Economics Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Economic Standard
D.12.6

National Output and Income

Use economic concepts to analyze historical and contemporary questions about economic development in the United States and the world

Economic Concepts
Economic growth and development

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Links to Content Information

blue check mark 1999 Country Reports on Economic Policy and Trade - These reports, developed by the U.S. Department of State for Congress, provide information on 77 countries with which America trades. The reports contain Key Economic Indicators and other information important for business and setting economic policy.
blue check mark E-Conflict World Encyclopedia - For countries of the world countries, includes sections on economy, defense, geography, government, history, people, and national anthems.
blue check mark Infonation - An easy-to-use, two-step database that allows you to view and compare the most up-to-date statistical data for the Member States of the United Nations. 
blue check mark Institute for Research on Poverty - A national, university-based center for research into the causes and consequences of poverty and social inequality in the United States.
blue check mark United Nations Development Plan - UNDP's overarching mission is to help countries build national capacity to achieve sustainable, human development, giving top priority to eliminating poverty and building equity.
blue check mark United Nations Population Fund - Information about the world population.  Some files are .pdf files, which require Adobe Acrobat Reader.
blue check mark What is Sustainable Development? - A definition from the World Bank.
blue check mark The World Bank - The World Bank's purpose is to reduce poverty and improve living standards through sustainable growth and investment in people.

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Links to Lesson Plans and other Suggested Teaching Strategies

blue arrow $10 Billion to Host the Winter Olympic Games: Is it worth it? - Grades 9-12. Students analyze the costs and benefits of hosting the Winter Olympics. 
blue arrow Airline Mergers, Software Industry Monopolies: Contestable Markets? - Grades 11-12. Students will determine whether mergers and monopolies within certain industries have negative effects on consumers based on the theory of contestable markets.
blue arrow Baseball Economics 101 - Grades 9-12. Students will use economic reasoning to determine whether or not Major League Baseball players are overpaid.
blue arrow Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?: The Effects of the New Deal on the Great Depression - Lesson plan, student pages and resources for learning about the Depression, the New Deal, and their effect on people's lives. 
blue arrow Cities of Today, Cities of Tomorrow! - Grades 5-11. An interactive program by the United Nations CyberSchoolBus. Gives an overview of urbanization—its history, its potential, its problems.  An interdisciplinary curriculum in a range of different subjects: History, Social Studies, Geography, Economics, Global Studies, Government and Civics, World Civilizations, Current Events and Environmental Studies.
blue arrow Economic Forecasting: An Internet WebQuest - Grades 9-12. Students use economic indicators to forecast the economic future.
blue arrow Economic Indicators - Grades 9-12.  In this lesson students will be able to retrieve up-to-date, key economic statistics which will provide valuable hints about the state of the future economy.
blue arrow The Euro Makes Its Debut - Grades 9-12. Looks at the impact of having a centralized monetary policymaking authority.
blue arrow Mock OAS Conference - Students are asked to represent countries they have independently researched in a mock OAS conference. A preliminary introduction to the history, function and current status of the organization will be presented. As diplomats, they must come to the conference with a resolution to present to their fellow ambassadors that addresses a current issue/interest of his or her country. Resolutions are debated, committees are formed, amendments are made, and votes are taken to adopt or reject resolution.
blue arrow One Country/Two Systems - Grades 9-12. In this lesson, students will compare and evaluate the economic and political systems of China and Hong Kong. They will use five broad goals for evaluating an economic system.
blue arrow Places and production - Middle and High School level.  Students calculate the US GDP and various examples from South America. Using this information, they make inferences about per-capita income. From Focus on Economics: Geography, ©National Council on Economic Education.
blue arrow Population Growth: Friend or Foe - Grades 9-12. The environment has recently been the focus of much research and discussion.  Because productive resources are limited, it is important that we use resources wisely to ensure that resources will be available for use in future generations.  Of concern to both environmentalists and economists are the trends in the world's population. (Students' version also available from link on page.)
blue arrow The Rich Nations Mystery - Why are some countries very wealthy and others so poor? In this lesson you will learn about the factors that contribute to a nation's standard of living.
blue arrow U.S. and EU Go Bananas Over Trade - Grades 9-12. Describes  the gains that nations receive when they engage in trade with each other.  Economists point to this "mutually beneficial" characteristic of trade: if both nations weren't better off, the deal wouldn't get done!
blue arrow Understanding the Colonial Economy: Mexico/NAFTA - Grades 9-12. This lesson examines the role and effect of NAFTA in the Mexican and US economies.
blue arrow What "Wood" You Do? Cook Food or Build Houses - Students learn that sustainable economic growth depends on implementing a long term vision of resources as inputs for producing outputs as efficiently as possible.

