National Economics Standards
High School Economics Topics
National Economics Standards
The 20 voluntary National Standards for Economics, made available by the NCEE, comprise an organized list of economics topics suitable for grades 1-12. The NCEE’s 51 key economics concepts focus on the portion of that list common to all U.S. State requirements for high school economics.
The table below shows how each of the 51 Key Concepts fits into the National Standards.
Each key concept listed below links to free resources described at High School Economics Topics.
If you are looking for a table showing how each of the National Standards fits into the key concepts, see The 51 Key Economics Concepts.
The National Standards
Basic Economics | Trade and International Economics | Microeconomics | Macroeconomics | Government and Economics
Basic Economics
National Standard | Key Concepts | Other Related Topics |
---|---|---|
Standard 1: Scarcity |
Scarcity | Goods, Services, Wants |
Consumers | Consumer Economics | |
Opportunity Cost | Choice | |
Productive Resources | Capital Resources, Human Resources, Natural Resources, Factors of Production | |
Human Capital | Human Resources | |
Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurship, Inventors | |
Producers | Production | |
Standard 2: Marginal Cost/Benefit |
Decision Making and Cost-Benefit Analysis | Decision Making, Benefit, Costs, Marginal Analysis, Cost/Benefit Analysis |
Profit | Profit Maximization, Profit Motive | |
Standard 3: Allocation of Goods and Services |
Supply | |
Economic Systems | Command Economy, Market Economy, Traditional Economy | |
Competition and Market Structures | Market Structure | |
Standard 4: Role of Incentives |
Incentives | Choice |
Trade and International Economics
National Standard | Key Concepts | Other Related Topics |
---|---|---|
Trade, Exchange and Interdependence | Barter, Exchange, Voluntary Exchange | |
Benefits of Trade and Comparative Advantage | ||
Barriers to Trade | ||
Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments | Exports, Imports | |
Foreign Currency Markets and Exchange Rates | Exchange Rate | |
Division of Labor and Specialization | Division of Labor, Specialization, Transaction Costs | |
Benefits of Trade and Comparative Advantage | Gains from Trade, Factor Endowments | |
Productive Resources | Factors of Production, Production | |
Economic Development (N.B. closest fit) | ||
Real vs. Nominal | Relative Price | |
Employment and Unemployment | Full Employment |
Microeconomics
National Standard | Key Concepts | Other Related Topics |
---|---|---|
Demand | Quantity Demanded | |
Supply | Quantity Supplied | |
Markets and Prices | Markets | |
Competition and Market Structures | Market Structure | |
Real vs. Nominal | Relative Price | |
Inflation | Price Stability | |
Price Ceilings and Floors | Price Floor | |
Foreign Currency Markets and Exchange Rates | Exchange Rate | |
Demand | Determinants of Demand, Law of Demand, Substitute Good | |
Elasticity of Demand (N.B. closest fit) | ||
Supply | Determinants of Supply, Law of Supply | |
Markets and Prices | Markets | |
Competition and Market Structures | Market Structure | |
Market Failures | Non-price Determinants | |
Price Ceilings and Floors | Price Floor, Price Ceiling | |
Real vs. Nominal | Price, Relative Price | |
Inflation | Price Stability | |
Foreign Currency Markets and Exchange Rates | Exchange Rate | |
Competition and Market Structures | Market Structure | |
Market Failures | Non-price Competition, Levels of Competition | |
Economic Institutions | Legal and Social Framework, Legal Forms of Business, Legal Foundations of a Market Economy, Nonprofit Organization | |
Credit | Mortgage, Borrower, Banking | |
Compound Interest | Interest | |
Employment and Unemployment | Labor Union |
Macroeconomics
National Standard | Key Concepts | Other Related Topics |
---|---|---|
Money | Currency, Definition of Money, Characteristics of Money, Functions of Money | |
Money Supply | ||
Trade, Exchange and Interdependence | ||
Compound Interest | Interest Rate | |
Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve | Money Supply | |
Saving and Investing | Savers | |
Income Distribution | Functional Distribution of Income, Personal Distribution of Income, Functional Distribution | |
Aggregate Supply (AS) | ||
Demand | Derived Demand | |
Human Resources, Labor, Labor Market, Wage, Prices of Inputs, Marginal Resource, Product | ||
Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurship, Inventors, Innovation | |
Decision Making and Cost-Benefit Analysis | Cost/Benefit Analysis, Costs, Costs of Production | |
Risk and Return | Risk | |
Roles of Government | Taxation, Taxes | |
Profit | ||
Economic Growth | Intensive Growth, Standard of Living | |
Productivity | ||
Incentives | ||
Compound Interest | Interest Rate | |
Opportunity Cost | ||
Risk and Return | Risk, Business | |
Insurance | Economic Security | |
Decision Making and Cost-Benefit Analysis | Trade-off, Trade-offs among goals | |
Saving and Investing | Investing, Investment, Savers, Savings | |
Financial Markets | Stock Market | |
Technology | Technological Changes | |
Productive Resources | Health and Nutrition, Physical Capital, Production, Factors of Production | |
Human Capital | ||
Markets and Prices | Economic Efficiency | |
Entrepreneurs | Business, Businesses and Households | |
Income Distribution | Economic Equity | |
Economic Systems | Economic Freedom |
Government and Economics
National Standard | Key Concepts | Other Related Topics |
---|---|---|
Roles of Government | Taxation, Taxes, Income Tax | |
Budget Deficits and Public Debt | Bonds, Government Expenditures, Government Revenues | |
Income Distribution | Redistribution of Income, Transfer Payments | |
Competition and Market Structures | Maintaining Competition, Monopolies, Natural Monopoly | |
GDP | Income | |
Property Rights | ||
Market Failures | Public Goods, Externalities, Positive Externality, Negative Externality, Regulation, Maintaining Regulation, Non-clearing Markets) | |
Standard 17: Using Cost/Benefit Analysis to Evaluate Government Programs |
Government Failures and Public Choice Analysis | Special Interest Group |
Barriers to Trade | ||
Decision Making and Cost-Benefit Analysis | Cost/Benefit Analysis, Benefit, Costs | |
GDP | Gross Domestic Product, Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Potential Gross Domestic Product, Circular Flow, Macroeconomic Indicators | |
Real vs. Nominal | Nominal Gross Domestic Product, Real Gross Domestic Product | |
Business Cycles | Unemployment, Unemployment Rate | |
Employment and Unemployment | Labor Force, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate, Types of Unemployment | |
Inflation | Causes of inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Deflation | |
Inflation | Causes of inflation | |
Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve | Tools of the Federal Reserve, Discount Rate, Central Banking System, Open Market Operations, Reserve Requirements, | |
Budget Deficits and Public Debt | Federal Budget, Budget, Budget Deficit, Budget Surplus, National Debt | |
Fiscal Policy |