Fall 2007, Mr. Clardy, San Mateo Middle College High School

 

Office: Building 11, Room 60

Office Phone (650) 574-6114

email: clardymichael@hotmail.com

Office Hours: Daily 8-11 AM and by appointment

Classroom: 14-206

 

Economics is the study of choices. These choices are often financial, but they may extend beyond the realm of money to concerns about quality of life, happiness and success. We will examine choices both on a small (micro) and large (macro) scale. We will also look at how virtually all political decisions are made in the context of our economy. You will begin to see how the economic decisions you make have become an indirect method of voting.

All of our economic choices are increasingly interrelated to other economies. You engage in decisions about purchases, borrowing, education, etc. every day. Each of these decisions "costs" something. These costs could be in terms of dollars, time, responsibilities to a job, community service, jail sentences, etc. By examining the consequences of our economic decisions, I hope to help you become better informed about the choices available to you. I also hope to show you that your local decisions have global implications. 

For example, every time you buy a cup of coffee, you are sending a signal to the international coffee market that you approve of the conditions under which that coffee is grown and processed. You are also saying that you approve of the way the industry has priced that commodity. Is this your intention? Would you change your mind if you knew that some farmers in Central America are losing their farms because they cannot make enough of a profit given the global prices of coffee beans? Case studies like this will help us define more of the economic costs of production. We will use these analyses to decide what policies our government should pursue in the global economy. We will also make recommendations to our local governmental officials on how our local community can address some of the issues we discover.

 

I hope you find this to be a challenging and eye-opening semester.

 

Essential (focus) Question: Should the United States pursue a policy that promotes "fair trade"?

 

Final Product: Each student will answer this question through a research paper and group presentation. These will include recommendations on how local governments and communities can address some of the consequences identified in your research. Any student that earns an average of 90% on both the essay and presentation will be exempt from taking the final exam. (See my website for specific topics)

 

Outline

I. Introduction: What is economics?

• Examine central question
• Freakonomics
• "Influential” Economists ( Smith, Malthus, Keynes, etc.)
• Choices of economic systems (“Free market," command, barter(traditional),etc.)
• Causal relationship between scarcity and the need for choices, cost/benefit analysis
• 3 questions: What to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce?
• Final goods versus productive resources (product market vs. factor market)

II. Microeconomics

III.    Macroeconomics

IV. Globalization: Free trade vs. Fair Trade

V. Final Projects

 

GRADES

1. Homework 25%

2. Tests/Quizzes 30%

3. Final Examination 25%

4. Final Project 30%

 

GRADING SCALE  

A	>90%
B	>80%
C	>70%
F	<70%