Subscribe

8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 11 of 12

Markets & the Economy

Inflation, unemployment and economic systems

What your child practices

How the whole economy works: GDP, inflation and unemployment, the Federal Reserve and interest rates, specialization and trade, and command, market and mixed economic systems.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 8.E4.1; 8.E5.2 · how inflation and unemployment affect people, and comparing economic systems

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. When the price of a good rises, the quantity demanded usually falls.
  2. Inflation is when prices across the economy keep rising; unemployment is people who want jobs but can’t find them.
  3. The Federal Reserve can slow inflation by raising interest rates. The US has a mixed economy.

Example: What can the Federal Reserve do to slow inflation? Inflation means prices keep rising. Higher interest rates make borrowing cost more. People spend less, so price rises slow. Answer: raise interest rates

Markets & the Economy in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 11 of 12 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Supply & Demand and before Freedom & Change.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    An entrepreneur is someone who…

    • never uses money
    • works only for the government
    • takes a risk to start a business

  2. Question 2

    If a price is set below equilibrium, the result is a…

    • shortage
    • surplus
    • profit

  3. Question 3

    Which is an example of capital in economics?

    • a worker's time
    • the ocean
    • a lobster boat used to catch lobsters

  4. Question 4

    Which is an example of a public good?

    • a candy bar
    • a private car
    • a lighthouse

  5. Question 5

    When the price of a good rises, the quantity supplied usually…

    • rises
    • falls
    • drops to zero

  6. Question 6

    The Federal Reserve can slow inflation by…

    • raising interest rates
    • printing more money
    • lowering all taxes

More 8th grade