Global Connections, Risk & Economic Inquiry — Extension · Government, Civic Participation & Economics, Grade 12
5 focused units, followed by an evidence workshop, chapter review, and chapter quiz.
Evidence workshop: Global Connections, Risk & Economic Inquiry
Your assignment
How do trade, development, and financial risk change the feasibility of an economic plan?
Three 45–60-minute sessions: examine the packet; draft and discuss; revise using the marking criteria.
Prepare
- The supplied source-study packet, chapter explanations, and labeled evidence cases.
- Notebook, calculator, and the supplied diagrams. Linked original documents are optional extensions.
Plan, draft, revise
- Identify the reference, its institution, date if supplied, purpose, and form; label invented course data separately.
- Separate legal text, definitions, supplied observations, calculations, and interpretation.
- State a bounded claim answering the chapter question.
- Connect two chapter examples to the source-study packet.
- Draft 350–500 words or an equivalent annotated oral presentation, explaining a mechanism and a limit.
- Compare the four-paragraph model after attempting your answer; revise concepts, calculations, evidence, and unsupported generalizations.
Discuss your choices
- Which observations directly support the claim?
- What can the item not tell us about other people or places?
- Which independent evidence would test the explanation?
Success criteria
- Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
- Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
- Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
- Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.
Original-source study packet: Financial-crisis inquiry, balance sheets, and a feasible plan
Original inquiry context: the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission published its report in 2011 on the causes of the financial crisis, including majority findings and dissenting views. It is a bounded institutional investigation, not proof that every later reform succeeded. This packet paraphrases the inquiry’s role and combines it with clearly invented teaching records.
Supplied balance sheet: an institution holds assets of $100, liabilities of $80, and equity of $20. Its assets fall to $90 while liabilities remain $80. Supplied education plans: A costs $6,000 with a $3,000 grant; B costs $3,500 with a $1,000 grant. Both begin with zero savings and allow $150 a month after stated living costs for 12 months. Payment dates are not supplied.
Inquiry task: calculate the effect of the asset decline on equity and the annual education funding gap in each plan. Test a downside scenario in which monthly available income falls by $100 with no other change. Explain how leverage, cash-flow timing, and uncertainty can affect feasibility. Do not transfer one institution’s balance-sheet loss directly into a household forecast.
Chapter evidence for comparison
The cases below are course-authored teaching scenarios or summaries. Invented numbers and claims are labeled; they are not transcriptions of historical witnesses. Attempt the inquiry using the supplied material before consulting the model.
| Unit | Evidence case |
|---|---|
| Trade, Comparative Advantage & Uneven Adjustment | Invented hours per unit: A cloth two, grain one; B cloth six, grain two. Divisible output, constant rates, no trade costs. |
| Exchange Rates, International Payments & Price Effects | Invented rates change from $1.00 per euro to $1.20; item price stays €100; fees are excluded. |
| Growth, Development, Resources & Long-Term Choices | Invented periods: energy 1,000 then 1,080 units; real output 100 then 120 units. |
| Financial Instability: Leverage, Risk & Public Responses | Invented entity: assets $100, debt $80; assets then fall to $90; debt is unchanged; fees and further transactions excluded. |
| Economics Capstone: A Feasible Plan with Evidence & Risk | Invented packet: A cost $6,000/grant $3,000/monthly income $800/spending $650; B cost $3,500/grant $1,000/income $1,000/spending $850; twelve fixed months; zero starting savings. |
Parent / teacher model and marking guidance
The commission report can support study of an investigation’s findings, evidence, and disagreements. The invented balance sheet instead isolates an accounting relationship: assets equal liabilities plus equity. These records answer different questions. A recommendation in an inquiry is evidence about a proposed response; assessing its later effects requires implementation records and outcomes, while judging a household plan requires its own costs, dates, and resources.
Initially equity is $100 minus $80, or $20. After the asset decline it is $90 minus $80, or $10. A ten-percent asset decline has reduced equity by 50 percent because liabilities remained fixed. This demonstrates a leverage mechanism under the supplied assumptions. It does not establish the market value of every real asset, prove insolvency here, or settle whether an institution could meet its immediate payment obligations.
Plan A’s net education cost is $3,000 and Plan B’s is $2,500 after grants. Saving $150 for 12 months provides $1,800, leaving gaps of $1,200 and $700 respectively. Reducing monthly available income by $100 leaves $50 monthly, or $600 annually. The gaps then become $2,400 and $1,900. These are conditional calculations, not predictions; annual totals also do not prove that cash arrives before each payment date.
A defensible recommendation compares financing, timing, educational suitability, obligations, and a downside response. The economics capstone supplies specific loan terms for A’s base gap; they must not be invented for B or assumed available under stress. Tradeoffs and missing evidence should remain explicit. Different plans can earn strong marks when they are feasible under their stated conditions, explain the risk mechanism, and identify which additional information would change the recommendation.
