Scope and sequence · Practical
Economics & the History of Money
A high-school course in how markets, prices, banks and money really work, told through the true stories that taught the world its economics, from the first gold coins of Lydia and the silver of Potosí to the Bank of England, the closing of the gold window in 1971 and the container ship.
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What to cover
57 of 58 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.
Unit 1: Economic Thinking
- MUST COVER 1.1 Scarcity and Opportunity Cost: Bastiat’s Broken Window · exam
- MUST COVER 1.2 Incentives: Plymouth Colony Changes the Rules, 1623 · exam
- MUST COVER 1.3 Thinking at the Margin: The Diamond-Water Paradox · exam
- MUST COVER 1.4 Specialization and Comparative Advantage: Smith and Ricardo · exam
- MUST COVER 1.5 Work, Vocation and Stewardship: Human Capital and “The Use of Money” · exam
Unit 2: Markets and Prices
- MUST COVER 2.1 Demand: Henry Ford Cuts the Price of the Model T · exam
- MUST COVER 2.2 Supply: The Oil Boom at Titusville, 1859 · exam
- MUST COVER 2.3 Equilibrium: Marshall’s Scissors · exam
- MUST COVER 2.4 Elasticity: King’s Law of Harvests · exam
- MUST COVER 2.5 Prices as Information: “I, Pencil,” Hayek’s Tin, and Price Controls · exam
Unit 3: Market Structures
- MUST COVER 3.1 Perfect Competition: Grading Wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade · exam
- MUST COVER 3.2 Monopolistic Competition: Henry Heinz and the Clear Glass Bottle · exam
- MUST COVER 3.3 Oligopoly and Game Theory: Railroad Pools and the Prisoner’s Dilemma · exam
- MUST COVER 3.4 Monopoly: Charles Martin Hall and Aluminum · exam
- MUST COVER 3.5 Natural Monopoly, Regulation and Antitrust: Standard Oil (1911) and AT&T (1984) · exam
Unit 4: The Story of Money I: Commodity Money
- MUST COVER 4.1 Barter and the Functions of Money: The Stone Money of Yap · exam
- MUST COVER 4.2 Lydia’s Coins and the Gold Trade · exam
- MUST COVER 4.3 Rome’s Denarius and Its Debasement · exam
- MUST COVER 4.4 The Florentine Florin and the Medici Bank · exam
- MUST COVER 4.5 Spanish Silver and the Great Rise in Prices · exam
Unit 5: The Story of Money II: Banks and the Gold Standard
- MUST COVER 5.1 The Goldsmiths of London and Fractional-Reserve Banking · exam
- MUST COVER 5.2 The Bank of England, 1694, and the Lender of Last Resort · exam
- MUST COVER 5.3 American Banking from Hamilton’s Bank to the Panic of 1907 · exam
- MUST COVER 5.4 Jekyll Island and the Federal Reserve, 1913 · exam
- MUST COVER 5.5 How the Classical Gold Standard Worked · exam
Unit 6: Fiat Money and Central Banking
- MUST COVER 6.1 1933: Gold Is Called In and Repriced at $35 · exam
- MUST COVER 6.2 Bretton Woods, 1944 · exam
- MUST COVER 6.3 August 15, 1971: The Gold Window Closes · exam
- MUST COVER 6.4 How the Fed Sets Interest Rates and the Money Supply · exam
- MUST COVER 6.5 Inflation, Deflation and Hyperinflation: Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe · exam
Unit 7: Labor, Capital and Fair Rules
- MUST COVER 7.1 The First Factories: Gains and Costs · exam
- MUST COVER 7.2 Wages, Productivity and Labor Markets: Ford’s $5 Day · exam
- MUST COVER 7.3 The Factory Acts, Unions and the Fair Labor Standards Act · exam
- MUST COVER 7.4 Workplace Safety and Workers’ Compensation: After the Triangle Fire · exam
- MUST COVER 7.5 When Rules Backfire: Diocletian’s Price Edict and Price Controls · exam
Unit 8: Government and the Economy
- MUST COVER 8.1 Property, Contracts and the Rule of Law: The Land Ordinance of 1785 · exam
- MUST COVER 8.2 Public Goods and Spillovers: Lighthouses and London’s Great Stink · exam
- MUST COVER 8.3 Taxes as Principle: Adam Smith’s Maxims and the Window Tax · exam
- MUST COVER 8.4 Consumer and Investor Protection: Pure Food (1906), the SEC (1934) and the FDIC (1933) · exam
- MUST COVER 8.5 Government Failure and the Limits of Planning · exam
Unit 9: The Whole Economy
- MUST COVER 9.1 Measuring the Whole Economy: Simon Kuznets and GDP · exam
- MUST COVER 9.2 Unemployment: Counting the Jobless · exam
- MUST COVER 9.3 The Business Cycle: Seven Fat Years and Seven Lean · exam
- MUST COVER 9.4 The Great Depression · exam
- MUST COVER 9.5 Why Some Nations Grow Rich · exam
Unit 10: Trade and the Wealth of Nations
- OPTIONAL 10.1 Trade Through History: From the Silk Road to the Container Ship
- MUST COVER 10.2 Exchange Rates and Purchasing Power Parity · exam
- MUST COVER 10.3 The Corn Laws and the Case for Trade · exam
- MUST COVER 10.4 Capital, Innovation and Growth: Norman Borlaug’s Wheat · exam
- MUST COVER 10.5 Capstone: Writing Economic History, with John Law’s Mississippi Bubble as a Model · exam
Unit 11: Reading a Nation’s Balance Sheet
- MUST COVER 11.1 How a Nation Borrows: Hamilton and the Assumption of the War Debts · exam
- MUST COVER 11.2 Carrying a Debt: Interest Costs and Britain after Waterloo · exam
- MUST COVER 11.3 When Nations Cannot Pay: Argentina 2001 and Greece 2012 · exam
- MUST COVER 11.4 The Nation’s Ledger with the World: the Current Account and Balance of Payments · exam
- MUST COVER 11.5 Saving, Investment and the Exchange Rate: Surplus and Deficit Countries · exam
- MUST COVER 11.6 Demographics as Economic Destiny: Aging, Dependency and Pension Math · exam
- MUST COVER 11.7 Fertility and Immigration: Levers and Trade-offs · exam
- MUST COVER 11.8 Capstone: Read a Country Profile · exam
36-week pacing calendar
The course’s own pacing guide fills the 36-week (180-day) year with no catch-up weeks added: Lesson 10.1 (optional enrichment) takes one day, and Lessons 3.3, 5.3, 7.2, 8.3, 9.3, 10.3 and 11.2 do their project and practice set on the same day.
