Economics and Me

Summary of Lesson 1

• introductions
• course content overview + goals (see attached slides 8-10)
• defining economics as “the study of resources and how and why people use them”
• defining keys economics terms (supply, demand, consumer, producer)
• basics of need, want, and trade via the “red paperclip” TEDTalk (https://youtu.be/8s3bdVxuFBs)

Homework for Lesson 2 (August 9)

1. Find an object in your home that you really like (sports equipment, certain food, musical instrument, video game, etc.) and answer the following questions:

• How was that item made? What materials were needed and from where?
• How did that object get to stores once it was made?
• Who decides how much that item costs when it is in stores? How do they find people to buy it?
• How do the people who do want to buy that item get their money and decide to spend it?

You will not need to send anything in but please be prepared to discuss your answers with the class 🙂

2. Current Event Sign-up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6xXU0x_JrJNnVLwZKi_LzTTZyJcf0RsArTi4Gz-IzQ/edit#gid=0

Each student will need to present 1 current event in-class over the course of the class (see slide 10 for more guidance). Ms. Byrne will present an in-class example in Lesson 2, August 9th, to aid the students. Please sign-up by Lesson 3 (August 11!).

See you all tomorrow morning!

Homework for Lesson 3 (August 11):

Pick and play 1 of these 3 options: “Monopoly”, “Game of Life”, or “Lights, Camera, Budget!”

Lights, Camera, Budget link: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/f650cfce-1bfa-41d7-b487-56285c621253/lights-camera-budget/

• play this game online/on your own or with family/friends
• answer the following questions:
  • How did you decide which things to buy or which decisions to make?
  • How well do you feel you did?
  • If you were going to play again, what different choices would you make?

*note: Lights, Camera, Budget requires some personal finance knowledge that we have not covered in-class for the question portion — don’t worry if you get these wrong!

Current Event Sign-up by August 11 (or I will just assign each student a date)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6xXU0x_JrJNnVLwZKi_LzTTZyJcf0RsArTi4Gz-IzQ/edit#gid=0

Criteria:

• article must be published within the last 10 days
• 2 paragraph summary posted to forum ahead of class
• 3 discussion questions to lead an in-class discussion

See Ms. Byrne’s example in the attached Lesson 2 slide deck!

Good sources: NY Times, BBC, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian

Great job today everyone!

Here is the link to today’s slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-HHbfwNlYgQYM84H5eDyiBF1PyPUXUQNMJl44iXZR-Y/edit?usp=sharing

Homework for Wednesday is the fill-in-the-blank exercise on the final slide. We will go over it in class!

Current event presenter for Wednesday is Anqi — please review the Lesson 2 presentation or comment any questions you have 🙂

Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu were working in Google to assist in making an automatic car. When the project folds, they chose to leave with $40 million.

Instead of the self-arriving taxi, they built a business of self driving robotics delivery, which delivered pizzas rather than people. Despite the many risks of failure, it is a massive success, going from two people and $40 million to $5billion and 1000 employees.

I’m not sure what it meant by current event, I don’t know what we are supposed to write. Maybe it was explained in class but on that lesson, I was late.

What happened to lesson 4’s homework and lesson slides?

Only lesson 1-3 slides are available.

Here are the lecture slides for Lesson 4 — thank you all for reminding me to post them!

Also, here are the slides for today’s lecture (Lesson 5) — we had to speed through the end, so I will review the 3 theories at the start of tomorrow’s class!

Looking forward to hearing current event presentations from Tongtong and Vicky tomorrow — I know we discussed criteria today in-class, but again, feel free to post questions here, and I will check the forums at around 1700 and 2200 to answer you guys!

Article Link for Vicky: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/technology/amazon-walmart.html

Here are the slides for Lesson 6!

HW Reminders:

Fill out this form with any questions you have for next week’s panelists: https://forms.gle/oY9mo342iNoMAZKPA

Current Event: Hanhan

HW: Watch at least one of the following videos and be ready to summarize the video for the class on Monday
1. Discusses how capitalism works, its flaws, and ideas on how to reform: https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_the_dirty_secret_of_capitalism_and_a_new_way_forward?language=en
2. Discusses what makes a country “successful”, is it wealth or is it happiness?: https://www.ted.com/talks/nicola_sturgeon_why_governments_should_prioritize_well_being
3. Discusses free markets, government regulation, and what creates “value” or “wealth”: https://www.ted.com/talks/mariana_mazzucato_what_is_economic_value_and_who_creates_it/up-next

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/28/minister-urges-firms-to-invest-in-uk-based-workers-in-hgv-driver-shortage

Lesson 7 slides! See you all tomorrow with some very special guests!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gKx2bOWWH9kviWFH6soH0F1KIYuEj12iq7HoBSRV9mc/edit?usp=sharing