D2.Eco.1.6-8: How Economic Decisions Affect Individuals, Businesses and Society
In plain English: D2.Eco.1.6-8 is the C3 Framework economics indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses and society. Students trace a choice outward from the person or company that makes it to workers, customers and the wider community, and weigh what each group gains against what it gives up.
Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Economics · Economic Decision Making · Official standard
D2.Eco.1.6-8 asks students to explain how economic decisions, choices about how to use limited money, time and resources, affect the well-being of individuals, businesses and society. Well-being means how well off a person or group is: income and savings, health and safety, free time and the choices people have. Students learn to trace one decision outward, like ripples in a pond (Diagram 1), and to name both the gains and the costs at each level.
Students read Henry Ford's own account of the five-dollar day he announced in 1914 (Source 1), interpret real 2025 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on education and earnings (Source 2 and Diagram 2), and analyze three invented decisions in a small town (Source 3). The activities ask students to sort effects, argue from different points of view and map a decision from their own lives.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Define an economic decision, opportunity cost and well-being, and give an example of each
Explain how one decision affects the well-being of the individuals who make it and of others
Explain how a business decision affects the business, its workers and its customers
Explain how decisions by people and businesses add up to effects on society as a whole
Use evidence from a primary source and from real data to support an explanation
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Reading information from a table or bar graph and connecting it to a text RH.6-8.7
Finding a percent of a quantity and multiplying with decimals 6.RP.A.3
Knowing that people earn income by working and spend it on goods and services
"Think of one choice you or your family made this week about spending money or time. What did you give up to make that choice? Who besides you was affected by it?"
Take three or four answers and write them on the board. For each, ask "What was given up?" and "Who else felt it?" Tell students that every one of these is an economic decision: a choice about how to use something limited, such as money, time or materials. D2.Eco.1.6-8 asks them to explain how such decisions make people, businesses and whole communities better or worse off.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Key terms for D2.Eco.1.6-8 (working definitions)
Term
Meaning
Example
Scarcity
Not having enough of something to satisfy every want, so people must choose
A family has one Saturday and three things it would like to do
Economic decision
A choice about how to use limited money, time or resources
Spending birthday money on shoes instead of a game
Opportunity cost
The value of the next-best choice you give up
The game you did not buy
Well-being
How well off a person or group is: income, savings, health, safety, free time and choices
A raise that lets a family save each month
Spillover effect
An effect of a decision on people who did not make it
Noise from a new store that keeps neighbors awake
Part 1: Key terms. Go through the table. Stress that every choice has an opportunity cost, even when no money changes hands: an hour spent on one thing is an hour not spent on another.
Part 2: The ripple model. Show Diagram 1. A decision affects first the people who make it, then businesses (as sellers, buyers and employers), then society: the community, its jobs, prices, public services and environment. Effects can be good at one level and bad at another. Work these examples, asking students to name a gain and a cost at each level.
Individual decision: staying in school (real data)
Use the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures in Source 2: in 2025 the median full-time worker with a bachelor's degree earned $1,578 a week, and one with a high school diploma earned $966. How much more is that over a 52-week year, and what does it suggest about the decision to go to college?
Result: $1,578 - $966 = $612 a week; $612 x 52 = $31,824 a year. The typical college graduate earned much more, which can mean more savings, security and choices. The decision also has costs: tuition and four years of lower or no earnings while studying (an opportunity cost). A median is a middle value, so many people earn more or less than it.
Business decision: changing how deliveries are made (invented)
Invented example: a flower shop switches its downtown deliveries from a van to a cargo bike. The van costs about $0.60 a mile for gas and upkeep; the bike costs about $0.10 a mile. The shop drives 40 delivery miles a day, 300 days a year. How much does it save, and who else is affected?
Result: Savings: $0.60 - $0.10 = $0.50 a mile; 40 x $0.50 = $20 a day; $20 x 300 = $6,000 a year. The business keeps more profit. The delivery worker gets exercise but rides in rain and cold. Neighbors get less traffic and exhaust, a small benefit to society.