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List of Curricular Materials and Learning Activities

blue push pin Energy, Economics and the Environment: Case Studies and Teaching Activities for High School  by the Indiana Department of Education.  Students examine the economic issues involved in preserving the environment in four units:  Water Pollution, Forest Management, Renewable Energy Resources, and Global Warming.  Available through the Indiana Council for Economic Education - 
blue push pin Focus on Economics: United States History, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • 3--Why Would You Raise Chickens When You Don't Like Eggs? or Why Did Farmers Specialize? - Students explain the impact that barter had on the decline of subsistence farming and the growth of single-crop farming. pp.23-33
  • 7--How Can Big Business Make Money From Tariffs? - Students investigate the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers during the 1880s and compare protectionism in the 1980s and in the 1880s.  pp.63-73
blue push pin Economics and the Environment: Eco-Detectives, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • 2--Romancing the Past - If the environment is cleaner today than it was 25 years ago, why are people so worried about it? pp. 13-21
  • 4--The Environment: Who Loves Ya, Baby? - Students study why workers destroy the beauty that they love and use for recreation by working in open-pit mines, pp. 27-31.
  • 8--The Costs and Benefits of Having Children - Students analyze population growth in terms of statistics, economic growth, the food supply, and environmental effects, pp.57-62
blue push pin World History: Focus on Economics - From Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Relevant lessons: 
  • 2--Making Clothes and Houses Out of Wheat - Students perform a simulation that shows how increases in agricultural productivity allowed Neolithic farming cultures to raise their living standard. p. 6
  • 3--The Decline of Spain - Students calculate the efficiency of several alternate forms of transportation in 12th Century Africa  p. 31 
  • 4--How Did the Black Death Raise Living Standards in Europe? - Students calculate the costs and decisions of an English landlord before and after the Black Death. p. 20 
  • 5--Why Didn't China Discover the New World? - Students discuss why superior Chinese naval technology did not result in significant exploration and trade. p. 27 
  • 6--The Decline of Spain - Students work in groups to study the Spanish economy of the 16th century and draw conclusions for developing nations today.  p. 31 
  • 7--The Great Tulip Boom - Students perform a simulation of the tulip bulb market in 17th century Netherlands in order to understand the role of speculation in economic booms. p.37
  • 8--Adam Smith and the Market Economy - p. 42 
  • 9--The Industrial Revolution - Students decide whether each of a number of characteristics of French and of British society in the 1800s had a positive or negative effect on economic growth.  p. 49 
  • 10--How the Industrial Revolution Raised Living Standards - Students perform a simulation that illustrates division of labor and improved capital goods.  They study and discuss a reading on Josiah Wedgwood which illustrates those and other causes of productivity.   p.54 
  • 11--Japan's Economic Miracle - Students discuss factors contributing to Japan's economic growth after World War II.  p. 59.
blue push pin United States History: Eyes on the Economy, Vol. 1: Through the Civil War, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. 
blue push pin United States History: Eyes on the Economy, Vol. 2: Through the 20th Century, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.
blue push pin Economies in Transition: Command to Market, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Relevant lessons: 
  • 5:  Public to Private - Students write the rules of a simple game, then consider the more complicated rules and regulations appropriate for a market economy and the difficulties that economies in transition face.  Students also examine legislation designed to move some agricultural markets away from federal price supports to a more market-based approach.  p. 59
  • 6:  All For One, One For All--Well Maybe: Problems Within a Tightly Controlled Industrial Structure - Students discuss the consequences of monopolistic markets.  They experience the effects of price controls and identify how shortages are eliminated in a market economy.  p. 67
  • 7:  The Money Maze - Students learn about the importance of established financial markets and the lack of those markets in many transition economies.  p. 75
blue push pin Virtual Economics: An Interactive Center for Economic Education, Version 2 - Each exhibit includes teaching tips, background information, a list of lessons, and video and audio clips that give additional information about the topic.  Available from Economics America (search catalogue). 
  • In section International  Economics, see exhibit:  Growth and Development
blue push pin Economics and the Environment, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • Unit 7, Lesson 19:  How Many Children Can Mother Earth Stand? - The effect of economic development on population growth is illustrated, pp.213-224.
  • Unit 7, Lesson 20:  Toward a Sustainable Future?  Students explore the linkages between environmental protection and economic development, and the concept of sustainability. p.225
blue push pin Focus: International Economics, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin. Relevant lessons: 
  • 1:  Why Do People Trade? - After participating in a trading activity, students compare their behavior with trading behavior that occurs in the economy.  p.1
  • 5:  Interpreting Trade Data: Graphs and Charts - Students learn how to read graphs and to understand the breadth and scope of world trade. p.33
  • 6:  The United States and World Trade - Students are introduced to the types of goods involved in U.S. trade (exports and imports), the major U.S. trading partners, U.S. trade statistics, and the importance of opportunity cost in world trade.  p.43
  • 10:  What Happens Here When Imports Are Banned? - This exercise is designed to isolate the effects of import restrictions on production and consumption patterns., p.81
  • 13:  Where to Build a Factory - Students evaluate the factors that influence decisions about where to invest abroad.  p.103
  • 16:  Trade With Japan: How Fair Is It? - This lesson focuses on the U.S. trade relationship with Japan, and more specifically on the free trade vs. fair trade controversy.  p.133
  • 17:  Should a Developing Country Have Free Trade? - After looking at some of the pros and cons of free trade, students form opinions about a protective tariff.  p.145
  • 18:  The NAFTA Debate - Students study the effects of tariffs and identify who gained and who lost when NAFTA was implemented.  p.155
  • 19:  Privatization Around the World - Students review and evaluate the approaches most widely used to privatize public enterprises and services.  p.177
  • 20:  Catching Up or Falling Behind? International Comparisons of National Income and Economic Growth - This lesson introduces the idea of convergence in income levels over time, presenting the major reasons economists have identified to explain why it occurs.  p.187

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National Content Standard 18.

    Scroll down the linked page to locate the grade 12 benchmarks. 

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Email an expert

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Developed by 
Lynn Kirby, Ph.D.
Larry Weiser, Ph.D.