United States · Common Core State Standards
12th Grade Economics
This course explores how individuals, firms, and governments make choices in a world of scarcity. Students analyze market structures, macroeconomic indicators, and personal financial strategies to understand the trade-offs inherent in policy and private life.
The Economic Way of Thinking
Foundational concepts of scarcity, opportunity cost, and the basic economic questions that every society must answer.
Investigating how limited resources force individuals and societies to make difficult trade-offs.
Using the Production Possibilities Curve to visualize efficiency, growth, and underutilization of resources.
Comparing how market, command, and mixed economies allocate resources and define property rights.
Microeconomics: Supply, Demand, and Markets
An analysis of price determination and the behavior of consumers and producers in various market structures.
Examining how price signals coordinate the actions of buyers and sellers in a competitive market.
Measuring how sensitive consumers and producers are to changes in price and income.
Differentiating between perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.
Macroeconomics: Measuring the Economy
Focusing on the aggregate economy, including national income accounting, inflation, and unemployment.
Calculating and critiquing the standard measure of a nation's economic health and output.
Analyzing different types of unemployment and the impact of labor market trends on the economy.
Understanding the causes of inflation and how it redistributes wealth within an economy.
Government Policy: Fiscal and Monetary
Evaluating how the federal government and the Federal Reserve use policy tools to stabilize the economy.
Examining taxation and government spending as tools to manage aggregate demand.
Analyzing how the central bank uses interest rates and the money supply to control inflation.
Comparing Keynesian, Supply-Side, and Classical perspectives on economic intervention.
Global Markets and Trade
Exploring international trade, exchange rates, and the impact of globalization on domestic economies.
Understanding why nations trade and how specialization increases global consumption possibilities.
Analyzing the effects of tariffs, quotas, and free trade agreements on consumers and industries.
Examining how the value of currency is determined and its impact on international purchasing power.
Personal Finance and Life Choices
Applying economic principles to individual financial decisions, including saving, investing, and credit.
Exploring the relationship between human capital, income, and long term wealth building.
Analyzing the costs and benefits of using credit and the long term impact of debt.
Understanding how insurance markets help individuals manage the financial risks of life.