Community decision: library hours (invented)
Invented example: a city decides to open its public library on Sundays for 6 hours with 2 staff members paid $22 an hour. What does the decision cost each year, and who gains?
Result: 2 x 6 x $22 = $264 a Sunday; $264 x 52 = $13,728 a year, paid with taxes. Students and working parents gain a quiet place to study and use computers, and two workers gain extra hours of pay. Taxpayers give up $13,728 that could pay for something else, its opportunity cost.
One decision, three levels (invented)
Invented example: a bowling alley lowers its Tuesday price from $8 to $5 a game. Before, it sold about 120 games on a Tuesday; now it sells about 210. Did its Tuesday game sales go up, and who else is affected?
Result: Before: 120 x $8 = $960. After: 210 x $5 = $1,050, so sales rose by $90, and the alley also sells more snacks. Families (individuals) pay less for a night out. Society: a busier street on a weeknight helps the pizza place next door, though neighbors may find parking harder.
Teacher tip. Students often name only good effects, or only effects on the decision-maker. Push for one cost at each level and for at least one person outside the decision (a spillover). Remind them that the same effect can be a gain for one group and a cost for another: a higher price helps a seller and costs a buyer.
Guided Practice15 minutes
A business decision in 1914. Context note: in 1914 the Ford Motor Company built its Model T car at the Highland Park plant near Detroit, Michigan, on a moving assembly line, where each worker repeated one small task all day. Henry Ford described the company's wage decision in a 1922 book, written with the journalist Samuel Crowther. Source 1 is Ford's own account, so it shows his point of view. Read Source 1 aloud with the class. Glossary: "profit-sharing" (giving workers part of a company's profits), "minimum wage" (here, the lowest daily pay the company would give), "voluntary" (done by choice, not because anyone required it), "custom" (the usual way things are done), "foundation" (base), "insecure" (not safe or steady), "eligible" (allowed to receive something), "paternalism" (an employer or government making choices for people "for their own good"), "constant force" (a steady number of workers), "efficient" (getting more done with the same effort).
1Having these facts in hand we announced and put into operation in January, 1914, a kind of profit-sharing plan in which the minimum wage for any class of work and under certain conditions was five dollars a day. At the same time we reduced the working day to eight hours--it had been nine--and the week to forty-eight hours. This was entirely a voluntary act. [...]
2There was, however, no charity in any way involved. That was not generally understood. Many employers thought we were just making the announcement because we were prosperous and wanted advertising and they condemned us because we were upsetting standards--violating the custom of paying a man the smallest amount he would take. [...] We made the change not merely because we wanted to pay higher wages and thought we could pay them. We wanted to pay these wages so that the business would be on a lasting foundation. We were not distributing anything--we were building for the future. A low wage business is always insecure.
[...]
3A man was first to be paid his just wages--which were then on an average of about fifteen per cent. above the usual market wage. He was then eligible to a certain profit. His wages plus his profit were calculated to give a minimum daily income of five dollars. [...] For example, a man who received thirty-four cents an hour had a profit rate of twenty-eight and one half cents an hour--which would give him a daily income of five dollars. [...]
4It was a sort of prosperity-sharing plan. But on conditions. The man and his home had to come up to certain standards of cleanliness and citizenship. Nothing paternal was intended!--a certain amount of paternalism did develop, and that is one reason why the whole plan and the social welfare department were readjusted. [...]
[...]
5The large wage had other results. In 1914, when the first plan went into effect, we had 14,000 employees and it had been necessary to hire at the rate of about 53,000 a year in order to keep a constant force of 14,000. In 1915 we had to hire only 6,508 men and the majority of these new men were taken on because of the growth of the business. [...]
[...]
6The payment of high wages fortunately contributes to the low costs because the men become steadily more efficient on account of being relieved of outside worries. The payment of five dollars a day for an eight-hour day was one of the finest cost-cutting moves we ever made, and the six-dollar day wage is cheaper than the five.
