Grades 9-12
Is Efficiency Ethical?
Objective
Students will be able to:
- Describe how efficiency and ethics relate.
- Explain how conflicting ethical visions can make economic analysis difficult.
- Integrate ethical thinking into marginal analysis.
Standard
Standard: 3
- Students will understand that: Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services. People acting individually or collectively must choose which methods to use to allocate different kinds of goods and services.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Evaluate different methods of allocating goods and services, by comparing the benefits to the costs of each method.
Standard: 2
- Students will understand that: Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices "are all or nothing" decisions.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Make effective decisions as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.
Description
In this lesson from the Ethics, Economics, and Social Issues curriculum, students role-play to understand both the power and limits of economic analysis, focusing on the “how” of economic and ethical reasoning.
Students begin the lesson by playing the role of a doctor who is trying to choose who gets scarce medicine and having to make decisions about efficiency.
Students will learn how both positive and normative statements can be used to make decisions. Next, they analyze the effects a casino could have on jobs and other outcomes for a city.
Lastly, they analyze the effects of ethical considerations on their own purchasing decisions. The lesson helps students understand both the power and the limits of economic analysis.
Resources
Related Resources
Grades 9-12
Does Self-Interest Prevent Economic Justice?
Grades K-2, 3-5