CBJr Economics Summaries: The Unseen -- Section 6

Cost Benefit Jr.™ teaches economics to young kids through stories about other kids. These kids are figuring out how to make self-beneficial decisions by recognizing their own incentives to play nice, share, and exhibit self control. For example, understanding supply and demand can help a child see that chores can be a supply of productive actions they can control.

Students as young as eight can learn complex concepts like supply & demand, opportunity cost, and diminishing marginal utility when they’re presented in simple stories. Each weekly story and quiz will take the average 4th grade student 20 to 30 minutes to read and complete. The curriculum is meant to cover a normal school year and is ideal for homeschoolers or as a quick & easy supplement to classroom learning.

Section 6: The Unseen: Hidden costs and benefits

In the sixth section of Cost Benefit Jr.™, students are introduced to some teenagers experiencing jealousy. Their friend has gotten a new motorcycle. Meanwhile, these teenagers are stuck walking. None of them can afford a motorcycle, and their friend is showing his off and making them a little angry.

But the story shows us several things that his friends don't see.

They don't see the opportunity costs that he paid in order to buy his motorcycle. The concept of an opportunity cost was first introduction in Section 1, but it's discussed again in Section 6 because opportunity costs are often unseen. In fact, all his friends see is how happy he is today, having just bought a new motorcycle. But what they don't see is the hard work and pleasures given up in order for him to afford that motorcycle. He paid many costs, besides its price in money, and these costs are largely hidden to his friends.

Seeing what are usually unseen costs and benefits can also show us our incentives to do “the right thing.” Another story about a mechanic illustrates to kids that there are sometimes unseen benefits in giving up a sale. Even though the mechanic gives up $200 he could have made doing an unnecessary job for a customer, he can expect good results from being honest enough to give up a sale that wouldn't benefit his customer.

There are two more summaries to go before we hold the contest for five free copies of Cost Benefit Jr.™!

Entries will be in the form of a comment, so be thinking about a comment you can submit (in the contest announcement post) telling us which section of Cost Benefit Jr.™ is your favorite, or explaining what you'd like to teach your kids, your grandkids, or yourself about economics and decision making.