“The Perfect Breakfast” is the fourth video in the Explore Economics animated series. It helps students understand why people in different regions, states, and nations trade. The video tells the story of a child in Canada who wants orange juice for breakfast and a child in Florida who wants syrup for breakfast.

Teaching market structures in a microeconomics class? These slides present graphs related to perfect competition, the market structure in which there are many buyers and sellers of an identical product and there are no barriers to enter or exit the market. The slides illustrate firms' short-run decisions.

Students learn about opportunity cost, saving, savings goals and a savings plan by reading The Pickle Patch Bathtub. Students will develop savings plans that lead to their own savings goals.

The Piggy Bank Primer: Budget and Saving e-book for 7 through 9 year olds uses a story, activities, and puzzles to introduce basic economic concepts saving, savings plan, spending, costs, benefits, goods, services, and opportunity cost.

Through a story and activities, the student book introduces students to economic concepts such as saving, spending, budgeting, wants, goods, services and opportunity cost.

Students take a close look at nickels and quarters commemorating many of the proudest moments in our country and in the seven states that make up the Federal Reserve's Eighth District. 25 Cents Worth of History is the second student activity book in "The Piggy Bank Primer" series. Young fans of Pig E. Bank will enjoy this new activity book, designed for students ages 8-10 who take a close look at nickels and quarters commemorating many of the proudest moments in our country and in the seven states that make up the Eighth District of the Federal Reserve. Other topics include the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Mint and the history and resources of Eighth District states. Activities include: designing a state coin, matching the "fun facts" with the correct state, locating Fed branch cities on a map and determining which states are endowed with particular natural resources. You'll learn something fun and interesting with each turn of a page.

After reading and discussing a story about a family during the Great Depression, students differentiate between goods, services, barter, and money. Students are led through several rounds of a barter activity that incorporates math skills. Through this activity, students learn about the difficulties of using barter to satisfy wants.

Prices send signals and provide incentives for buyers and sellers in ways you possibly never thought about. In a market economy, price signals prevent massive shortages and ensure that consumer wants are largely satisfied. In this podcast, hear how price signals from gas prices influence decision-making for both a father of three and a production supervisor for an oil refinery. Do you see price signals influencing decisions in your life?

Remember when airlines started charging for checked bags? What happened to the number of checked bags after this added charge? And what happened to the availability of in-cabin storage space on planes? The April 2013 issue answers these questions and discusses the pivotal role price plays in a market economy.

Students develop the production possibilities frontier model while discussing the value of models in general in explaining complex ideas. They see what movement along the production possibilities curve entails on both the constant-cost curve and a bowed curve indicating increasing costs. They discuss ways a society can consume beyond the limits of its production possibilities through specialization and trade, as well as through an increase in resources, capital investment, and technological advance.

Are many products made in the United States anymore? As it turns out, yes. In fact, U.S. manufacturing output is near its highest level ever—and with fewer workers. How is that possible? Productivity growth. The March 2017 issue of Page One Economics describes what affects productivity, why economists are concerned about its recent slowdown, and what can be done about it.

In this active learning lesson, students apply economic concepts to a professional baseball league. The lesson underscores the importance of incentives, control of supply, and potential market inefficiencies resulting from a cartel. Students assume one of two roles: either (i) a member of a team owner group trying to get its team into the Professional Baseball League or (ii) a member of the Professional Baseball League Expansion Committee deciding whether new teams are admitted.

Students apply economic concepts to a professional basketball association. The lesson underscores the importance of incentives, control of supply, and potential market inefficiencies resulting from a cartel. Students assume one of two roles: either (i) a member of a team owner group trying to get its team into the Professional Basketball Association or (ii) a member of the Professional Basketball Association Expansion Committee deciding whether new teams are admitted.

Is public transportation a public good? How about national defense? Knowing the characteristics of public goods will help you understand why private firms excel at producing private goods, but they have little incentive to produce public goods. Rather, if society wants public goods, government must produce them. This episode of The Economic Lowdown defines the characteristics of private and public goods and explains why these characteristics help determine who is best positioned to produce each.

This 3 minute video examines why a return to the Gold Standard is not a viable idea today. This video is a part of a series (Part 3) on the Gold Standard and Fiat Money Standard. In it, the FED examines the pros and cons to a return to the Gold Standard and the impact on consumer purchasing power. This video aligns with EPF. 6

This lesson focuses on contractionary monetary policy by analyzing a 1955 primary source document of a speech Federal Reserve Chair William McChesney Martin Jr. gave. In his speech, Martin made the famous analogy that in times of economic expansion the Fed should “remove the punch bowl” before the party gets out of hand. Students will develop critical thinking skills through this primary document analysis and develop data literacy skills through FRED® graph analysis.

This short video shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail sales and employment levels.

In this February 2024 Issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance, we’ll explore the most common retirement savings plans and other things to consider as you begin thinking about retirement. We will compare employer-based defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, as well as options available to individuals. Understanding the basics of retirement savings accounts can help you feel empowered to start making decisions today for your retirement!

Inflation has been on many people’s minds. There are several measures of inflation available, and each one plays a role in providing a more complete understanding of inflation’s causes and effects. This Page One Economics® Econ Primer describes key measures of inflation, including the consumer price index, and how the Federal Open Market Committee pays particular attention to these measures as it makes policy decisions—adjusting its policy stance when necessary to move the economy toward maximum employment and price stability.

The cost of a college education seems to be skyrocketing—but is it really? Learn about the concept of price discrimination and how it affects college costs.