Do Now What is something that you would like
to have more of? What prevents you from having more of that? List as many things other than money as you can.
5 minutes
End
Objectives of the day:
I can Define scarcity and analyze inequality in the world in order to explain whether or not it is possible to provide for everyone’s needs.
Resources
Resources are the things needed to create the products we want/need
The Problem?Resources are limitedExample: The wood, hammer, and
labor used to make a desk.
Scarcity
The fundamental understanding of economics Scarcity is the condition where there are limited
resources to meet our unlimited wants.
There are not enough resources for everyone to have everything they want.
In your Notebooks
Think of 5 items For each item answer this question: what are
some things that lead to scarcity for that item? (make the list as long as possible)
Silently and independently
5 minutes
End
How do we decide who gets what?
We need a rationing device:
a way to decide who gets what portion of the goods available.
Money is the most common rationing device, but it’s not the only one
So, what is Economics?
Economics is the science that studies the
choices people make to satisfy their wants in a
world of scarcity.
Kidney Patients
A hospital in a town has one dialysis machine that can run for 30 hours per week. As the boss of the hospital, you must decide who gets the treatment.
There are a number of patients who require treatment and their needs are given
With a partner, you will decide which patients will get the treatment and WHY you chose those patients in your notebooks (1-2 sentences to support reasoning)
15 minutes
End
With your Partner
Read the text aloud with your partner, alternating paragraphs
Annotate the text using CATCH- you should have 3 circled and defined words, 3 comments or questions in the margins, 3 underlined key points
Answer the 3 questions in your notebook
15 minutes
End
What if the world was a village of 100 people? 20 are undernourished
1 is dying of starvation, while 15 are overweight
Of the wealth in this village, 6 people own 60%, 74 people own 40%, and 20 people share the remaining 1%
Of the energy of this village, 20 people consume 80%, and 80 people share the remaining 20%
20 have no clean, safe water to drink
56 have access to sanitation
15 adults are illiterate
1 has an university degree
Why is there inequality?
Scarcity Priority
There are not enough resources for everyone to have what they want
There are enough resources, but we don’t
divide them fairly
By Yourself
Using the note-taking guide and the statistics I showed you, determine whether you think it is a problem of scarcity or priority.
Write a short 5-7 sentence paragraph in your notebooks about your conclusion.
Silently and Independently
15 minutes
End