Henry Ford, with Samuel Crowther, My Life and Work, chapter VIII, "Wages," and one paragraph from chapter X (Source 1: the five-dollar day, 1914) (1922). Public domain (published 1922). Source text.
The decision. Prompt: what did the company change in January 1914 (paragraph 1)? Teacher note: a minimum of five dollars a day "under certain conditions," an eight-hour day instead of nine, and a forty-eight-hour week. This is a decision by a business that changes the well-being of thousands of individuals.
Reaction from other businesses. Prompt: how did other employers react, and why (paragraph 2)? Teacher note: they "condemned us because we were upsetting standards" of "paying a man the smallest amount he would take." One firm's decision pressured other firms, which is an effect beyond the company itself.
The cost of hiring. Prompt: in paragraph 5, how many people did the company hire in a year to keep 14,000 jobs filled before the plan? About how many hires is that for each job? Teacher note: 53,000 / 14,000 is about 3.8 hires for every job each year, so most workers stayed only a few months. Finding and training that many people cost the business money and time.
Label the effects. Pairs mark each effect they find in Source 1 with I (individuals), B (business) or S (society), and + or - for better or worse off. Keep the lists for Activity 2.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Real data: education and earnings. Source 2 is real government data, not invented. It comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Education pays, Table 5.1, "Unemployment rates and earnings by educational attainment, 2025" (bls.gov, a US government work). The data are for people age 25 and over; earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers. BLS notes that its 2025 figures are 11-month averages, because October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown. Terms: the median is the middle value when all values are listed in order, so half the workers earned more and half earned less; the unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force (people working or looking for work) who have no job and are looking for one. Diagram 2 shows the earnings column as a bar graph.
Source 2: Unemployment rates and earnings by educational attainment, 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 5.1)
Highest level of education
Median usual weekly earnings
Unemployment rate
Doctoral degree
$2,307
1.8%
Professional degree
$2,294
1.9%
Master's degree
$1,876
2.6%
Bachelor's degree
$1,578
2.8%
Associate's degree
$1,135
3.0%
Some college, no degree
$1,062
3.8%
High school diploma
$966
4.3%
Less than a high school diploma
$770
6.1%
All workers age 25 and over
$1,268
3.4%
Source 2: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Education pays, Table 5.1 (data from the Current Population Survey; page last modified September 1, 2026). BLS adds that these categories count only the highest level of schooling and do not include apprenticeships or other job training, which may also influence earnings and unemployment rates.
Students answer on their own: (1) Which two groups have the closest median weekly earnings, and how far apart are they? (2) How much more did the median worker with a master's degree earn than one with a bachelor's degree over a 52-week year? (3) Give one reason a person might decide not to stay in school longer, even though the table shows higher median earnings for more education. Collect the answers; Quiz questions 7-10 and 17 use Source 2.
Closure10 minutes
Decisions in one town. Introduce Source 3, an invented scenario about three decisions in a small town, for the quiz and the homework. Students read it once on their own.
1Invented scenario, written for this page. Pine Hollow is a fictional town of about 9,000 people. Here are three economic decisions that people there made this year.
2Marcus's summer. Marcus is 17. For six weeks this summer he could have worked 30 hours a week at the Pine Hollow grocery store for $14 an hour. Instead, he signed up for a free six-week welding course at the community college, which meets 20 hours a week, and kept only 10 hours a week at the store. The course teacher told the class that welding helpers in the area start at about $19 an hour.
3Dana's laundromat. Dana owns the town's only laundromat. It has 12 washing machines and handles about 1,200 washes a month. She bought 6 new washers that use less water, at $3,000 each, to replace her oldest machines. Her water bill dropped by $150 a month. She also raised the price of a wash from $3.00 to $3.25, and so far her customers have kept coming. Some told her the new machines finish faster; others said the higher price is hard on their budget.
