Fundamental Econmics Concepts
Economics
SSEF1 The students will explain why limited productive resources and unlimited wants result in scarcity, opportunity cost, and tradeoffs for individuals, businesses, and governments.
A. Define scarcity as a basic condition that exists when unlimited wants exceed limited productive resources.
- At the beginning of "John Q', the parents did not have enough money for John Q to have the surgery he needed to survive. The scarcity in this movie was not having enough money for surgery.
B. Define and give examples of productive resorces (factors of production) (e.g., land (natural), labor (human), capital (capital goods), entrepreneurship)
- In "John Q", when the mother was working at a resturant or cafe is an example of labor.
- In "Forest Gump", their were trees all around which is an example of land.
D. Define opportunity cost as the next best alternative given up when individuals, businesses, and government confront scarcity by making choices.
- The opportunity cost in "John Q", was when the dad was selling their furniture off the back of his truck to make money for John Q. He had a choice of not selling the furniture and watching his son die slowly or selling the items so the money would go towards his son surgery.
SSEF3 The student will explain how specialization and voluntary exchange between buyers and sellers increase the satisfaction of both parties.
A. Give examples of how individuals and businesses specialize.
- In "John Q", the lady who put John name on the recipient list specialize in adminning info to the hospital for surgery.
B. Explain that both parties gain as a result of voluntary, non- fraudulent exchange.
- There was a voluntary exchange in "Shopoholic", when the girl was at the store and she bought an expensive dress that cost her entire check. The voluntary exchange was the store recieving her money and in return she got the dress she wanted.