Economics for Leaders Performance Assessment

 

Prompt:
The city council has scheduled a series of public forums to discuss the opening of the Walton Center at the end of the summer.  The issue under consideration is:

Should the city enact scalping laws?

The new public facility, funded by a city bond issue and sales tax increase, incorporates a twenty-first century multi-use design to accommodate a wide variety of sporting and entertainment activities.

Task:
Prepare a small-group presentation for the city council, taking a position on the issue of ticket scalping at the Walton Center.  (10 - 12 minutes)

Purpose:

• Demonstrate your ability to think economically about a contemporary issue. 
• Demonstrate your understanding of basic economic concepts and ability to apply them to the analysis of community issues.
• Demonstrate what you’ve learned during the week.  Provide evidence to the evaluator that you have gained proficiency in the following Content Standards:

Stds. 1-9 and 16

• Productive resources are limited.  Therefore, people cannot have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.
• Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits.  Most choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something; few choices are all-or-nothing decisions.
• Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services.  People, acting individually or collectively through government, must choose which methods to use to allocate different kinds of goods and services.
• People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.
• Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain. . . .
• When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can produce at lowest cost and then trade with others, both production and consumption increase.
• Markets exist when buyers and sellers interact.  This interaction determines market prices and thereby allocates scarce goods and services.
• Prices send signals and provide incentives to buyers and sellers.  When supply or demand changes, market prices adjust, affecting incentives.
• Competition among sellers lowers costs and prices, and encourages producers to produce more of what consumers are willing and able to buy.  Competition among buyers increases prices and allocates goods and services to those people who are willing and able to pay the most for them.
• There is an economic role for government to play in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs. Governments often . . . define and protect property rights and attempt to make markets more competitive . . . .

 

Thinking / Discussion Points:

• Who (individuals and/or groups) is affected by your proposal?  Who benefits and who bears the costs?
• What are your goals/values, and is your proposal consistent with them?
• What scenario is likely to result if your proposal is adopted; why is it likely; and why is it desirable?
• What are the alternatives to your proposal and why are they less desirable?
• Is your proposal consistent with the knowledge of human behavior embodied in the content standards?

 

Presentation Format:

• Your presentation will be made on Saturday morning to the members of the city council (profs, mentor teacher).
• The form, format, props, etc. are up to you.  However, you are limited to a  10-minute presentation followed by a 2 - 5 minute period for questions from the city council.

 

Evaluation Form:  Ticket Scalping Presentations

 

Group Members:  ___________________________________________________________________________

Evaluator:  Highlight or circle Exceeds Standard, Meets Standard, or Below Standard for each of the evaluation components.  You may also wish to highlight specific bullets that are appropriate to this group’s presentation. 

Scarcity and Choice (standards 1, 3)

Exceeds Standard	Meets Standard	Below Standard
Students understand that the condition of scarcity is universal and that it results from the relationship between resource limitations and wants	Students accurately identify what is scarce Students accurate describe the conditions that create the scarcity Students clearly connect scarcity and the necessity of choosing	Students confuse “scarce” and “rare” Students incorrectly identify what is scarce Students fail to acknowledge that decision-makers face alternatives

 

Opportunity Cost (standards 1, 2)

Exceeds Standard	Meets Standard	Below Standard
Students display a sophisticated understanding of the ubiquitous nature of opportunity cost. Students display a clear understanding that the relevant costs in decision-making are marginal costs.	The presentation clearly identifies alternatives and the opportunity costs associated with each. The proposal includes a rationale based on cost/benefit analysis. Students’ analysis acknowledges the subjective nature of cost by showing that different stake holders assess costs and benefits differently.	Proposal fails to clearly identify alternatives. Presenters confuse cost and price. Presenters confuse cost with outcome or consequence. Presenters identify opportunity cost as all the foregone alternatives instead of the next best.

 

Incentives (standards 4, 16)

Exceeds Standard	Meets Standard	Below Standard
The presentation supports the prediction of incentive-driven behavior with evidence drawn from an analogous situation or from a common experience. Incentives are used in a particularly creative or sophisticated way.	The presentation accurately identifies the incentives (negative or positive). The presentation includes a convincing argument for the effectiveness of the incentives in producing the desired behavior. The presentation acknowledges how government involvement in the ticket market changes incentives and behavior.	Incentives are missing or weak. Incentives are present, but aren’t identified or are misidentified. Incentives are perverse - they encourage behavior other than that which is desired.

 

Voluntary Exchange (standards 5, 6)

Exceeds Standard	Meets Standard	Below Standard
Students associate ticket scalping with specialization. Students incorporate comparative advantage in their analysis.	Students identify scalping exchanges as voluntary. Students specify or clearly assume that voluntary exchange creates wealth. Students identify the wealth creation that would occur under various ticket scalping proposals.	Students assume or specify that there are losers in voluntary exchange.

 

Markets – (standards 7, 8, 9)

Exceeds Standard	Meets Standard	Below Standard
Students’ market analysis takes into account the impact of property rights definitions. Students’ presentation acknowledges that different market configurations create different allocations of market power.	The presentation accurately describes the operation of at least one ticket market – either the scalping or original sale markets or another identified alternative. Presenters use market vocabulary and concepts (supply, demand, and price) accurately. The presentation accurately predicts responses to price incentives.	Students specify or clearly assume an inaccurate understanding of how markets generate prices.

 

 

Copyright © 1999 Foundation for Teaching Economics
Permission granted to copy for classroom use.