Scarcity. That's what most economics courses start with. Not people. Not abundance. Why is it that we start telling children in kindergarten how important it is to share, saying that there is enough for everyone, and then later on tell them that there isn't enough of anything? If you'd like to take a different approach to teaching about economics, that's ten times more fun than typical curricula but still maps nicely into national and local educational standards, Teaching Economics As If People Mattered is a great resource for you!

United for A Fair Economy (UFE) and High School economics teacher Tamara Giecek
created this High School curriculum based on many of the popular seminars and
programs UFE delivers to adults across the United States. This book contains 21
lessons with step-by-step instructions for the teacher, reproducible handouts,
and lots of additional material to help bring these lessons to life.

Whether you are a public school teacher who wants to supplement your existing
curriculum with some fun and eye-opening activities, or you want an entire curriculum
for a semester, or you are an after-school program leader looking for some fun
and informative one-hour activities, or you are a Sunday School teacher in a
church, mosque, or temple, you'll find this book to be a great tool for teaching
about economics and more importantly, getting kids to think about economic justice.

Activities included in these lessons are also being used across America with
adults in seminars developed by United for A Fair Economy.

Table of Contents

Lesson 1: Defining Economics

Lesson 2: What is Income and Why Do Some People Earn So Much More Than Others?

Lesson 3: Signs of the Economic Times

Lesson 4: Distributing Income: You Be the Judge

Lesson 5: Income Levels and How They've Changed Over the Past 25 Years

Lesson 6: Viewing Income through Gender and Race Lenses

Lesson 7: How Much More Do CEOs Make Than the Average Worker?

Lesson 8: The Widening Pay Gap, What the Experts Say, What Government Can
Do About It, and How It Affects the Business Cycle

Lesson 9: Monetary Policy and the Role of the Federal Reserve Board

Lesson 10: What Is Wealth and Who Owns How Much of It (Ten Chairs)

Lesson 11: How Savings Accounts and Stocks Function (updated 2006)

Lesson 12: Born on Third Base

Lesson 13: Economic Boom? For Whom?

Lesson 14: Power Shift Led to Rule Changes

Lesson 15: Globalization: The Race to the Bottom

Lesson 16: America: Who Really Pays the Taxes?

Lesson 17: Closing America's Racial Wealth Gap

Lesson 18: Democracy, A Game for the Elite?

Lesson 19: The Consequences of Economic Inequality and What's Been Done About
Them in the Past

Lesson 20: Economic Inequality, Why Should We Care? Because Knowledge Without
Action Leads to Despair

Lesson 21: What Can You Do: Real Policies That Lift the Floor, Level the
Playing Field, and Address the Concentration of Wealth and Power

Reach And Teach, UFE, and Tamara Giecek are currently working together to create
an on-line version of all the lessons in this book. Your purchase of this book or CD-ROM
E-book will help us in our fundraising efforts to keep teachingeconomics.org
on the web and updates to lessons for years to come.

CD-ROM with Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book includes everything in the book, allowing you to print any pages and charts on your laser or inkjet printer using the free Adobe Acrobat reader. Runs on Windows and Macintosh computers.