential GDP, output gap, CPI, reference based period, inflation and deflation, cost of living index, GDP and PCE price index, core inflation rate, nominal/real wage rate, nominal/real interest rate, classical/Keynesian/monetarist macroeconomics, production function, increasing/diminishing marginal returns, demand for labor, supply of labor, job rationing, efficiency wage, minimum wage, union wage

Assessments 

Resources 

Lesson Plans

Chapters:

• 21, 22, 28

WY: Social Studies (2014)

WY: Grades 9-12

Citizenship, Government, and Democracy

Students will:

SS12.1.2 Explain and/or demonstrate how to participate in the political process and form personal opinions.

Production, Distribution, and Consumption

Students will:

SS12.3.2 Analyze and evaluate how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in various economic systems (e.g., capitalism, communism, and socialism).

SS12.3.4 Explain how financial and government institutions make economic decisions (e.g., banking, investment, credit, regulation, and debt).

SS12.3.5 Evaluate how values and beliefs influence microeconomic and macroeconomic decisions.

Time, Continuity, and Change

Students will:

SS12.4.1 Describe patterns of change (cause and effect) and evaluate how past events impacted future events and the modern world.

SS12.4.3 Given a significant current event, critique the actions of the people or groups involved; hypothesize how this event would have played out in another country.

People, Places, and Environments

Students will:

Environment and Society

SS12.5.4 Analyze how environmental changes and modifications positively and negatively affect communities and the world both economically and socially.

Technology, Literacy, and Global Connections

Students will:

SS12.6.1 Analyze, evaluate, and/or synthesize multiple sources of information in diverse formats and media in order to address a question or solve a problem.

SS12.6.2 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text supports the author's claims.

SS12.6.3 Use digital tools to research, design, and present social studies concepts (e.g., understand how individual responsibility applies in usage of digital media).

SS12.6.4 Evaluate and integrate accurate, sufficient, and relevant information from primary and secondary sources to support writing

CCSS: Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects 6-12

CCSS: Grades 11-12

Capacities of the Literate Individual

Students Who are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, & Language

They demonstrate independence.

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They build strong content knowledge.

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They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.

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They comprehend as well as critique.

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They value evidence.

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They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.

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They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.

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Reading: History/Social Studies

Key Ideas and Details 

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

RH.11-12.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

RH.11-12.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

RH.11-12.3. Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Craft and Structure

4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

RH.11-12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

RH.11-12.5. Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.

6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

RH.11-12.6. Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

RH.11-12.7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

RH.11-12.8. Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

RH.11-12.9. Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 

10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

RH.11-12.10. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11–12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Writing

Text Types and Purposes

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

WHST.11-12.1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

WHST.11-12.1a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

WHST.11-12.1b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

WHST.11-12.1c. Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.

WHST.11-12.1d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.

WHST.11-12.1e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.

2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

WHST.11-12.2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

WHST.11-12.2a. Introduce a topic and organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

WHST.11-12.2b. Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

WHST.11-12.2c. Use varied transitions and sentence structures to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts.

WHST.11-12.2d. Use precise language, domain-specific vocabulary and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic; convey a knowledgeable stance in a style that responds to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers.

WHST.11-12.2e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation provided (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).

Production and Distribution of Writing

4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

WHST.11-12.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

WHST.11-12.5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

WHST.11-12.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

WHST.11-12.8. Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the specific task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

WHST.11-12.9. Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

NCSS: Social Studies 2010

NCSS: High

PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, AND CONSUMPTION

Knowledge 

Learners will understand

Scarcity and the uneven distribution of resources result in economic decisions, and foster consequences that may support cooperation or conflict;

The causes and effects of inflation;

How factors such as changes in the market, levels of competition, and the rate of employment, cause changes in prices of goods and services;

Various measures of national economic health (e.g., GNP, GOP, and the unemployment rate).

Processes

Learners will be able to

Ask and find answers to questions about the production and distribution of goods and services in the state and nation, and in a global context;

Apply the concepts of marginal cost and marginal benefit to the analysis of social problems;

Analyze how the trade off between risk and return is played out in the marketplace;

Gather and analyze data and use critical thinking in making recommendations for economic policies.

Products

Learners demonstrate understanding by

Evaluating proposals for a pollution control ordinance aimed at maximizing economic efficiency; then writing and defending what appears to be the best proposal;

Researching and presenting in visual form the varied ripple effects of public policies such as tax laws, environmental and safety regulations, and Federal Reserve Bank decisions;