Stock market mutual funds offer investors diversified stock market portfolios, but there are several types. Actively managed funds attempt to “beat” the market by using research, forecasts, and judgment to pick stocks with the best growth prospects. Passively managed funds attempt to replicate the market by buying a representative sample of the stocks on a specific stock market index. Which to choose? The April 2016 issue of Page One Economics explains the efficient market hypothesis and how it might influence your investment decisions.

How do we know how many people are unemployed? Why are they unemployed? What can be done to get people back to work? Students get the answers to these and other questions in The Story of Unemployment, including why education might be the best way to avoid unemployment in their futures.

Students learn to identify and evaluate the authority of data and the authors who publish interpretations of data. They review a dataset from FRED® and determine the authority of the dataset based on shared criteria. They also review that same dataset in several interpretations published in blogs and articles, applying the criteria to analyze the authority. Students discuss how they determined authority in pairs and share back their thoughts to the class.

After reading a story about a supermarket, students examine the change in supermarket jobs due to the advances in technology. Students observe two demonstrations. One simulates the checkout process at a grocery store using a cash register, and the other uses scanners that are in stores today. Students conclude which method is faster and more accurate and why.

This video is 4 minutes long and will cover standard EPF.3 (a). Student will be able to identify the parts of a supply curve and what causes the shift in the curve.

All of the videos that are part of the FED of St. Louis Economic Lowdown series have an accompanying teacher portal with handouts to accompany each video:

To provide students with online questions following this video, register your class through the Econ Lowdown Teacher Portal at https://www.econlowdown.org/

The seventh episode of our podcast series discusses the supply side of the market – the law of supply, slope of the curve and the difference between a change in supply and a change in quantity supplied.

This series of slides aids students in reviewing the determinants of supply and demand, provides an exercise for them to choose which of the curves shift and why, and allows them to determine which curve will shift given a market event.

Supply and demand are among the most fundamental concepts in economics. An understanding of these topics helps students better understand the economic world in which they live. This course includes three interactive lessons that introduce supply, demand and market equilibrium. This course uses a fictitious chocolate market to help explain the concepts.

Use these slides to demonstrate the shifting tax burden and changes in tax revenue and deadweight loss when taxes are applied. Students have the opportunity to identify tax burden, revenue, and deadweight loss when slopes of supply and demand change.

Refund anticipation checks are often offered by tax preparers as a way to get your tax refund faster than normal—especially if you don’t have a bank account. Also, some check-cashing stores and payday lenders are able to issue refund anticipation loans. This video takes a look at the costs of these options and suggests some cheaper alternatives.

Students participate in two auctions: The goods in each auction are identical, but the amount of money given to students increases from the first to the second auction. Students learn that if spending grows at a faster rate than the economy’s ability to produce goods and services, inflation will result. This is inflation caused by “too much spending chasing too few goods.”

The money multiplier has been a standard concept in introductory economics classes for decades, but changes in the way the Fed implements monetary policy has made the model obsolete. This issue provides information about the linkages between the Fed and the banking system and provides teaching suggestions.

In this multidisciplinary lesson, students work in small groups ("work crews") while participating in a production activity. Students learn about competition, division of labor, and incentives. They also demonstrate how division of labor and incentives help lead to greater productivity.

The study of economics is built on the foundation of three very important concepts: scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost. In this episode of the Economic Lowdown video series, economic education Coordinator Scott Wolla uses these three concepts to explain why there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Students observe the teacher produce a paper taco and then produce their own paper tacos. Students learn about the productive resources and intermediate goods used to make final goods and services. They listen to the book Tortilla Factory and identify the productive resources and intermediate goods used to produce corn tortillas. Students classify the resources used to produce their paper tacos.

Choosing a job or career can be daunting because there are so many factors to consider. Most of the time, we compare the costs of getting a job, such as how much schooling it requires, how difficult the application is, etc., against just one benefit—the salary. In this article, we move beyond the pay and introduce several tangible and intangible benefits to consider when selecting a job.

Modern economies rely heavily on financial intermediaries to channel funds between borrowers and lenders. In this issue, the role of traditional banking is outlined and a parallel system—shadow banking—is explored.

U.S. taxpayers expect the government to be a careful steward of taxpayer money. The October 2017 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance explains how the Treasury Offset Program recovers taxpayer money from people who have received government benefits in error or by fraud and also recovers delinquent child support.

Students listen to the book Uncle Jed's Barbershop, about an African-American barber who, despite significant setbacks, saves enough money to buy his own barbershop. From the story, students learn about saving, savings goals, opportunity cost, and segregation. The students participate in a card game to further investigate what it takes to reach a savings goal.

Understanding Bonds is the fourth video in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis series, "No-Frills Money Skills." The video host employs high-tech tools to foil Miss Information in her attempts to misguide investors. The video provides viewers with information about government bonds, corporate bonds, coupon and non-coupon bonds, and the potential risk and return of investments.