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Wait, Is Saving Good or Bad? The Paradox of Thrift
Could saving really harm the economy? Discover the paradox of thrift and how decreases in consumption can affect economic recovery and various markets and industries.
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Natural Disasters: From Destruction to Recovery
What are the major economic implications, both good and bad, of natural disasters? Discover the effect that natural disasters can have on labor market conditions, capital, household incomes, and opportunities for reconstruction in local...
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Higher Gasoline Prices: Temporary or Time to Buy a Hybrid?
Gasoline prices garner a lot of attention in the United States. What can explain a temporary decline in gasoline consumption, and how do gasoline prices spur innovation in the energy and automotive industries?
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The Great Inflation: A Historical Overview and Lessons Learned
Your young economists will explore the roots of fears about high inflation by learning the effects of rising prices during the world wars and in particular the Great Inflation of the 1970s.
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The Legacy of the Olympics: Economic Burden or Boon?
Do the economic benefits of major sporting events such as the Olympics or the World Cup outweigh the expected costs? Using fundamental economic terms, discover the explicit and implicit costs and benefits for countries that host these...
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What Do Financial Market Indicators Tell Us?
Explain the four categories of financial indicators (commodity prices, stock indexes, interest rates, and yield spreads), and help your class members understand how changes in this data can affect decisions regarding consumer spending,...
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What Are the ‘Ingredients’ for Economic Growth?
Delve into the concept of economic growth with your class members, including why economic growth is important, what causes it, and how can countries encourage it.
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Would Increasing the Minimum Wage Reduce Poverty?
Here is a fantastic and relevant question to discuss with your class members. Using detailed reading material and a related worksheet, your learners will learn about labor markets, equilibrium wages, price floors, and...
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Financial Crises, Reform, and Central Banking: Establishing the Federal Reserve
From the First and Second Banks of the United States to the founding of the Federal Reserve, discover how the American nation attempted to reform its financial history throughout the years.
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Monetary and Fiscal Policy in Times of Crisis
Following the 2008 financial crisis in the United States, why did fiscal policymakers increase government spending and reduce taxes? Discover the motivation behind these actions and learn about the separate functions of monetary and...
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Deflation: Who Let the Air Out?
Why do decreasing prices (deflation) restrain economic growth, and why is this a real concern? Here you'll find reading materials and a related worksheet that gets right to the heart of this question, using recent events and...
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Making Sense of the Ups and Downs of Prices
What are the consequences and costs of inflation? What is CPI, and how do we calculate it? This resource answers these questions in an organized and in-depth manner, and also includes a worksheet of follow-up questions designed for...
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The Fed - Helping Keep Banks Safe and Sound
What does an examiner look for when analyzing a bank's financial condition? In addition to learning about the 5-Cs for reviewing loans and CAMELS (capital, assets, management, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity to risk), your learners...
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The Fed Is Protecting Your Money
A dollar bill, a check, a credit card, and... a cow? What exactly are the various forms of payment that exist today? Your learners will identify the three functions of money in this lesson plan. In addition, they will discover the...
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The Fed's Role in Making and Setting Monetary Policy: Part 2
How does the Federal Open Market Committee work to formulate the nation's monetary policy in the United States? As the second segment of a lesson on the role of the Fed in setting monetary policy, class members will learn about open...
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The Fed's Role in Making and Setting Monetary Policy: Part 1
How does inflation affect the economy, and how can effective monetary policy by the Federal Reserve help control inflation? With the Fisher equation and analysis of annual CPI rates during the 1970s and early 1980s, your...
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History of Money and Banking in the U.S.
Why was there a lack of confidence in the money and banking system of the early United States government? What historical events led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System? Here you'll find reading materials and worksheets to...
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Is the Fed Public or Private?
The Federal Reserve System as a decentralized central bank can be a difficult concept for learners to grasp. Help them get a firm handle on this concept using this resource, in which class members work as a group to identify the...
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Wants on a Continuum
You can't always get what you want, but you might just be able to teach your class about wants and choices. This plan leads pupils through a discussion and closes with a worksheet and assessment.
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Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: Monetary Policy [Pdf]
Understand how the Federal Reserve establishes monetary policy through the activities provided in this lesson unit. The guide is intended to accompany the bank's "Money in Motion" exhibit, which can be explored through a virtual tour on...
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Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: Payment Cards [Pdf]
A consumer primer on different types of payment cards (i.e., credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards), and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
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Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: What Is the Federal Reserve? [Pdf]
Questions like "How does the bank hold reserves?" or "How do banks make deposits?" are examples of what is explained through this banking simulation lesson plan to illustrate the purpose of the Federal Reserve.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: What Is Unemployment? [Pdf]
A lesson where students learn how to read chloropleth maps containing unemployment figures, compare them to text interpretations of the unemployment situation, while also learning how to locate this information online.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Income Taxes: Who Pays and How Much? [Pdf]
A lesson unit that teaches students all about income tax: what it is, why we have it, how taxes are structured, factors that affect one's tax bracket, and what would happen if the tax structure were changed.