ABSTRACT
In teaching economics to students before college, most often we have only one opportunity to get it right. Most high school students will not go to college. For those that do, only a handful will study economics. American students will have many opportunities to study U.S. history and American government in the K-12 curriculum. However, they will only study economics once-in the high school economics course or perhaps in a related business or social studies course. We need to get the economic content right the first time around. What economics is most important for high school students to learn? We think the central focus of an introductory course in economics should be teaching students how to think economically. The Great Recession of 2007-2010 underscores the importance of having widespread economic understanding. For example, a better understanding of the credit markets would have contributed to reducing the severity of the financial collapse. Economic thinking should have suggested to lenders and borrowers alike that changes in the rules of lending which, in turn, provided incentives for high risk-taking would almost certainly lead to a collapse. Moreover, widespread economic understanding would have helped citizens to better analyze the policy alternatives that were implemented and those that were not. In a market economy such as that in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world, our individual choices largely determine the course of our lives. At the same time, as voters and citizens we make decisions that affect the laws or “rules of the game” that guide
these individual choices. To choose intelligently, both for ourselves and for society generally, we must understand some basic principles of human behavior. That is the task of economics-to explain the forces that affect human decision-making. The following paragraphs introduce ten key elements of economic analysis, ten factors that explain how our economy works. You will learn such things as why prices matter, the true meaning of cost, and how trade furthers prosperity. You don’t need a PhD in economics to be able to teach economics well. Most of what high school students need to know is summarized in these ten principles. These principles serve as a starting point for classroom teaching.