- Explain the relevant institution or economic concept accurately; show correct calculations where needed.
- Connect supplied evidence and stated assumptions to an explained conclusion.
- Compare feasible options and their effects on different people without stereotypes.
- Identify a limitation, tradeoff, uncertainty, or condition that qualifies the conclusion.
Accept a different interpretation when the learner supports it with relevant evidence. Discuss the draft before assigning a final mark.
Extend your reading and writing through the workshop reflection questions.
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
The commission report can support study of an investigation’s findings, evidence, and disagreements. The invented balance sheet instead isolates an accounting relationship: assets equal liabilities plus equity. These records answer different questions. A recommendation in an inquiry is evidence about a proposed response; assessing its later effects requires implementation records and outcomes, while judging a household plan requires its own costs, dates, and resources. Initially equity is $100 minus $80, or $20. After the asset decline it is $90 minus $80, or $10. A ten-percent asset decline has reduced equity by 50 percent because liabilities remained fixed. This demonstrates a leverage mechanism under the supplied assumptions. It does not establish the market value of every real asset, prove insolvency here, or settle whether an institution could meet its immediate payment obligations. Plan A’s net education cost is $3,000 and Plan B’s is $2,500 after grants. Saving $150 for 12 months provides $1,800, leaving gaps of $1,200 and $700 respectively. Reducing monthly available income by $100 leaves $50 monthly, or $600 annually. The gaps then become $2,400 and $1,900. These are conditional calculations, not predictions; annual totals also do not prove that cash arrives before each payment date. A defensible recommendation compares financing, timing, educational suitability, obligations, and a downside response. The economics capstone supplies specific loan terms for A’s base gap; they must not be invented for B or assumed available under stress. Tradeoffs and missing evidence should remain explicit. Different plans can earn strong marks when they are feasible under their stated conditions, explain the risk mechanism, and identify which additional information would change the recommendation.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
The commission report can support study of an investigation’s findings, evidence, and disagreements. The invented balance sheet instead isolates an accounting relationship: assets equal liabilities plus equity. These records answer different questions. A recommendation in an inquiry is evidence about a proposed response; assessing its later effects requires implementation records and outcomes, while judging a household plan requires its own costs, dates, and resources. Initially equity is $100 minus $80, or $20. After the asset decline it is $90 minus $80, or $10. A ten-percent asset decline has reduced equity by 50 percent because liabilities remained fixed. This demonstrates a leverage mechanism under the supplied assumptions. It does not establish the market value of every real asset, prove insolvency here, or settle whether an institution could meet its immediate payment obligations. Plan A’s net education cost is $3,000 and Plan B’s is $2,500 after grants. Saving $150 for 12 months provides $1,800, leaving gaps of $1,200 and $700 respectively. Reducing monthly available income by $100 leaves $50 monthly, or $600 annually. The gaps then become $2,400 and $1,900. These are conditional calculations, not predictions; annual totals also do not prove that cash arrives before each payment date. A defensible recommendation compares financing, timing, educational suitability, obligations, and a downside response. The economics capstone supplies specific loan terms for A’s base gap; they must not be invented for B or assumed available under stress. Tradeoffs and missing evidence should remain explicit. Different plans can earn strong marks when they are feasible under their stated conditions, explain the risk mechanism, and identify which additional information would change the recommendation.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
The commission report can support study of an investigation’s findings, evidence, and disagreements. The invented balance sheet instead isolates an accounting relationship: assets equal liabilities plus equity. These records answer different questions. A recommendation in an inquiry is evidence about a proposed response; assessing its later effects requires implementation records and outcomes, while judging a household plan requires its own costs, dates, and resources. Initially equity is $100 minus $80, or $20. After the asset decline it is $90 minus $80, or $10. A ten-percent asset decline has reduced equity by 50 percent because liabilities remained fixed. This demonstrates a leverage mechanism under the supplied assumptions. It does not establish the market value of every real asset, prove insolvency here, or settle whether an institution could meet its immediate payment obligations. Plan A’s net education cost is $3,000 and Plan B’s is $2,500 after grants. Saving $150 for 12 months provides $1,800, leaving gaps of $1,200 and $700 respectively. Reducing monthly available income by $100 leaves $50 monthly, or $600 annually. The gaps then become $2,400 and $1,900. These are conditional calculations, not predictions; annual totals also do not prove that cash arrives before each payment date. A defensible recommendation compares financing, timing, educational suitability, obligations, and a downside response. The economics capstone supplies specific loan terms for A’s base gap; they must not be invented for B or assumed available under stress. Tradeoffs and missing evidence should remain explicit. Different plans can earn strong marks when they are feasible under their stated conditions, explain the risk mechanism, and identify which additional information would change the recommendation.