| Week | Plan | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Day 1: Lesson 1.1 Scarcity and Opportunity Cost: Bastiat’s Broken Window: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 1.1: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 1.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 1.2 Incentives: Plymouth Colony Changes the Rules, 1623: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 1.2: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 2 | Day 1: Lesson 1.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 1.3 Thinking at the Margin: The Diamond-Water Paradox: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 1.3: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 1.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 1.4 Specialization and Comparative Advantage: Smith and Ricardo: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 3 | Day 1: Lesson 1.4: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 1.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 1.5 Work, Vocation and Stewardship: Human Capital and “The Use of Money”: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 1.5: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 1.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 4 | Day 1: Unit 1 test Day 2: Lesson 2.1 Demand: Henry Ford Cuts the Price of the Model T: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 2.1: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 2.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 2.2 Supply: The Oil Boom at Titusville, 1859: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 5 | Day 1: Lesson 2.2: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 2.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 2.3 Equilibrium: Marshall’s Scissors: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 2.3: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 2.3: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 6 | Day 1: Lesson 2.4 Elasticity: King’s Law of Harvests: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 2.4: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 2.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 2.5 Prices as Information: “I, Pencil,” Hayek’s Tin, and Price Controls: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 2.5: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 7 | Day 1: Lesson 2.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 2 test Day 3: Lesson 3.1 Perfect Competition: Grading Wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 3.1: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 3.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 8 | Day 1: Lesson 3.2 Monopolistic Competition: Henry Heinz and the Clear Glass Bottle: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 3.2: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 3.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 3.3 Oligopoly and Game Theory: Railroad Pools and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 3.3: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) | ||
| Wk 9 | Day 1: Lesson 3.4 Monopoly: Charles Martin Hall and Aluminum: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 3.4: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 3.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 3.5 Natural Monopoly, Regulation and Antitrust: Standard Oil (1911) and AT&T (1984): video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 3.5: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 10 | Day 1: Lesson 3.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 3 test Day 3: Lesson 4.1 Barter and the Functions of Money: The Stone Money of Yap: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 4.1: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 4.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 11 | Day 1: Lesson 4.2 Lydia’s Coins and the Gold Trade: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 4.2: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 4.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 4.3 Rome’s Denarius and Its Debasement: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 4.3: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 12 | Day 1: Lesson 4.3: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 4.4 The Florentine Florin and the Medici Bank: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 4.4: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 4.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 4.5 Spanish Silver and the Great Rise in Prices: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 13 | Day 1: Lesson 4.5: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 4.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 4 test Day 4: Lesson 5.1 The Goldsmiths of London and Fractional-Reserve Banking: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 5.1: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 14 | Day 1: Lesson 5.1: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 5.2 The Bank of England, 1694, and the Lender of Last Resort: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 5.2: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 5.2: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 5.3 American Banking from Hamilton’s Bank to the Panic of 1907: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 15 | Day 1: Lesson 5.3: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 2: Lesson 5.4 Jekyll Island and the Federal Reserve, 1913: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 5.4: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 5.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 5.5 How the Classical Gold Standard Worked: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 16 | Day 1: Lesson 5.5: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 5.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 5 test Day 4: Review day for the midterm Day 5: Midterm exam | ||
| Wk 17 | Day 1: Lesson 6.1 1933: Gold Is Called In and Repriced at $35: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 6.1: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 6.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 6.2 Bretton Woods, 1944: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 6.2: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 18 | Day 1: Lesson 6.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 6.3 August 15, 1971: The Gold Window Closes: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 6.3: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 6.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 6.4 How the Fed Sets Interest Rates and the Money Supply: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 19 | Day 1: Lesson 6.4: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 6.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 6.5 Inflation, Deflation and Hyperinflation: Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 6.5: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 6.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 20 | Day 1: Unit 6 test Day 2: Lesson 7.1 The First Factories: Gains and Costs: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 7.1: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 7.