Block 1 / Decisions
The supermarket chain Mercadona sells two fried eggs for €1.80, and its creator, Javier Yzuel from Sariñena, has stated that no one would fry eggs at home anymore.
‘PROS & CONS’ – Discuss in pairs and afterwards make a decision together.
Food: In 2022, Mercadona launched its product “packaged fried eggs”… Is it an innovative idea? Would you be interested in buying it? Is there any disadvantage?
Clothing: Cáritas’s red containers are used to collect second-hand clothes and give them a new life… Who benefits? Does anyone lose? Do these containers help reduce the problem of excessive fashion consumption?
Technology: The minerals needed to make a mobile phone are extracted by around 40,000 children under the age of 12, who work 12 hours a day… Do these brands include this information in their advertising? What should we do? How much would you pay for a phone made without child labour or slavery?
When we ask people in the street, “What do you study in Economics?”, many answer, “Money.” However, the origin of the word gives us a better idea of what this subject is really about. It comes from two Greek words: OIKO (= house) and NÉMEIN (= to manage). Therefore, we can translate it as “knowing how to manage a household.” Later, its meaning was extended to include the ability to manage resources in general and exchanges between people, communities and territories.
Economic activity is not a human invention. It is an essential part of all LIVING BEINGS from the beginning of time. For life to exist, living beings must take in non-living resources and convert them into energy through chemical processes. Life would not exist without exchanges with the environment, such as oxygen and sunlight, or interactions between different individuals, such as the fact that our food comes from living matter. That is why Economics is related to everything around us and tries to find new ways of doing things in order to improve our reality.
YOUR TIME IS THE MOST VALUABLE TREASURE THAT YOU HAVE
TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME BETTER
Breaking news
< We write in our notebooks and on the board the main news stories that have appeared in the media during the last three months.>
1. Which piece of news affects you most directly? What personal decision can you make to improve this situation? (Everyone may have a different opinion)..
2. Can we predict what decisions society and governments will make in response to any of these problems?
< We compare our answers as a whole class and see that most important news stories are related to economics. Despite this, since democracy was established in 1978, no national government has considered creating a compulsory Economics subject so that all students can develop informed knowledge and opinions. >
6.4. Critically assess the economic problem of scarce resources and the need to make choices, as well as the principles of social interaction from an economic perspective, applying this knowledge to deal effectively with challenges.