Thursday, September 02, 2010

Chapter 2 Economic Systems and Decision Making Section 1 Economic Systems

Section 1 Economic Systems
Section 2 Evaluating Economics Performance
Section 3 American Free Enterprise

Chapter Overviews

Section 1: Economic Systems

Economic systems help societies provide for the wants and needs of their people. Three major economic systems have evolved over the years: traditional, command, and market economies. In the traditional economy, the WHAT, HOW, and FOR WHOM questions are answered by tradition, customs, and even habits handed down from generation to generation. In a command economy, a central authority answers the three basic questions. In a market economy, decision making is decentralized with consumers and entrepreneurs playing a central role. Most economies in the world today feature some mix of traditional, command, and market economies.

Why It Matters, p. 32

The BIG Idea

Guide to Reading, p. 33

Section Preview

Content Vocabulary

economic system

traditional economy

command economy

market economy

market

capitalism

mixed economy

socialism

communism

Academic Vocabulary

stagnation

allocate

emphasizing

Reading Strategy

Comparing and Contrasting

Companies in the News

McDonald's and Hindu Culture

Traditional Economies, p. 34

Characteristics

Examples

Advantages

Disadvantages

Reading Check

Describing

What are the advantages an disadvantages of a traditional economy?

The Global Economy & You, p. 35

Command Economies

Characteristics

Examples, p. 36

Advantages

Disadvantages, p. 37

Reading Check

Market Economies

Characteristics

Examples, p. 38

Advantages

Disadvantages, p. 39

Reading Check

Identifying

What are the main characteristics of a market economy?

Mixed Economies

Characteristics

Examples, p. 40

Advantages

Disadvantages, p. 41

Reading Check

Explaining

How can you explain the range of mixed economies in the world?

Section 1 Review

Case Study

The Home Depot


Section 2: Evaluating Economic Performance

The seven major economic and social goals used to evaluate the performance of an economic system are economic freedom, economic efficiency, economic equity, economic security, full employment, price stability, and economic growth. If the system does not perform as people would like, people can lobby for laws to achieve their goals. One example would be the Social Security program that was enacted to achieve the goal of economic security.

Section 3: American Free Enterprise

Free enterprise, another term used to describe the American economy, refers to the competition that is allowed to flourish with a minimum of government interference. A capitalistic free enterprise economy has five important characteristics: economic freedom, voluntary exchange, private property rights, the profit motive, and competition. Another key component is the entrepreneur, who is the risk-taking individual in the economy that starts new businesses and undertakes new ways of doing things in search of profits. The consumer is sometimes thought of as being "king" or sovereign of the market, and government is involved in the economy primarily because people want it to be involved. Because of the government involvement as the protector, provider, regulator, and consumer, the American economy can also be described as a mixed economy, or a modified free enterprise economy.