4Shopping online. Over the past two years, more Pine Hollow families have started ordering tools, toys and household goods online instead of driving 15 minutes to Main Street. Main Street Hardware's yearly sales fell from $600,000 to $480,000, and the owner cut one clerk's job to part time. A toy store on the same block closed, and its window is still empty. Meanwhile, two residents found new jobs delivering packages, and many families say they save time and gas.
SVHS (invented scenario written for this page), Three Decisions in Pine Hollow (Source 3: invented scenario). Original passage written for this page.
Exit ticket: Pick one decision from Sources 1-3. Name one group whose well-being improved and one group that paid a cost, and explain each in one sentence.
Teacher note on the sources: Source 1 is quoted exactly as published in 1922 and gives Henry Ford's own view of his company's decision, not the view of his workers or rivals. A sentence left out of the excerpt calls the practice, among "many of the foreign workers," of taking in boarders an "evil custom"; it is not needed for the lesson. Teachers who use other Ford material should know that his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, published a long series of antisemitic articles in the 1920s, for which Ford issued a public apology in 1927; nothing from it is used here. Source 2 is real 2025 government data. Source 3 is invented. The lesson takes no position on any current wage law.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a three-column organizer (Individuals, Businesses, Society) with a + row and a - row for each source
Provide sentence frames: "The decision to ___ made ___ better off because ___. It cost ___ because ___."
Read Source 1 aloud paragraph by paragraph and restate each paragraph in one plain sentence before students answer
For Advanced Students
Compare Ford's account with one other point of view: a worker who did not qualify for the profit share, or a rival employer, and write a short paragraph in that voice using only facts from Source 1
Use Source 2 to write a short argument for or against this claim: "The table proves that staying in school causes higher pay." Point out what the data can and cannot show
Find one decision in local news that affects all three levels and draw its ripple diagram
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers name the decision and the decision-maker, describe a specific effect on well-being at each level (not just "it helps people"), include at least one cost or opportunity cost, and back each point with a quotation, a number from the data or a detail from the scenario. Watch for three confusions: listing only good effects; treating a median as a guarantee for every person; and confusing the people who make a decision with the people affected by it.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Ripple Card Sort
15 minPairs
Pairs draw the three rings of Diagram 1 on a sheet of paper (the ripple mat). For each of 8 decision cards, they write one effect in each ring and mark it + (better off) or - (worse off).
The 8 Decision Cards (invented)
A teenager spends $120 of savings on a used phone instead of keeping the money in the bank.
A family decides to cook at home four nights a week instead of eating out.
A grocery store replaces four cashier lanes with self-checkout machines.
A car repair shop decides to stay open on Saturdays.
A town uses tax money to build a skate park.
A clothing company moves its factory to another state.
A neighbor plants a large garden and sells extra tomatoes at a roadside stand.
Many families in a town decide to buy electric cars.
Sample Answers for the Teacher
Card 3: Individuals: shoppers may check out faster (+), but some cashiers lose hours (-). Business: lower labor costs (+), machines to buy and repair (-). Society: fewer entry-level jobs in town (-).
Card 5: Individuals: skaters get a safe place to ride (+). Businesses: a nearby snack shop gains customers (+). Society: taxpayers give up other uses of the money, the opportunity cost (-).
Accept other effects that students explain.
Discussion Questions
Which card had the most effects outside the person or business that decided? Why?
Find a card where one group's gain is another group's cost. Who should count more, and why?
Modification for English Learners
Add a small picture to each card and post the five key terms from Direct Instruction with a one-line definition in English and the student's home language.
2
Ford Decision Panel
20 minGroups of 4
Each group member takes one role tied to Source 1 and speaks for two minutes, quoting the source, about how the five-dollar day affected that role's well-being. The group then fills in one shared ripple chart.
Roles
A Ford worker who qualified for the profit share (paragraphs 1, 3 and 4)
A Ford manager responsible for hiring and costs (paragraphs 5 and 6)
The owner of a rival factory (paragraph 2)
A worker's family member whose home must meet the company's standards (paragraph 4)
Steps
Each member finds two quotations that matter to the role and writes them on a role card.
