Economics studies how people manage resources to meet needs and wants. It asks three questions: what goods and services are produced, how they are produced, and who they are produced for. Producers consider demand in an area and use technology to determine production methods and location. Consumers must be willing and able to pay for goods in a cash economy. Our founders supported free enterprise and limiting government involvement in economic choices and competition. Other social sciences include political science, civics, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, and psychology.

1. Chapter 1.4
ECONOMICS AND OTHER SOCIAL
SCIENCES Allison Barnette, NBCT
Caledonia Middle School
Created for use with Prentiss Hall
American Nation

2. ECONOMICS IS HOW PEOPLE MANAGE THEIR
RESOURCES TO SATISFY THEIR NEEDS AND
WANTS.

3. 3 QUESTIONS:
 1. What goods and services do we produce?
 2. How do we produce them?
 3. For whom do we produce them?

4. WHAT GOODS AND SERVICES DO WE PRODUCE?
 What do people want and
need (demand)?
 What you decide to produce
or sell (supply) depends on
factors like the culture of an
area.
 Example: If you live in an area
that often has water
shortages, products that reduce
water usage may be popular.

5. HOW SHOULD WE PRODUCE GOODS AND
SERVICES?
 Technological
improvements may make
a difference in these
choices. This may also
determine where these
goods are produced.
 Example: Electronics and
vehicles that were once
manufactured using manual
labor are now manufactured
using robotics, or they are
produced overseas.

6. FOR WHOM SHOULD WE PRODUCE GOODS
AND SERVICES?
 Which consumers (i.e. users/buyers) will be
willing to buy what you have to sell? How will
they pay for it?
 We live in a cash economy, where people pay
money for their goods.
*Using a credit card for
purchases is not the ideal way
to buy goods unless you know
that you can pay the balance
owed within the month.
Otherwise, interest, a
percentage of what you owe, is
added to what you already
owe. On the other hand, debit
cards draw money from
accounts where you have
already placed money.

7. OUR FOUNDING FATHERS BELIEVED IN FREE
ENTERPRISE
 They believed that individuals should be
able to make their own decisions about
what goods they want to
produce, buy, and sell.
 This is a democratic way of making
economic choices. Government should
have very little influence or control over
private property or competition in the
private sector.
 In a communist system, the government places
controls on what and how much is
produced, as well as the prices for them. In a
socialist system, production and distribution of
some goods or services are run by a collective

8. OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES
 Political science-  Anthropology-study of
study of government how people and
 Civics- study of rights cultures develop
and responsibilities of  Archaeology- study of
citizens evidence left by earlier
people
 Sociology-study of
how people behave in
groups
 Psychology-study of
how people think and