1st Month

Economic basics, terms & definitions: scarcity and want, the economic condition, thinking economically, opportunity costs, supply/demand and their interaction, market elasticity
Stock market game:  within the first month of the semester students will begin “playing” the stock market with an imaginary $100,000.  There are many rules regarding equity purchases, etc., specific days and times they must trade and use news sources.  As their knowledge of markets increases they will be required to enlarge their portfolios beyond stocks & bonds.  The student whose portfolio has increased the most (or lost the least, depending on economic conditions), wins a prize.  This game continues until the last day of class, where the teacher judges a winner using print-outs of their transactions.
Note:  in both sections, students will be exposed to some original source material (the writing of economists), as well as various readings that include case-studies and comparisons of economic decisions.  A typical one is entitled “Why do professional athletes make so much money, and why can’t they make more?”

2nd Month

Micro Economics:  supply, demand, and their interaction, in detail.  Perfect vs. imperfect capitalism and distortions of markets, including oligopoly, monopoly, and monopsony

3rd Month

Micro Economics, continued: the business cycle, in ever more complex models, from worker-business to later models including government, unions, etc.

4th Month

Macro Economics:  definitions:  market economies, command economies, capitalism, socialism, mixed economies, black markets.  Case studies of these various types of markets, and an economic model that compares capitalism to socialism

5th Month

Macro Economics, continued: more case studies on how economies work in conjunction with or opposed to each other, and how a national economy can be compared to a world economy.  Students will end the year with a discussion of free world trade vs. protectionism.