Each member speaks: "As a ___, the five-dollar day made me better off because ___ and worse off because ___."
The group places every effect on the ripple chart and decides, by vote, which level gained the most.
Discussion Questions
Source 1 is Ford's own account. Whose point of view is missing, and what might that person add?
Can a decision help a business and its workers at the same time? Use Source 1 to explain.
Modification for a Shorter Class
Use only roles 1 and 3, in pairs, and build one class ripple chart on the board.
3
My Decision Map
15 minIndividual, then whole class
Each student maps one economic decision, real or imagined, from the decision-maker outward, then shares one surprising effect with the class.
Map Boxes
The decision and who made it
The opportunity cost: what was given up
One effect on individuals, one on a business and one on society, each marked + or -
My judgment: overall, did the decision raise well-being? For whom?
Discussion Questions
Which maps reached all three levels? What made that possible?
Did anyone's opportunity cost turn out to be bigger than the money spent?
Privacy Note
Students describe kinds of decisions, not private family details, names or amounts of family income. An imagined decision is always allowed.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: The Ripple Model of an Economic Decision
An economic decision affects the people who make it first, then businesses as sellers, buyers and employers, then society as a whole. The boxes list kinds of well-being that can rise or fall at each level.
Diagram 2: Median Weekly Earnings by Education, 2025 (Real BLS Data)
Bar graph of the earnings column of Source 2, drawn to scale. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Education pays, Table 5.1, 2025; full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and over. The median for all such workers was $1,268 a week.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
D2.Eco.1.6-8 Homework: Tracing Economic Decisions
Directions: Part 1 is about decisions in everyday life; describe kinds of decisions, not private family details. Part 2 uses Sources 1-3 in the lesson plan. Answer in complete sentences and show any arithmetic.
Part 1: Decisions in Everyday Life (Problems 1-3)
Describe one economic decision that you or a family you know made recently. What was the opportunity cost? Explain in two or three sentences.
For the decision in Problem 1, name one effect on an individual, one on a business and one on society. Mark each + or - and explain it.
Invented example: Lena, 16, could work 15 hours a week for 8 weeks this summer at $13 an hour, or use those hours for a free summer coding program. (a) What is the opportunity cost of the program in wages? (b) If the program helps her get a job that pays $17 an hour, how many hours at the new job will it take to earn back that amount from the extra pay alone? Show your work.
Part 2: Using the Sources (Problems 4-6)
Use Source 2. How much more did the median worker with an associate's degree earn than one with a high school diploma over a 52-week year? Compare the two groups' unemployment rates too. Then explain one thing the table cannot tell a student deciding whether to go to community college.
Use Source 1, paragraph 5. How many fewer people did the company hire in 1915 than the yearly rate it needed before the plan? Invented figure: if finding and training each new worker cost $40, how much would those fewer hires save? Explain how this affected the business and the workers who stayed.
Write a paragraph of 5-7 sentences answering: "Did the five-dollar day make workers, the Ford company and society better off?" Use evidence from Source 1 for at least two of the three, and include at least one cost or problem.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Effects at Each Level
Specific effects on individuals, businesses and society
Effects at one or two levels only
No effects described
Costs and Gains
At least one cost or opportunity cost with every set of gains
Gains only, or a vague cost
Neither identified
Evidence and Math
Quotations, data or scenario details; Problems 3-5 correct with work
Loose evidence or an arithmetic slip
No evidence; work missing
Reasoning
Problem 6 makes a clear judgment and supports it from Source 1
Judgment with thin support
No judgment
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-6, 15 and 16 use Source 1 (Henry Ford, 1922) in Guided Practice. Questions 7-10 and 17 use Source 2 (BLS data, 2025) in Independent Practice. Questions 11-14, 18 and 19 use Source 3, the invented scenario in Closure. Question 20 uses Sources 1 and 3. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 3, how did the company's "just wages" compare with the usual market wage?
