Enduring Understandings of the Class The Individual (Self) 1.All Individuals have self-worth and natural rights. 2.An Individual’s experiences and perspective establishes their values and allows them to develop their own definition of subjective terms such as fairness, equality, morality, and value. 3.The Individual is the basic unit of decision-making whether it is economic, social, or political. (Only individuals matter, and all individuals matter equally). 4.Individual decision-making involves making trade-offs, rationally thinking on the margin, and responding to incentives. (All resources are scarce, there is nothing without costs, there is no “right or wrong” – only trade-offs, and people respond to incentives). 5.Societies and governments are comprised of individuals. Only individuals have the ability to think, feel, believe, make decisions and have values. How Individuals interact (Others) 6.Individual’s pursing their self-interest both compete and cooperate with others. People are simultaneously self regarding and others regarding. 7.When there is a “repeating game” an individual can only promote their own interest, if they are in tune with the interest and reactions of others. Selfishness = self destruction 8.Voluntary exchanges are made between individuals because they believe that they will be mutually benefited. Systems 9. The manner in which individual self interest is coordinated and how collective decisions are made defines the economic and political systems. 10. The concentration of power is the biggest threat to liberty and free choice. 11. Collective decisions are restricted by the same parameters that apply to individual decisions. 12. All decisions result in both private and social impacts, nothing occurs in isolation. 13. In systems where individuals have freedom of choice, accurate information, and the ability to respond to feedback, no free exchanges will take place unless both parties benefit. 14. Relatively speaking, all systems are either open or closed and have feedback loops.

Essential Questions of the Class/Unit 1 Intro. The Individual (Self) 1.Do all people have natural rights? To what extent are all people equal? 2.How do different individual perspectives on fairness, equality, and value impact society and public policy? How does our morality emerge, what implications does it have on economic and Political life? 3.How much do you matter? How much do others matter? Why should you care? 4.To what extent can the basic concepts of decision-making be applied to all aspects of life? Does the scarcity of resources impact all decisions? Is anything ever “free?” 5.To what degree do individuals voluntarily form society? How is harmony best enforced? What are the acceptable trade-offs between liberty and authority, freedom and equality, and Efficiency and Equity? How Individuals interact (Others) 6.To what extent do individuals who pursue their own-interest benefit or hurt society? Are we responsible for the welfare of others? Should we care what others think of us? 7.Do selfish behaviors result in self-destruction? 8. To what extent do free exchanges (econ., socially, pol.) between individuals benefit both parties and society as a whole? Systems 9.Why do we coordinate? What is the best method to coordinate individuals in order to promote individual rights and improved standards of living for everybody? What is the proper role and purpose of government? How much of themselves should an individual give up to society? 10.To what extent do you agree with the quote, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” How can we prevent power from being concentrated economically and politically? 11.To what extent does scarcity of resources impact collective decisions? To what extent do you agree with the quote, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” 12.Are we all connected? Why is it important to recognize the seen and unseen outcomes of decisions? To what extent should cost and benefits be equally shared amongst individuals in society? 13.What type of systems best promote free choice, accurate information, and responses to feedback? 14.How much does the structure of a system impact its function? To what extent do we have open or closed system? How do we use feedback loops and how much have we evolved?