Economics — Principles of Economics is the Grade 12 economics semester, built on California’s History-Social Science standards 12.1-12.6 and the CCSS literacy standards for history/social studies.
Four units: Economic Reasoning and Markets, Firms, Competition and Labor, Government, Money and the Macroeconomy, and The Global Economy. Students graph and calculate in every unit using real government data, read Adam Smith and David Ricardo in the original, deliberate on rent caps, the minimum wage, deficits and tariffs, and produce a market analysis, a labor-market report, an economic briefing and a trade-policy paper.
Sources: OpenStax Principles of Economics 3e (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; referenced, not reproduced); Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776) and David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), public domain; U.S. government data and publications (BLS, BEA, Federal Reserve, Census), public domain. The course takes no partisan position; students distinguish positive from normative claims and are assessed on reasoning, not conclusions.
Students who complete California’s stand-alone Personal Finance course may, under AB 2927, elect to be exempted from the one-semester economics requirement; this course remains the recommended college-preparatory option.
Curriculum
- 4 Sections
- 20 Lessons
- Lifetime
- Unit 1: Economic Reasoning and Markets5
- 1.1Scarcity, Choice and Thinking at the Margin50 mins
- 1.2Supply and Demand Lab — Building and Using the Model50 mins
- 1.3Deliberation Lab — Price Controls and California’s Rent Cap50 mins
- 1.4Workshop — Adam Smith, Property, Competition and Liberty50 mins
- 1.5Performance Task — California Market Analysis Report150 mins
- Unit 2: Firms, Competition and Labor5
- 2.1Competition, Profit and Entrepreneurship50 mins
- 2.2Location Lab — Why Farms, Factories, Ports and Stores Are Where They Are50 mins
- 2.3Deliberation Lab — Unions, the Minimum Wage and California’s Fast-Food Wage50 mins
- 2.4Workshop — Wages, Productivity, Skills and Technological Change50 mins
- 2.5Performance Task — Labor Market Report and Briefing150 mins
- Unit 3: Government, Money and the Macroeconomy5
- 3.1What Government Does in a Market Economy — and When It Costs Too Much50 mins
- 3.2Measurement Lab — GDP, Jobs, Unemployment and Inflation50 mins
- 3.3Deliberation Lab — Fiscal Policy, Deficits and the National Debt50 mins
- 3.4Workshop — The Federal Reserve, Interest Rates and Financial Markets50 mins
- 3.5Performance Task — Economic Policy Briefing150 mins
- Unit 4: The Global Economy5
- 4.1Why Nations Trade — Comparative Advantage and Its Gains50 mins
- 4.2Exchange Rate Lab — What a Stronger or Weaker Dollar Does50 mins
- 4.3Deliberation Lab — Tariffs Then and Now: Smoot-Hawley and Today’s Debate50 mins
- 4.4Workshop — Capital, Labor and Borders in a Global Economy50 mins
- 4.5Performance Task — Trade Policy Position Paper and Address200 mins
Instructor
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