Answer: C
Ford writes that the just wages "were then on an average of about fifteen per cent. above the usual market wage," and the profit share came on top of them. Choice A reverses "above." Choice B ignores the fifteen percent. Choice D confuses the five-dollar total daily income with the gap between wages.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 2, Ford writes, "A low wage business is always insecure." Which reason for the decision does this sentence support?
Answer: A
The sentences just before it say, "We wanted to pay these wages so that the business would be on a lasting foundation" and "we were building for the future." Ford is giving a business reason. Choice B contradicts "entirely a voluntary act" in paragraph 1. Choice C contradicts "There was, however, no charity in any way involved." Choice D twists the employers' complaint that Ford "wanted advertising."
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Invented example using the method in paragraph 3: a worker is paid 40 cents an hour and has a profit rate of 23 cents an hour. What is his income for one eight-hour day?
Answer: B
Add the two hourly amounts, then multiply by the hours, as paragraph 3 does for the 34-cent worker: (40 + 23) x 8 = 63 x 8 = 504 cents, or $5.04. Choice A, $3.20, counts the wage alone (40 x 8 = 320 cents). Choice D, $1.84, counts only the profit share (23 x 8). Choice C, $5.67, uses the old nine-hour day (63 x 9 = 567 cents).
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 5, how many men did the company hire in 1915, and why were most of them hired?
Answer: D
Ford writes, "In 1915 we had to hire only 6,508 men and the majority of these new men were taken on because of the growth of the business." Fewer workers were quitting, so fewer had to be replaced. Choice A gives the yearly hiring rate before the plan. Choice B gives the size of the workforce in 1914 and invents a night shift. Choice C has the right number but the wrong reason.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 6, why does Ford call the five-dollar day "one of the finest cost-cutting moves we ever made"?
Answer: C
Ford says high wages contribute to low costs "because the men become steadily more efficient on account of being relieved of outside worries." Higher pay raised one cost but lowered others. Choice A is not in the source. Choice B invents government help; paragraph 1 calls the plan voluntary. Choice D is contradicted by the same paragraph, which says the company later paid six dollars a day.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Paragraph 1 says the working day fell from nine hours to eight and the week became forty-eight hours, which is six eight-hour days. How many fewer hours a week did a full-time worker work than under six nine-hour days?
Answer: A
Six nine-hour days are 6 x 9 = 54 hours; the new week was 48 hours; 54 - 48 = 6 hours more free time each week, a gain in well-being beyond pay. Choice B is the change for one day only. Choice C is the length of the new working day. Choice D is the new week's total, not the difference.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 2, which group had the lowest unemployment rate in 2025?
Answer: D
The doctoral degree row shows 1.8%, the lowest in the table. Choice A, the professional degree, is close at 1.9% but higher. Choices B (2.6%) and C (2.8%) are higher still. Reading the earnings column instead of the unemployment column can lead to the wrong row.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Use Source 2. Over a 52-week year, about how much more did the median full-time worker with a high school diploma earn than one with less than a high school diploma?
Answer: C
$966 - $770 = $196 a week, and $196 x 52 = $10,192 a year. Choice A is the weekly gap, not the yearly one. Choice B is the yearly earnings of the group without a diploma ($770 x 52), and Choice D is the yearly earnings of the diploma group ($966 x 52); neither is a difference.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 2 shows unemployment rates of 6.1% for workers with less than a high school diploma and 2.8% for workers with a bachelor's degree. Out of 1,000 people in the labor force in each group, about how many more are unemployed in the first group?
Answer: D
6.1% of 1,000 is 61 and 2.8% of 1,000 is 28, so 61 - 28 = 33 more people. Choice A adds the two rates (8.9% of 1,000 = 89) instead of subtracting. Choice B counts only the first group. Choice C, about 3, is the difference in percentage points (3.3), not a number of people out of 1,000.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which conclusion does Source 2 support?
Answer: B
The medians rise with each step of education, from $770 to over $2,000 a week. Choice A forgets that a median is a middle value: some high school graduates earn more than some college graduates. Choice C ignores the 2.8% unemployment rate for bachelor's degree holders, which is not zero. Choice D goes beyond the data; BLS itself notes that training such as apprenticeships may also influence earnings.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, how much summer pay does Marcus give up by taking the welding course instead of working 30 hours a week?
