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Acanthus Education: Economic Education Online

Acanthus Education assists teachers and students at the secondary level learn more about economics and the relationship between economic freedom and prosperity. We offer a variety of instructional resources and sponsor events that integrate ethics, philosophy, and economics, suitable for public and religiously affiliated schools as well as homeschool organizations.We offer free down loadable lessons, scholarly papers, and articles online for secondary social studies teachers and students. Acanthus Education also offers programs in the form of teacher workshops and conferences for public and private schools. Most of our work -- lessons, webinars, and class instruction will be available online to the public.

Acanthus Education collaborates with The Fraser Institute, which produces the Economic Freedom of The World Project, and The University of Arizona's Freedom Center , which investigates the philosophical roots of freedom. Acanthus Education is active in teaching online courses and teacher webinars at the Jesuit Viritual Learning Academy.

Acanthus Education is a 501(c)3 tax exempt public charity. Donations under $1,000 are accepted here, or by clicking any of the "donate now" icons on our pages.  For larger donations please contact Stephen Haessler at sjhaessler[at]gmail.com or 520-429-1223.

Common Core Standards and School Performance

Martin West has a compelling article "Do Americans Know How Well Their State's Schools Perform?" in the recent edition of Education Next analyzing the data on student performance -- in particular the discrepancies from state to state on the definition of "proficiencies" and the inflated test scores on states with weak performance standards. West argues that the Common Core standards will do little to correct this imbalance:

"There’s no doubt that the definition of proficiency in many states provides a misleading view of the extent to which students are prepared for success in college or careers. Yet whether the way in which states define proficiency matters for student achievement is far from clear. As Tom Loveless demonstrated in the 2012 Brown Center Report on American Education, the rigor of state proficiency definitions is largely unrelated to the level of student achievement on the NAEP across states. Similarly, Russ Whitehurst and Michelle Croft have shown that the quality of state standards (as assessed by third party organizations) is unrelated to NAEP scores, a finding confirmed by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Josh Goodman in an analysis that examined the effects of changes in the quality of standards within states over time. The lack of a systematic relationship between either the rigor or the quality of state standards and student achievement casts doubt on claims that higher and better standards under the Common Core will, in and of themselves, spur higher student achievement."

We recommend also this brief film with Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institute discussing the results of the 2012 Brown Center Report on American Education. A good first look at the study.

 

Teachable Moment: Are Big Employers Gardeners or Executioners?

Teachable Moment: "Are big employers gardeners or executioners?"

-There's a contrast between Europe and the United States in terms of how rapidly a company can adjust its work force to respond to changing market demand. Generally, in Europe it takes longer and costs more for firms to adjust the number of employees or what they produce.

-Whirlpool, maker of household appliances like washers and refrigerators with factories in Europe and the US, has laid off 11,000 US workers since 2007. It takes about one year to complete job cuts and close factories in the US. In Europe, the same process takes three years or more.

-Whirlpool's selling, general, and administrative costs are 7.3% of sales in North America compared to 11.5% in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

-Labor laws in Italy, where there are 8 Whirlpool factories, were fashioned after World War II by the Italian Communist Party and its political allies, established national requirements for employers to preserve jobs and maintain work activities. The goal was job security. These policies cost employers some flexibility in terms of responding to conditions. In Naples, Whirlpool employees work the same number of hours through the entire year making refrigerators, even when demand for fridges peaks in the spring and falls during the winter. Whirlpool tried to convince employees to work more during peak demand and less during quiet months, achieving only partial success.

-Labor laws in Italy have changed recently to include more flexibility for employers, but big unions continue to defend job security by resisting adjustments and changes.

Ask students: What are the competing goals of labor policy? How much flexibility should employers have in adjusting the number of employees, what work they do, and for how long?

Teachable Moment: Who Drives Up Housing Prices?

Teachable Moment: "Are market forces or central bankers driving up housing prices?"

Some considerations:

-Housing prices as gauged by the Case-Shiller Index are now rising at close to 10% annual rate in 20 large metropolitan areas.
-Inflation as measured by the GDP deflator is less than 2%, or around 3% as measured by the CPI.
-Housing prices appear to be rising much faster than the average general price level, a similar pre-2008 recession trend.
-Federal Reserve is trying to stimulate spending by keeping mortgages interest rates low. It buys $85 billion of debt per month.
-Supply and demand factors may explain part of the rise in housing prices, but not all. Home ownership is now at a low point.
-Are new home buyers buying a house to live in or as an investment to rent out?
-Other factors, like the very low interest rate policy of the Fed, may be a factor in rising housing prices.

Ask students if they think housing prices are rising for economic or political reasons. In other words, are supply and demand factors driving the increase, or are central bankers distorting market signals?

Competition With Teeth

Recently, the Institute for Justice helped break the anti-competitive taxi cartel in Denver, and open opportunities for the poor to become less poor. And now IJ is resisting efforts to cartelize and regulate teeth whitening. Many dentists try to avoid competition by embracing "political entrepreneurship" (rather than economic entrepreneurship) in using government to grant them monopoly power over whitening teeth. Here's a lighthearted but instructive two-minute clip from IJ outlining some of the issues involved.

 

Vernon Smith on The Great Recession

Nobel Economics Laureate Vernon L. Smith offers a compelling examination in his article "Of Houses and Hamburgers" of the recession in the U.S. which began in 2007. Sometimes, Smith argues markets are ugly, and sometimes they work miracles. So how well did they perform in the Great Recession of 2007? Here is a snippet from the article:

"Why were economic policymakers blindsided by these events? It’s simple: balance-sheet effects are not included in policy thinking. When balance sheets are widely damaged, the normal flows of consumption and lending are disrupted, as households gradually pay down debt to climb back to positive net wealth and banks severely limit new mortgage lending."

"I, A Pencil" From the Book -- To The Movie

 

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has created a terrific series of short films including this new animated version of the 1958 classic "I, A Pencil" by Leonard E. Read, President, Foundation for Economic Education, which demonstrates the rich complexity of economic activites and achievement in the production of a simple pencil. Stop by the I, Pencil Series website to view additional support films that offer extended commentary on the economic concepts of the film, such as connectivity and trade and specializtion as well as lesson plans created around the film. This site is a valuable resource for any economics teacher.