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Every teacher believes the subject they teach is the most important for their students to learn. But what does it mean to study Economics? Often, without really thinking it through, people will say that in studying economics, they are studying about money. While this is true, it only barely scratches the surface of what economics is, and what students taking this class will learn about. If you haven't yet realized it, the daily decisions you and others make affect the economy each and every day.

In an effort to help students understand how economics affects them every day, our studies will begin with how the global economy that we are a part of came to be. Our first unit will quickly take us through the last 500 years of global development, from the time of Columbus through the Imperial Age and to the present. As we look at this period, students will finish with a better understanding of how interdependent we all are and what the global economy means.

In our second unit, we will look at the underlying roles that we, as citizens of the US and the globe, have in making the economy work. There are at least eight main roles (Consumer, Producer, Investor, etc...) that American citizens have in growing the economy and bringing prosperity to our nation. And, as it has become increasingly clear over the last century, what's good for our nation, is also good for the world.

At this point in the semester, I begin a large unit and introduce the concept of 'wants and needs', especially when comparing daily life in the First World to that of Third World nations. It is a simple concept that has been lost on the majority of Americans who no longer have a sense of what is and isn't necessary to live on a daily basis. In this era where instant gratification is considered the norm and an easy life our birthright as an American, many have little understanding of how the other half lives across the oceans, or sometimes just across the interstate or rail tracks.

In the second half of our look at 'wants and needs', I discuss how most poor nations seem to be stuck in a continuing cycle of poverty. While many are rich in natural resources, they do not have the ability to gain from it because they lack adequate infrastructure , and therefore come to rely on rich nations to assist them. This assistance generally comes in the form of large loans that these nations haven't always been able to pay back. Many have defaulted, often repeatedly, thus ruining their credit rating. If this sounds like the credit trouble many have had over a home or car it should, but in the world of sovereign nation states, there is no title or collateral for a creditor to assume to make things right.

The next unit develops out of our look at 'wants and needs'. There is such an abundance of most natural resources that every citizen of the globe should be able to enjoy a similar standard of living to our own. So why hasn't this happened? Why are there rich nations and poor nations? Much of the reason has to do the 'market system' and 'supply and demand', economic realities and concepts most of us have heard of but may not fully understand. When taken a step or two further, the impact of the 'market system' and 'supply and demand' stems from how we as citizens of the globe allocate the resources at our disposal. Why does the United States, a nation with around 5% of the global population, use approximately 25% of yearly global output? If all things were equal, wouldn't China, with just under 22% of the global population be more deserving of this figure?  

Building on our understanding of how a market system works, our last unit of the semester will cover the stock and commodities markets, parts of the financial world that are unnecessarily shrouded in mystery. Few realize that these types of markets have existed in present form for nearly 500 years and the trade of commodities has been around since the days of the Pharaoh's. While most people know that Wall Street is the center of our nations private finances, and that a strong Dow Jones seems to signal economic health, few outside of the financial world understand how stocks, bonds and commodities work and how they affect all of us. Shedding light on this mysterious world is how we will finish the semester.

It is my hope that this class will provide students with a better understanding of the world they live in.

If you need to contact me, please call 397-2109 and leave a voicemail or you can email me at rosenbaumd@chatham.k12.ny.us