Essential Questions 

1. Describe a country's balance of payments accounts and explain what determines the amount of international borrowing and lending

2. Explain how the exchange rate is determined and why it fluctuates.

Content 

The United States economic system and it’s financial sector can be considered the biggest player in the World Economy. Stabilization of the United States economy has a major effect on the global market and foreign investors and corporations have a large buy-in to our system. The balance of international trade has economic consequences from trying to meet comparative advantage while also having political and diplomatic consequences based on current foreign policy matters and past treaties. Balancing imports and exports then can be a tricky matter when weighing the economic factors versus diplomatic factors. Diplomatic factors can be determined from the use of trade barriers and upholding current free trade agreements. The use of floating currency in many countries also has a major impact on the policy decisions that affect the value of our currency compared to those of other countries. The foreign exchange market in a way is the final stage in the efficiency of the policy set within the economic system.

Unit Outline:

1. Balance of payment accounts

2. Foreign exchange market

3. Imports, exports, and financial capital flows

4. Relationships between international and domestic financial and goods markets

Skills 

Bloom's Taxonomy

Webb's Depth of Knowledge

balance of payments/current/capital and finance/official settlement accounts, U.S. official reserve, net borrower, net lender, debtor/creditor nation, private sector/public sector balance, foreign exchange market, foreign exchange rate, currency appreciation, currency depreciation, U.S. interest rate differential, purchasing power/interest rate parity

Assessments 

Resources 

Lesson Plans

Chapters:

• 34

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.

SS12.1.6 Compare and contrast various world political systems (e.g., ideologies, structure, and institutions) with that of the United States.

Culture and Cultural Diversity

Students will:

SS12.2.2 Analyze human experience and cultural expression (e.g., language, literature, arts, traditions, beliefs, spirituality, values, and behavior) and illustrate integrated views of a specific culture.

Production, Distribution, and Consumption

Students will:

SS12.3.1 Analyze the impact of supply, demand, scarcity, prices, incentives, competition, and profits on what is produced, distributed, and consumed.

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).

SS12.3.3 Analyze and evaluate the impact of current and emerging technologies at the micro and macroeconomic levels (e.g., jobs, education, trade, and infrastructure) and their impact on global economic interdependence.

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.

SS12.4.2 Analyze the development and impact of tools and technology and how it shaped history and influenced 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.

SS12.4.4 Describe the historical interactions between and among individuals, groups, and/or institutions (e.g., family, neighborhood, political, economic, religious, social, cultural, and workplace) and their impact on significant historical events.

SS12.4.5 Using primary and secondary sources, apply historical research methods to interpret and evaluate important historical events from multiple perspectives.

People, Places, and Environments

Students will:

Human Place and Movement

SS12.5.3 Analyze, interpret, and evaluate how conflict, demographics, movement, trade, transportation, communication, and technology affect humans’ sense of place.

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.

NCSS: Social Studies 2010

NCSS: High

PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, AND CONSUMPTION

Knowledge 

Learners will understand

The roles of institutions that are designed to support and regulate the economy (e.g., the Federal Reserve, and the World Bank);

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;

Explain how monetary decisions at the national level (such as the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States) affect households, businesses, and governments;

Analyze complex aspects of production, distribution, and consumption, and evaluate the market forces and government policies that affect these aspects;

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

Compare and contrast market economies with other types of economies;

Evaluate the possible economic consequences of proposed government policies;

Products

Learners demonstrate understanding by

Interpreting media reports about current economic conditions, and explaining in visual formats how these conditions can influence decisions by consumers, producers, and government policymakers;

Using available technology to research various perspectives on global issues such as health care, global warming, and immigration, and developing a media presentation to share findings.