THE MUSEUM OF WORK AND CULTURE

 

Connections to Rhode Island’s

A Standards-Based Guide for Social Studies Programs in

Rhode Island Schools

 

 

Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics

 

Content Standards

 

 

Standard 4-

                People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.

 

 

Standard 5-

                Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain.  This is true for

                trade among individuals or organizations within a nation, and usually among individuals or

                organizations in different nations.

 

 

Standard 6-

                When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost

                and then trade with other, both production and consumption increase.

 

 

Standard 7-

                Markets exist when buyers and sellers interact.  This interaction determines market prices and

                thereby allocates scarce goods and services.

 

 

Standard 8-

                Prices send signals and provide incentives to buyers and sellers.  When supply or demand

                changes, market prices adjust, affecting incentives.

 

 

Standard 9-

                Competition among sellers lowers costs and prices, and encourages producers to produce more

                of  what consumers are willing and ble to buy. Competition among buyers increases prices and

                allocates goods and services to those people who are willing and able to pay the most for them.

 

 

Standard 10-

                Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals.

                banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems and not-for-profit organizations are examples of

                important institutions.  A different kind if institution, clearly defined and enforced property

                rights, is essential to a market economy.

 

 

Standard 13-

                Income for most people is determined by the market value of the productive resources they

                sell.  What workers earn depends, primarily, on the market value of what they produce and

                how productive they are.

 

 

Standard 14-

                Entrepreneurs are people who take the risks of organizing productive resources to make goods

                and services.  Profit is and important incentive that leads entrepreneurs to accept the risks of

                business failure.

 

 

Standard 15-

                Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and in the health, education, and training

                of people can raise future standards of living.

 

 

Standard 19-

                Unemployment imposes costs on individuals and nation.  Unexpected inflation imp9oses costs on

                many people and benefits some others because it arbitrarily redistributes purchasing  power. 

                Inflation can reduce the rate of growth of national living standards because individuals and

                organizations use resources to protect themselves against the uncertainty of future prices.