Answer: A
The course costs him 30 - 10 = 20 hours of work a week for 6 weeks at $14 an hour: 20 x 6 x $14 = $1,680, his opportunity cost in wages. Choice B, $840, is what he still earns working 10 hours (10 x 6 x $14). Choice C, $2,520, is what the full 30-hour job would have paid. Choice D, $2,280, uses the $19 welding wage instead of the $14 store wage (20 x 6 x $19).
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, which group pays part of the cost of Dana's decision?
Answer: C
Dana "raised the price of a wash from $3.00 to $3.25," so customers pay $0.25 more each time, and some said "the higher price is hard on their budget." Choice A is wrong: Dana bought the washers herself. Choices B and D are not in the scenario.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, Dana spent $18,000 on new washers. Her water bill fell $150 a month, and the price rise brings in 25 cents more on each of about 1,200 washes a month. If customers keep coming, about how many months will it take for these two gains to cover the $18,000?
Answer: B
Price rise: 1,200 x $0.25 = $300 a month. Water saving: $150 a month. Together: $450 a month, and $18,000 / $450 = 40 months. Choice A counts only the water saving ($18,000 / $150). Choice C counts only the price rise ($18,000 / $300). Choice D divides the cost of one washer, $3,000, by $450, forgetting that she bought six.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, which effect of families' choice to shop online is a cost to society as a whole, not only to one business?
Answer: A
A closed toy store with an empty window and a clerk cut to part time change the town's main street and its jobs, which reaches the whole community. Choice B is a gain for individual families. Choice C is a cost to one business. Choice D is a gain for a few individuals.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 1, paragraph 4, says workers' homes "had to come up to certain standards of cleanliness and citizenship." How did these conditions affect workers' well-being? Name one gain and one cost.
Model answer: The gain was money: workers who met the standards received the profit share on top of their wages, which brought their pay to at least five dollars a day. The cost was privacy and freedom: the company judged workers' homes and private lives, and Ford admits that "a certain amount of paternalism did develop." Rubric: 1 point for a gain and 1 point for a cost, each tied to the paragraph.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Paragraph 3 says a worker paid 34 cents an hour got a profit rate of 28 1/2 cents an hour; Ford's chapter adds that a worker paid 54 cents got 21 cents. By about what percent did the profit share raise each worker's hourly pay? What does the comparison show about who gained the most?
Model answer: 28.5 / 34 is about 0.84, so the first worker's hourly pay rose by about 84%. 21 / 54 is about 0.39, so the second worker's rose by about 39%. The lowest-paid workers gained the most, both as a share of their pay and in cents per hour, so the plan raised the well-being of the poorest workers the most. Rubric: 1 point for both percents (accept 83-85% and 38-39%); 1 point for the conclusion.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 2, explain one way a whole community could be affected if more of its adults finished high school. Use at least one number from the table.
Model answer: The median worker with a high school diploma earned $966 a week, compared with $770 for one without a diploma, and the unemployment rate was 4.3% compared with 6.1%. If more adults finished high school, more people might have jobs and higher incomes, so local businesses could have more customers and the community could collect more in taxes for schools and roads. Because the table shows medians and does not prove that the diploma alone causes the difference, this is a likely effect, not a certain one. Rubric: 1 point for a number used correctly; 1 point for a community-level effect explained.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Should Marcus in Source 3 have taken the welding course? Use the opportunity cost and the $19 helper wage in your answer. Either answer can earn full credit.
Model answer (for): Marcus gave up 20 hours a week of store pay for six weeks (the opportunity cost found in Question 11), but a welding helper job pays $19 an hour, $5 more than the store. Working 12 hours a week next year, he would earn $60 more a week, make up the lost pay in about seven months, then keep gaining, and he learns a skill. Model answer (against): the lost store pay is certain now, while the $19 job is only what the teacher said helpers "start at"; he might not get the job, and he also gave up free time. Rubric: 1 point for the opportunity cost; 1 point for using the $19 wage in a reasoned judgment.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Describe one effect of Dana's decision in Source 3 on each level: individuals, the business and society.
