Whether or not you take an economics course in school, learning some basics of economics is important, both so you can understand the news and so you can make wise choices when it comes to your own money.

Economics is based on scarcity--the idea that people want more than they can have. Because of scarcity, people must make choices. Work with a partner on the following activities about scarcity and decision-making:

1. Find an article in which someone decides, is trying to decide, or has decided something based on a problem of scarcity. Briefly state the problem here.
2. Identify the person according to his or her economic role: e.g., producer, consumer, distributor, investor, entrepreneur, or regulator.
3. If the problem has already been solved (e.g., the auto-maker laid off 5,000 workers because demand for cars had dropped) what was the solution?
4. What other ways might the problem be, or have been, solved? Make a list or a brainstorming web of possible solutions.
5. List the possible solutions in the left-hand column of the chart below. For each item, identify the benefits as well as the costs. Remember that not all costs involve money. One cost of having a coal-burning power plant near your house, for example, is that the air will be dirty.
   
   

   Possible Solution Benefits Costs

6. Study the chart, and discuss it with your partner. Which solution do you think is the best? In other words, which decision will maximize benefits and minimize costs? Explain why you think this solution is best.
7. As a culminating activity, write a short opinion piece in which you argue either that the decision made was the best possible solution to the problem, or that a better solution could have been found. Whichever way you write the essay, you should include a description of the problem, the possible solutions, the solution chosen, and the possible effects of decisions. Your essay, like essays by Newsweek columnists George Will, Anna Quindlen, and Ellis Cose, should persuade the reader that your point of view is right.