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Wisconsin Economic Standard
D.12.7

Allocation Systems

Compare, contrast, and evaluate different types of economies (traditional, command, market, and mixed) and analyze how they have been affected in the past by specific social and political systems and important historical events

Economic Concepts
Traditional economy  ||  Command economy  ||  Market economy  ||  Mixed economy

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Links to Content Information

blue check mark Free Market Economy - A sample, condensed article from Encarta
blue check mark Great Economists and Their Times:  Major Schools of Economic Theory - Modern economic thought emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries as the western world began its transformation from an agrarian to an industrial society.  Despite the enormous differences between then and now, the economic problems with which society struggles remain the same.
blue check mark The History of Economic Thought - This archive represents an attempt to gather all material for the study of the history of economics at one site. This includes both primary texts, studies of those texts and of their authors.
blue check mark Industrial Revolution - Large selection of resources relating to the industrial Revolution.

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Links to Lesson Plans and other Suggested Teaching Strategies

blue arrow Andersonville Prison: an Economic Microcosm - High School.  Development of an economic system for a Civil War prison camp; allocation of scarce resources. Learn about scarcity, economic wants, command economic systems, market economic systems, and markets and price. ©Nebraska Council on Economic Education
blue arrow Government & Economics: The Ties That Bind  - Grades 11-12. This activity has three purposes: to expand the understanding of students in the areas of both economics and government; to show the relationship between these two subjects and how, over time, our views regarding these two subjects has changed; and to show the relationship of these ideas to current political and economic issues. 
blue arrow How can business make money from tariffs? - High School.  Students investigate the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers during the 1880s by looking at a political cartoon, solving a short math problem, and comparing protectionism between time periods. They then generalize about the impact incentives have on encouraging special interest legislation in a democratic government. From Focus on Economics: United States History, ©National Council on Economic Education
blue arrow How has the Constitution shaped the economy in the U.S.? - Class discussion and small group task identifying the six characteristics of a market economy and the provisions in the constitution  that support a market economy. From Focus on Economics: Civics and Government, ©National Council on Economic Education.
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 The Paper Airplane Challenge - Students will have the opportunity to participate in a simulation that enable them understand the characteristics of a Market Economic System.
blue arrow Other Web Sites - This page lists web sites offering a wealth of lesson plans for teaching economics, in addition to these lesson plans.

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List of Curricular Materials and Learning Activities

blue push pin Focus: High School Economics, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Lesson 12: Public Goods and Services - Students experience the consumption of a private and public good in the classroom and draw conclusions about their characteristics.  They they conduct a taxpayer survey and make generalizations about people's incentives to pay a share of the costs for goods and services. pp.107-117 
blue push pin World History: Focus on Economics - From Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Lesson 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 
blue push pin Economies in Transition: Command to Market, from Economics America (search catalogue), available from Economics Wisconsin.  Relevant lessons: 
  • 1:  A Parking Lot full of Incentives - Students become familiar with the profit motive of market economies, then with incentives in command economies.  Both systems are summarized.  p.1
  • 3:  A Tale of Two Countries - Students compare the historical development, both political and economic, in two former Soviet republics.  They draw conclusions about the historical experiences of a country and the successful development of a market economy.  p. 23
  • 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
  • 9: Worker Woes: Labor Transition Challenges - While examining unemployment rates, students learn how employment was managed in the former Soviet Union.  They also learn about the sources of unemployment in the U.S.  The difficulties of transition in labor market in newly independent states are presented, and the role of incentives is explained.  p. 95
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.  Unit 5, Lesson 2:  The Constitution: Ground Rules for the Economy -  Students examine what the Constitution did to establish the basis for a successful U.S. economy.  By establishing rules which protect contracts an private property rights and encourage trade and innovation, the Constitution created an environment in which a market economy could develop and flourish.
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 Fundamental Economics, see exhibit:  Economic Systems

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National Content Standard 3.

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

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Email an expert

    Professor Mark Schug - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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