Model answer: Individuals: customers pay $3.25 instead of $3.00, which is hard on some budgets, but the new machines finish faster. Business: the laundromat spent $18,000 but saves $150 a month on water and earns more on each wash. Society: the town uses less water, which helps its water supply. Rubric: 1 point for each level with a specific effect (3 points).
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Sources 1 and 3, explain how one business decision can affect individuals, the business itself and people outside it. Give one example from each source.
Model answer: In Source 1 the five-dollar day gave workers more pay and an eight-hour day, helped the company keep workers, so it needed far fewer new hires in 1915, and reached outside the company when other employers complained that Ford was "upsetting standards." In Source 3 Dana's new washers cost her $18,000 but cut her water bill, cost customers 25 cents more a wash, and reduced the town's water use. In both cases one decision spread from the business to its workers or customers and then to others. Rubric: 1 point for each source used accurately; 1 point for explaining the spread to all three levels.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Eco.1.6-8 mean?
D2.Eco.1.6-8 asks middle school students to explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses and society. The full text is "Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society." It opens the Economic Decision Making part of the C3 Framework's economics standards.
What counts as an economic decision?
Any choice about how to use something limited, such as money, time, land or materials. Buying a jacket, taking a part-time job, a company hiring workers and a city building a park are all economic decisions, because each one uses resources that could have gone to something else.
What does "well-being" mean in economics?
It means how well off a person or group is. Income and savings are part of it, but so are health, safety, free time and the range of choices people have. A decision can raise one part of well-being while lowering another, for example a job that pays more but leaves less free time.
What is opportunity cost, and why does it matter for D2.Eco.1.6-8?
Opportunity cost is the value of the next-best choice you give up. It matters because every decision has one, even when no money is spent, so explaining a decision's effect on well-being means counting what was given up as well as what was gained. The lesson's worked examples show opportunity costs for a family, a business and a city.
Why use Henry Ford's five-dollar day to teach this standard?
It is a well-documented business decision whose effects reached workers, the company and other employers, and Ford explained his reasons in his own words. Because the source gives only Ford's point of view, it also lets students ask whose view is missing, a habit they need for every economics source.
Is the education and earnings data on this page real?
Yes. Source 2 is Table 5.1 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Education pays page, for 2025, a US government work. The numbers are medians for full-time workers age 25 and over, and BLS notes that the 2025 figures are 11-month averages. The scenario in Source 3 and the worked examples marked invented are not real data.
How is D2.Eco.1.6-8 different from D2.Eco.1.9-12?
The grades 6-8 indicator asks students to explain how decisions affect individuals, businesses and society. The grades 9-12 indicator asks them to analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups. Tracing effects in middle school prepares students to analyze incentives and policies in high school.
In which grade is D2.Eco.1.6-8 taught?
It depends on the school. The C3 Framework sets indicators for the end of grade 8, not for one grade, so the standard may appear in a grade 6, 7 or 8 social studies course, or in a short economics unit. Many teachers pair it with D2.Eco.2.6-8, which asks students to weigh solutions to economic issues.
How do I keep a lesson on wages and business neutral?
Show more than one point of view and let students judge. Source 1 gives an employer's view, so the activities add the views of a worker, a rival employer and a worker's family. The rubrics score evidence and reasoning, not whether a student approves of a decision, and the lesson takes no position on current wage laws.
What is a good quick check for D2.Eco.1.6-8?
Give students a short new decision and ask for one effect at each level, marked + or -, plus the opportunity cost. If they reach beyond the decision-maker and name a cost as well as a gain, they are meeting the indicator. The exit ticket and homework Problem 2 use this format.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to D2.Eco.1.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
RH.6-8.7Prerequisite
Integrate visual information such as charts and graphs with information in texts
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
