Using Economic Reasoning to Solve Mysteries

Economics in Action

Lesson 3

Concepts TEKS

Choices (4) Economics. The student understands the basic principles of the U.S. free enterprise system.

Economic Reasoning (19) History. The student understands economic ideas and decisions from the past that have influenced the present and those of today that will affect the future.

Incentives (21) Culture. The student understands how societal values affect a nation's economy.

Opportunity cost (5) Economics. The student understands the concepts of scarcity and opportunity costs.

Economic Reasoning

Choice

Scarcity

Utility-maximizing

Think like an economist

The Guide to Economic Thinking

1) People choose2) People’s choices involve costs3) People respond to incentives in predictable

ways4) People create economic systems that

influence individual choices and incentives5) People gain when they trade voluntarily, and6) People’s choices have consequences that lie

in the future.