economics

(1) How many white people are in prison compared to the number of white people in the general population? (2) What group of people is missing from prisons? (3) What groups have a larger percentage of people of people in prison than in the general population?

economy A system for producing, distributing, consuming, and owning goods and services.

producers Owners and workers who make things.

consumers People who buy goods and use services.

goods The products that producers make are called goods.

services “Products” that producers perform for other people. Services may include: Banking, retail stores Hairdressers, barbers Doctors, dentists, nurses Teachers, fire fighters, airline pilots HUNDREDS MORE!

Traditional Economy Producing, buying, and selling goods operates by the customs, traditions, and habits of the group. A native American tribe hunted together, shared the work of making camps, and farming. They also shared equally in the goods and services they each created.

Command Economy Economic decision are made by the central government. The government decides what products are made, how much is produced, what the goods costs, etc. Most large businesses are owned by the government, and people have little control of the goods that are available. Socialist dictatorships and Communists nations have command economies.

Market Economy This economic system is characterized by Private or corporate ownership of capital goods, Investments that are determined by private decisions, and Determined in a free marketplace. When a company sells its goods or services, they earn a profit. The United States has a market economy. It is often called a free enterprise system, or capitalism.

import When goods are purchased and brought INTO the country. (im=in, into – like immigration!)

export When goods are sold and taken OUT OF the country. (ex, e=out, out of – like emigration!)

scarcity When there is not enough to meet the need, there is a scarcity. If I have one slice of pizza to share, and the whole class wants some of it, I have a scarcity of pizza. However, if I have a small piece of liver and onions and no one wants to share it, just because there is small amount does not make it scarce. In this case there is more than enough to meet the need, so it is not scarce. We often think of food, or water, or natural resources as being scarce.

Europeans colonized Africa because they wanted their goods, their raw materials. Europeans had a great many things in their favor: many factories already built (during the Industrial Revolution), factories that needed an increasing amount of raw materials; they had ships to take them around the world to sell their manufactured goods; and their soldiers had armor, and horses, and canons, and guns in order to take what they wanted. The Africans had no factories for their raw materials; they had no ships and traded only with those who came to them; and they had no weapons to defend themselves. Because African nations were not advanced enough so they could sell their goods in the international trade community, the European nations were able to take the goods and control them.

Europeans colonized Africa – took over their land and controlled it as if it were their own, taking the raw materials back to their factories and then coming back to Africa to sell the finished goods. As a good or service becomes more valuable, whoever owns it can charge more money for it so they can get more money. Europe took as many resources from Africa as they could, and made lots of money off of those resources. However, Africans did not receive money from the resources that were taken from them.