Page 83 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies

Charlottetown), explaining reasons for the varia- tions, and analyse the impact of these variations on individuals’ choices and decisions
Sample questions: “How does scarcity affect the cost of living for diverse groups of people?” “What factors contribute to the relatively higher price of food in St. John’s or Iqaluit compared to southern Ontario?” “Why might prices contribute to the decision of some people to leave a large city for a smaller town when they retire?”
B2. Economic Models
FOCUS ON: Cause and Effect; Stability and Variability
By the end of this course, students will:
B2.1 explain the purpose of a production possibil- ities curve (PPC) and apply this model to analyse potential choices with respect to production (e.g., between consumer goods and capital goods, among different types of consumer goods, between a good and a service, between an essential and a non-essential good or service)
Sample questions: “What types of goods or services might you plot on a PPC? What does the graph show? What are its implications?” “Who might use a PPC? Why?” “Why might it be useful to apply a PPC model when trying to determine how an economy should allocate production between defence and education?”
B2.2 use cost-benefit analysis to analyse current economic choices facing individuals and organ- izations in Canada (e.g., a business deciding whether to invest in new technology, a student weighing postsecondary options, a family deciding whether to rent or buy a home, a local government considering how to most effectively invest in public transit)
Sample questions: “How might a cost-benefit analysis inform an individual’s decision regard- ing whether to collect unemployment insurance and stay in his or her current community, where there are few jobs, or relocate in order to get
a job in another community?” “What factors might you consider in a cost-benefit analysis of whether to attend university or college or seek an apprenticeship?”
B2.3 identify economic models that are relevant to specific economic issues/problems in Canada, and apply these models to analyse some of these issues/problems (e.g., use the business cycle model to analyse long-term variations in
the economy, a Keynesian model to analyse the impact of unemployment on supply and demand, an accounting model when investigating the implications of the national debt)
Sample questions: “Where would you position the present Canadian economy on the business cycle? What are the implications of its position?” “What do consumption behaviour models suggest about consumer spending and savings? Based on your analysis of a consumption behaviour model, what predictions would
you make about consumer spending and savings in Canada? What are the implications of your predictions?”
B2.4 assess the suitability of various business models (e.g., sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, cooperative, Crown corporation) for different purposes
Sample questions: “What business model do you think is best suited for Canadian farming? Why?” “What are the advantages and disadvantages of the business models of banks and credit unions?” “What are the arguments for and against privatizing Crown corporations?”
B3. Political and Economic Systems
FOCUS ON: Stability and Variability; Economic Perspective
By the end of this course, students will:
B3.1 compare how different economic systems (i.e., market, mixed, traditional, command) answer the three fundamental economic questions about production (i.e., what, how, and for whom to produce)
Sample questions: “How does a market economy differ from a command economy in terms of investment and production? Do pure market systems actually exist? If so, where?” “How
do the means of production differ in a mixed economy and a command economy? How do these differences affect production decisions?”
B3.2 analyse how different political-economic systems (e.g., capitalism, socialism) respond to challenges associated with stability and variability
Sample questions: “How might the government in a socialist country respond to an economic downturn? In what ways might this response be different from that of a government in a capitalist country? How would you account
for the differences?”
B3.3 analyse how governments in Canada prioritize competing economic goals when responding to economic challenges (e.g., unemployment, inflation, recession, increasing public debt)
Sample questions: “Why might economic development not always be compatible with
FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMICS
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The Individual and the Economy
CIE3M