Lesson 11: economic decisions in other systems
Economic Systems: Traditional, Market, and Command Economies
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
1)recognize and explain
the different characteristics of a command economy relative to capitalism and
a traditional economy
2)describe how the three
basic economic decision are made in each economic system
3) explain the allocation
of resources in each economic system
4) develop solutions to
the basic economic questions based upon an economic system
5)evaluate the effectiveness
of economic systems in finding solutions to the basic economic questions
Activities:
1)Warm Up Activity
The class will be divided into pairs of students. Students will choose and rank the four items they would like most from the list below. Each student should write this list on a piece of paper without revealing it to their partner. On a second piece of paper, they should guess what four items their partner chose and what rank each item was given. When the students have completed these tasks, have them exchange their rankings and evaluate the results. How accurate were they in guessing each other’s wants? Command economies attempt to decide what products should be manufactured. People do not make the basic economic decision of what. Items from which to choose: 1) a new car 2)a CD/MP3 player 3) a computer 4) a new tv 5)a DVD player 6)a new watch 7)a new jacket 8)new shoes/sneakers 9)dinner at a nice restaurant 10) jewelry Students will discuss their thoughts and feelings on the activity.
2) Main Activity: Andersonville
All societies must develop an economic system to answer basic economic questions. Sometimes a system must be designed to allocate scarce resources.
a) As I give a short lecture of the basic economic systems, students will fill in chart of economic systems(traditional, market, command) in the following categories: definition, characteristics/descriptions, examples, also known as…(additional questions: what is an economic system? What is a mixed economy)
b) Andersonville activity[see original lesson at http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/lesson2.htm]
-after reading the history and economic history, students will be assigned a group number to help answer a specific aspect/need of the prison’s economic system [food, shelter, clothing]. Some groups will be in the role of the prisoners figuring out market solutions while other groups will be in the role of the prison administration figuring out command solutions.
-Students will first complete their individuals cards, and then get into their groups to come up with a final solution and answer the following questions: i)how are basic economic questions answered? ii)how will the prison administration utilize the human resources available? iii)what can be done to support prisoners by creating new wealth and increasing production?
3) Closing activity: students will share their solutions with the rest of the class, read what really what happened in the Andersonville prison (what are market solutions, what are the command solutions, is it appropriate to label the Andersonville system as a market economy?) and have a short discussion on how this activity helped to understand the different economic systems (or develop the concept of mixed economy).
Evaluation:
1)Class participation/groupwork, presentation.
2) Homework: finish Andersonville questions and problem set