E1.1.B Course Syllabus

Why study economics?

Watch the video above and consider some very important, even life or death, reasons why economics matter.

Syllabus Overview

This course will cover the basic principles of economics, and look at several different types of politico-economic systems that have existed or do exist today. One author of your text, Dr. Carson, was a historian, not an economist, and as such he approaches the subject from a different perspective than most other economics textbook authors. The balance of the work is written by Dr. Cleveland, who is an economics professor. It gives you a course that will equip you to deal with the application of economic principles to many life questions. When you flip through this book you will see no math, and very few graphs. The focus is on ideas. The course builds on what you should have covered in government class last semester.

Requirements

Budget Project: Your term project for the class will be to prepare two personal budgets using a salary of $25,000, and minimum wage. This will give you the opportunity to discuss payroll withholding, housing options, loans, car ownership, insurance, etc. This will be done in topical sections where you will focus on a particular topic for a week at a time. Please discuss these topics with your parents to get their advice as to what you might want to do. Do your best to research and find realistic costs for each items.

Evaluation

• Completion of reading assignments and study guide questions in writing
• Budget Project
• Quizzes
• Tests: (4)

Course Expectations:

Abbreviations used:

• BE       Basic Economics text.
• BP       Budget Project.
• Ch.      Chapter
• PC       Whatever Happened to Penny Candy.
• p.         page
• pp.       pages
• SG       Study Guide

When you are assigned a chapter from Basic Economics, to prepare for the quiz you should:

• Read the chapter or portion indicated. As you are reading make sure you can answer the Getting the Point questions.
• Read the Chapter Summary and Points of Emphasis in the Study Guide at the end of the chapter.
• Answer the Review Questions from the Study Guide in writing.
• Make certain you know the meaning of and how to use the Identification terms in the Study Guide.
• Review the information in pull out boxes in the chapter and be certain you understand the point of what is being said.

Course Comments and Questions

At the bottom of lesson pages, you should be able to post questions or comments. Please be civil in all discussions. Your questions are probably being considered by others so asking them may help more than yourself.

Materials

Carson, Clarence, and Cleveland, Paul: Basic Economics, 4th ed. (includes the study guide). ISBN: 978-0-9727401-4-2. Can be purchased at boundarystone.org.

Maybury, Richard: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, the latest edition is the 7th edition, and is always available at Bluestocking Press:  bluestockingpress.com

Bastiat, Frederic: The Law, ISBN: 978-157246-553-4  Can be purchased from fee.org. (If you need a copy of The Law quickly, you can get a free PDF here: https://fee.org/resources/the-law/. Use the 2019 version pdf so the page numbers match)