1. What is an economy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 2. How do economies decide what, how and for whom to produce resources? . . . . . . . . . 370
3. How does an economy work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 4. What are the different economic systems? . . 373 Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Case Study Island Economics
The crew of a ship-wrecked cargo ship have washed up on the beach of a very remote tropical island. Without any radio transmitters or phone signals they expect to be stranded for weeks or even months before they are rescued.
The island is uninhabited but contains a lot of jungle, very tall fruit trees and lots of wild animals. The twenty crew members were able to salvage a lot of wood and metal from the ship along with a cargo of fur coats and children’s plastic toys. Some of the
crew have now started arguing about how best to use the limited resources available to help their survival. Some want to use the salvaged wood and metal to build individual huts. Others want to work together and to share the materials by building a single large shared hut for everyone. Some want to build weapons for hunting, while others want to build large ladders to climb the trees to gather fruit and nuts. The problem is, there’s not enough wood, metal or other resources to do all the things being suggested. No one is quite sure what to do with the fur coats and children’s toys.
Learning Outcomes 3.1 3.2 3. 9 3.10 3.11
Pair work
1. What is the problem facing the crew on the island? 2. What do you think is the best way for the crew to use the limited resources available? Think of two uses each for (a) the wood (b) the metal (c) the fur coats (d) the plastic toys.
3. Imagine that the students in your class are the crew members. Share your answers to question 2. You must now discuss your choices until the class/crew can reach a decision on the best use of the resources.
