Teaching Economics & Markets

Elasticity practice problems where students predict which goods are more price elastic, then use real sales data to compare revenue effects.

A market structures worksheet that has students place real industries, from food trucks to phone carriers, on the competition spectrum.

An opportunity cost worksheet where students calculate two islands' trade-offs, find comparative advantage, and negotiate a fair price for trade.

A production possibilities frontier worksheet where students build a trade-off table for a two-good company, then apply opportunity cost to a Saturday.

A scarcity worksheet where students compare price, lottery, and need-based methods for allocating a scarce resource, then defend one.

Try Fish or Bust, a real Rapunzl economics simulation game where students watch a shared resource collapse, then rebuild it with ownership rights.

An exchange rate worksheet that has students convert real currencies to dollars, compare prices, then reason through who wins and who loses.

A price ceiling and price floor worksheet where students build a supply-and-demand schedule, then watch a ceiling create a shortage and a floor a surplus.

A fast, team-based supply and demand game covering shortages, surpluses, demand shifters, elasticity, and market structure in one class period.

A network effect makes a product more valuable as more people use it. See why that turns a large user base into a barrier that rivals struggle to break.

Try Incentive Detective, a real Rapunzl economics activity where students predict how people respond to a policy change using evidence and reasoning.

Try the $10,000 Trade-Off, a real Rapunzl investing activity where students make one simulated trade, then unpack its opportunity cost and risk.

See how the 1990 Acid Rain Program used cap and trade to fix a textbook negative externality, then try Rapunzl's market failure unit.

A natural monopoly forms when one firm serves a market more cheaply than rivals could. See why water and electric utilities are the classic example.

See how the 1998 U.S. v. Microsoft case shows what antitrust law does: keep one company from using monopoly power to shut out rivals and consumers.

The 2023 UAW strike shows how collective bargaining works: workers negotiate as one group, backed by the threat of a strike, and win real leverage.

Comparative advantage explains why the U.S. imports bananas and coffee instead of growing them. See a real Rapunzl lesson on trade and opportunity cost.

A price ceiling caps what sellers can legally charge. See why a cap below market price creates a shortage, using the 1970s gas lines as the case study.

Scarcity means there isn't enough of something for everyone who wants it. See a real Rapunzl lesson using the U.S. kidney shortage as the example.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods. See a real Rapunzl lesson on the 2018 washing machine tariff that quietly raised prices for millions of shoppers.