Idaho Social Studies 9-12.EC.9
The Standard
Examine the economic implications of fiscal policy in the United States including federal taxation, spending, and the national debt.
Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Macroeconomics and International Trade
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how federal taxes and spending affect households, jobs, and the economy. They calculate the gap between revenue and spending, then explain how borrowing can add to the national debt.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given $4 trillion in tax revenue and $5 trillion in spending, a student identifies a $1 trillion deficit. They explain one likely effect of a tax or spending change and one cost of borrowing.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often confuse the yearly deficit with the total national debt. They may assume a tax cut always pays for itself or that government borrowing has no future cost.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: The government collects $4 trillion, spends $5 trillion, and starts with $30 trillion in debt. What is the deficit, and what happens to the debt if the government borrows to cover it?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs 10 tax-revenue counters and 12 spending cards; have them build a budget, record the deficit, and choose how to close it.
Have students write three sentences on whether Congress should increase unemployment payments during a recession, naming one benefit and one debt-related cost.
Play a four-card sort with tax increases, tax cuts, spending increases, and spending cuts; students predict each change's likely effect on the deficit.
Use Treasury Fiscal Data to find one year's federal revenue and spending, calculate the gap, and compare it with the reported national debt.
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Related Standards
- 9-12.EC.5
Analyze the various parts of the business cycle and its effect on the economy.
- 9-12.EC.21
Analyze the federal, state, and local tax systems and how they relate to each citizen and the citizen's income and the society.
- 9-12.EC.8
Explain monetary policy, fiscal policy, and the role of the Federal Reserve.
- 9-12.US2.45
Examine United States policy on environmental issues.
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