Project: Do you think economics is difficult? It's not!

Source: http://internships-southafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/economics.jpg

With this new project we are going to explain economic concepts in an easy way, so that everybody can understand. Every group will work on a part of the unit  to explain the contents we have studied in class in a creative way. You can choose the way to explain every part. It can be: 

- A video with drawings. 

- A theater play recorded on video

- Some songs (a mini-musical)

- A comic strip telling a story. 

- A radio program

... or any other ideas you have. 

These are the contents every group will work on: 

GROUP 1: Economics. economic activities and economic sectors

GROUP 2: Factors of production and economic agents

GROUP 3: Taxes, tax evasion, tax havens... You can include an advertising campaign to convince people about the importance of paying taxes. 

GROUP 4: Labour market

GROUP 5: Economic systems: subsistence economy and capitalism

GROUP 6: Economic systems: centrally planned economy and alternative economics

GROUP 7: Economic crises and basic vocabulary (inflation, CPI/RPI, GDP, sovereign debt, Stock Exchange Market)

Modern Times

This is Charles Chaplin's full movie Modern Times, a very good film to understand the changes in industrial work as a consequence of mechanization:

Paying more or less taxes?

Source: http://www.browndeerwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/property-taxes-pic.png

If you are asked whether you like paying more or less taxes, almost everybody will answer "less".But maybe the question should be "Do you want to enjoy more or less public services?" If the question was this one, maybe the answer would be rather different.

Here you have some articles where you can check that the countries where people pay more taxes are those that enjoy more and better quality public services, those where poverty is lower, there are less economic differences and the needy get what they need to have a decent life:

WHY DO THE FRENCH TOLERATE SUCH HIGH TAXES?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/09/economist-explains-13

WHY SWEDES ARE OKAY WITH PAYING TAXES:

https://sweden.se/society/why-swedes-are-okay-with-paying-taxes/

WHY DANES HAPPILY PAY HIGH RATES OF TAXES

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-01-20/why-danes-happily-pay-high-rates-of-taxes

BETTER PUBLIC SERVICES WILL INEVITABLY MEAN HIGHER TAXES (about Ireland)

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/better-public-services-will-inevitably-mean-higher-taxes-1.2414323

Here you have vsome graphs in which you can compare the consequences in real life of paying more or less taxes and having more or less public services. The comparison is between Denmark and the USA:

POVERTY RATES

CHILD POVERTY RATES

HEALTH CARE

WEEKS OF PAID PARENTAL LEAVE

WEEKS OF GUARANTEED VACATION

WELFARE EXPENDITURES

Source: http://www.demos.org/blog/10/20/15/united-states-vs-denmark-17-charts

Finally, here you have an animated video paid by the California Federation of Teachers to explain the consequences of paying less taxes and reducing the amount of money the wealthiest people pay: 

Do you continue to think that that paying lower taxes is better?

Tax havens and tax fraud

Here you have two short videos about how tax havens work and the cost of tax fraud in the EU:

And these are two short videos from AJ+ about how the big corporations avoid paying taxes: