When the main character Fred discovered he could purchase a case of hot dogs to sell at his hot dog stand for $90 from "Freedonia, a floating island nation in the middle of the Atlantic," he was excited to bring down his prices and increase his profits. His former supplier, Whole Dog, who sold hot dogs for $100/case was less thrilled. The author explained that Whole Dog had three choices for dealing with the problem - lower their prices, use violence, or send lobbyists to the senator. Their strategy of sending lobbyists worked. They provided the senator lots of votes and tuition for his daughter's education, and he passed a law which a tariff of $40/case was levied on hot dogs. The story didn't end there. It continued with discussing who won and lost from the tariff and how decisions affect society as a whole.
Other topics such as how competition, using technology to replace people, and price fixing effects prices and society are discussed.Tulip mania, what materials work well for money, and the rule of 72 (used for predicting how long it will take for sales to double) are covered as well.
This book is filled with examples to explain how economics really works. America was formed around the principals in the constitution and grew to be a great and powerful nation because of capitalism. It's sometimes difficult to understand how decisions made which seem to protect the interests of citizens can actually end up having the opposite effects. This book does a wonderful job of explaining the long term effects of these decisions and I recommend it for middle and high school students studying government, economics or pre-algebra.
* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them.
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.
I saw the economics recommendation you posted today for middle and high schoolers. I wanted to send you the link to our economics "courses" that I think would be a great supplemental addition.
ReplyDeletehttp://prageruniversity.com/Economics/
To tell you a little bit about what we do...
Prager University is a non-profit foundation founded by nationally syndicated talk-show host and author Dennis Prager. We offer free, 5 minute videos on a variety of subjects with the top thinkers in their respective fields from a Judeo-Christian worldview with traditional American values. Our videos are great supplementary additions to lessons on a range of topics including economics, history, and political science.
I hope you find our resource helpful! If you have any questions, please let me know.
Best,
Rachel Ochoa
Homeschool Outreach Coordinator
Those sound like great lessons for anyone, even adults! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI followed this link from a post one of our 7 Generation Games staff members wrote on the 10 Most Interesting Math blogs. http://www.7generationgames.com/2014/10/10-interesting-math-blogs/ I just wanted to say thanks for all of the resources linked here. I was not aware of the Life of Fred series. Just ordered the book on Pre-Algebra and Physics. Thanks again for the tip.
ReplyDeleteSuper. We have really enjoyed Life of Fred and doing hands-on math activities. I hope they work for you too.
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