Economic Concepts Poster Contest
Economics Concepts Poster Contest
Economic Concepts
Students represent in a color drawing, one of six basic economic concepts. Entries are judged on accuracy of concept representation and originality. Because the state winners will be printed in a color calendar (if funding is available), additional criteria include suitability for printing and distribution to the public.
For examples, view the award-winning entries that are displayed on the lists of recent winners.
1. Scarcity: World resources are limited, so we cannot produce or have everything we could possibly want. We must make choices about how best to use the limited resources we have. Economic systems allocate our limited resources in ways to increase the benefits of these resources to individuals and society. Scarcity is not a shortage.
2. Opportunity Cost: Opportunity cost is the benefit that is given up when a choice must be made because resources are scarce in relation to wants. In choosing between two alternatives, there is always an opportunity cost. To choose to spend an afternoon at a baseball game means giving up the opportunity to use that time to go swimming. Drawing must illustrate which choice is the opportunity cost, and should use minimal text.
3. Goods and Services: Goods are tangible objects desired by consumers and suplied by producers. Services are intangible outputs produced in the economy. Example of goods would be: a car, books, furniture; services include things such as teaching, medical services and counseling. A poster entry must illustrate and identify both goods and services.
4. Specialization: Efficiency is increased when individuals, firms, and nations produce the goods and services at which they are best, leaving the production of other goods to others. Example: Because bananas and apples generally require different climates for proper growth, the best results occur when the two products are grown in the regions that are best suited for the particular crop. Trade means that people can eat both types of food even if they produce only one type. Individuals specialize in jobs they do best, too.
5. Producers and Consumers: Producers are the people and/or firms which make and supply the goods and services provided in the economy. Consumers use the goods and services produced to satisfy their wants and needs. Individuals are both producers and consumers. A poster entry must illustrate both producers and consumers.
6. Productive Resources: Production of goods and services in any economic system involves three types of resources: natural resources (for example, obtained from forests, fields, or mines), human resources (labor) and capital resources (any man-made instrument of production such as tools or machines). Examples of each resource used in making a pencil are wood (natural), a lathe (capital) and the machine operator (human). Poster entry must illustrate all three types of resources as they relate to the production of a good or service.