Tag Archives: economics/finance

Cultural Literacy: Take-Home Pay

Given that most wage-earners have seen it shrink consistently over the past 18 or so months (not to mention over the past two or three generations), now strikes me as a propitious time to publish this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the term take-home pay and the concept it represents. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. This document, obviously, could be dilated to move an inquiry on the effect of inflation on take-home pay, something we’re all dealing with (unless your income is derived from invested capital, and even then you might be taking a haircut) right now.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Tariff

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the tariff as a means of raising revenue for governments. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one sentence and one comprehension question. Under the circumstances, I think it might be useful to press this document into service as the initial step in answering the question “Who really pays tariffs on a good, in the final analysis?”

I should have posted this a year or eighteen months ago.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Concepts in Economics: Economic Systems

“Economic system: The part of the social system composed of institutions and customs related to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Important characteristics of an economic system are the property rules and the degree of economic planning: examples are traditional, capitalist, socialist, and mixed systems.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Concepts in Economics: Free Enterprise System

“Free enterprise system: A term with political overtones used to describe an economy in which the initiative for production and consumption decisions lies with individuals and companies, and there is limited government regulation. See also MARKET ECONOMY.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Myles. A Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

A List of Questions to Provoke Thought about the Economic and Social Practice of Redlining


 

OK, moving right along this morning. Several years ago, I became quite interested in the history of mortgage lending in the United States, particularly the practice of redlining. I read Richard Rothstein’s excellent book The Color of Law, which I highly recommend to you, particularly if you are interested in cities and social justice. The topic of redlining came up in one of the 11th-grade English classes I co-taught, so I worked up this questions to inform thinking on redlining to distribute to students.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

 

Term of Art: Socioeconomic Status

“socioeconomic status: A term used to describe the home backgrounds of individuals or groups, taking into account such elements as family income and education attainment.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Concepts in Economics: Circular Flow of Income

“circular flow of income: The reciprocal flow of income between consumers and producers: consumers earn income from employment and profit, and spend this income on the products of firms. If there were neither injections of new purchasing power into this flow nor leakages out of it, total income in each period would be equal to the spending arising from incomes in the period, and total income would remain constant over time. Injections of new purchasing power not derived from income can be made by investment, government spending, or exports. Leakages from the circular flow are caused by saving, tax payments, or imports. If injections and leakages are equal, incomes will be constant; if injections exceed leakages, incomes rise over time; and if leakages exceed injections, incomes fall.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Cultural Literacy: Seller’s Market

As it is a common expression–both in its literal and metaphorical sense–in everyday English, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the seller’s market. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Concepts in Economics: Central Planning

“Central planning: The operation of an economy through centralized decision-taking whereby the decisions are taken at the center and orders issued to enterprises concerning their production and investment plans. While in theory such a system should allow the use of all resources in an economy in the public interest, without wasteful duplication of effort, the amount of information required to achieve efficiency is too great, and the incentives to supply the center with viable information are too poor. As a result, centrally planned economies, such as those of the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, were not able to perform as well as a decentralized system based on competition between independent decision makers, and had to abandon central planning in the late 1980s in favor of the market economy.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Cultural Literacy: Stock Options

Lately, I’ve been reading The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (New York: Grove Press, 2010), so now seems like a good time to publish this Cultural Literacy worksheet on stock options. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. Even at the standards of cogency and clarity I have come to expect from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, this is a remarkably clear and concise explanation of this financial instrument.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.