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 7.2 Wages, Productivity and Labor Markets: Ford’s $5 Day: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 21 | Day 1: Lesson 7.2: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 2: Lesson 7.3 The Factory Acts, Unions and the Fair Labor Standards Act: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 7.3: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 7.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 7.4 Workplace Safety and Workers’ Compensation: After the Triangle Fire: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 22 | Day 1: Lesson 7.4: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 7.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 7.5 When Rules Backfire: Diocletian’s Price Edict and Price Controls: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 7.5: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 7.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 23 | Day 1: Unit 7 test Day 2: Lesson 8.1 Property, Contracts and the Rule of Law: The Land Ordinance of 1785: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 8.1: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 8.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 8.2 Public Goods and Spillovers: Lighthouses and London’s Great Stink: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 24 | Day 1: Lesson 8.2: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 8.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 8.3 Taxes as Principle: Adam Smith’s Maxims and the Window Tax: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 8.3: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 5: Lesson 8.4 Consumer and Investor Protection: Pure Food (1906), the SEC (1934) and the FDIC (1933): video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 25 | Day 1: Lesson 8.4: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 8.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 8.5 Government Failure and the Limits of Planning: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 8.5: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 8.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 26 | Day 1: Unit 8 test Day 2: Lesson 9.1 Measuring the Whole Economy: Simon Kuznets and GDP: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 9.1: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 9.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 9.2 Unemployment: Counting the Jobless: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 27 | Day 1: Lesson 9.2: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 9.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 9.3 The Business Cycle: Seven Fat Years and Seven Lean: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 9.3: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 5: Lesson 9.4 The Great Depression: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 28 | Day 1: Lesson 9.4: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 9.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 9.5 Why Some Nations Grow Rich: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 9.5: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 9.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 29 | Day 1: Unit 9 test Day 2: Lesson 10.1 Trade Through History: From the Silk Road to the Container Ship (OPTIONAL enrichment): video and reading only; its project and practice set are optional extras Day 3: Lesson 10.2 Exchange Rates and Purchasing Power Parity: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 10.2: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 10.2: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 30 | Day 1: Lesson 10.3 The Corn Laws and the Case for Trade: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 10.3: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 3: Lesson 10.4 Capital, Innovation and Growth: Norman Borlaug’s Wheat: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 10.4: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 10.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 31 | Day 1: Lesson 10.5 Capstone: Writing Economic History, with John Law’s Mississippi Bubble as a Model: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 10.5: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 10.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Unit 10 test Day 5: Lesson 11.1 How a Nation Borrows: Hamilton and the Assumption of the War Debts: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 32 | Day 1: Lesson 11.1: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 11.1: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 11.2 Carrying a Debt: Interest Costs and Britain after Waterloo: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 11.2: project, notebook and practice set (one longer session; finish the practice set as homework if needed) Day 5: Lesson 11.3 When Nations Cannot Pay: Argentina 2001 and Greece 2012: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 33 | Day 1: Lesson 11.3: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 11.3: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 11.4 The Nation’s Ledger with the World: the Current Account and Balance of Payments: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 11.4: project and notebook Day 5: Lesson 11.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 34 | Day 1: Lesson 11.5 Saving, Investment and the Exchange Rate: Surplus and Deficit Countries: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 11.5: project and notebook Day 3: Lesson 11.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 11.6 Demographics as Economic Destiny: Aging, Dependency and Pension Math: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 11.6: project and notebook | ||
| Wk 35 | Day 1: Lesson 11.6: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 11.7 Fertility and Immigration: Levers and Trade-offs: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 11.7: project and notebook Day 4: Lesson 11.7: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 11.8 Capstone: Read a Country Profile: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 36 | Day 1: Lesson 11.8: project and notebook Day 2: Lesson 11.8: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 11 test Day 4: Review day for the final Day 5: Final exam |
Grading: Practice sets (completed and corrected) 15%, Projects 25%, Ledger notebook 10%, Unit tests 30%, Midterm exam 10%, Final exam (including the capstone paper’s defense) 10%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69. Below 60: review the unit with help and retake the test.