Private Sector and Public Sector

Friday March 1, 2013 – Periods 2, 3, 6, 7

 Today we learned that the U.S. economy is divided into a private sector, which includes households and businesses and a public sector or government. Households play a dual role in the economy. They supply the economy with resources and they purchase the greatest share of the goods and services produced by the economy. They obtain personal incomes in exchange for the resources they furnish the economy and from transfer payments they receive from government. Businesses make up the second major part of the private sector. Most businesses in the U.S. are characterized by the differences among firms in size and legal form, as well as in the products they produce.

The economic activities of the public sector are extensive. Government performs five economic functions in the economy. These functions are: providing the legal structure, maintaining competition, redistributing income, reallocating resources, and stabilizing the economy.

Circular Flow Review

Tuesday February 12, 2013 – Periods 2, 3, 6, 7

    Today we reviewed the circular flow chart of a market and mixed economy.

Andersonville Economy

Friday February 8, 2013 – Periods 2, 3, 6, 7

   All society must develop an economic system to answer the basic economic questions. While we usually identify economic systems with a country (the United States has a market oriented system; the former Soviet Union had a command system), it is also possible to identify an economic system at a micro level. Students will examine how a group of civil war prisoners developed an economic system within their camp, a system designed to allocate scarce resources.

Circular Flow

Thursday February 7, 2013 – Periods 2, 3, 6, 7

   Today we participated in a simulation called Earn a Living. The activity helps us understand the relationship among consumers and producers. The economic relationship between households and businesses in often said to create a circular flow of economic activity. In a market economy, households are the owners of of resources and supply land, labor, and capital to businesses in exchange for income in the form of wages, rents, interest, and profits. Households then use their income to purchase finished goods and services supplied by businesses. Businesses then use the money from sales to pay resource owners for the services businesses receive by employing the resources. This relationship forms an interdependent economic system.

    The circular flow helps to explain and prove the assumption that voluntary trade creates wealth. It also shows how trade is influenced by the economic system in which people participate.

Circular Flow

Friday February 3, 2012 – Periods 4 & 6
Monday February 6, 2012 – Periods 1 & 3

  Today we participated in a simulation called Earn a Living. The activity helps us understand the relationship among consumers and producers. The economic relationship between households and businesses in often said to create a circular flow of economic activity. In a market economy, households are the owners of of resources and supply land, labor, and capital to businesses in exchange for income in the form of wages, rents, interest, and profits. Households then use their income to purchase finished goods and services supplied by businesses. Businesses then use the money from sales to pay resource owners for the services businesses receive by employing the resources. This relationship forms an interdependent economic system. The circular flow helps to explain and prove the assumption that voluntary trade creates wealth. It also shows how trade is influenced by the economic system in which people participate.