Grades 9–12
High school
Beginning with the 2025–26 school year, Georgia's required senior economics course is Personal Finance and Economics (course 45.061), which replaced the previous Economics/Business/Free Enterprise course under SB 220 (the Georgia Financial Literacy Act). It blends five domains: Fundamentals of economic decision-making, a deep Personal Finance strand, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and International economics.
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Fundamentals of Economic Decision-Making SSEF1–4
Scarcity, marginal thinking, economic systems, and standards of living.
Downloads & quiz 4 quick-check questions
Teacher notes
Virginia’s EPF.1 supplies this unit’s signature tool: the PACED decision-making grid (Problem, Alternatives, Criteria, Evaluate, Decide) plus cost-benefit charts for marginal analysis. Tennessee E.06 makes one production possibilities curve carry six concepts at once, choice, productivity, tradeoffs, growth, scarcity, unemployment. Tennessee E.08 gives the systems debate an explicit list of competing policy goals, and Massachusetts’ economics elective offers concise scarcity and opportunity-cost formulations.- Explain that scarcity is a basic, permanent condition that exists because unlimited wants exceed limited productive resources.
- Compare and contrast strategies for allocating scarce resources such as by price, majority rule, contests, force, sharing, lottery, authority, first-come-first-served, and personal characteristics.
- Define and give examples of productive resources (i.e. factors of production): natural resources (i.e. land), human resources (i.e. labor and human capital), physical capital and entrepreneurship.
- Apply the concept of opportunity cost (the forgone next best alternative) to personal choices, as well as business and government decisions.
In plain words
Scarcity never goes away, wants always exceed resources, so every person, business, and government faces trade-offs. The next-best option you give up is your opportunity cost.How top states teach it
TNE.01–E.02: Scarcity forces choices involving opportunity costs and tradeoffs; define land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
VAEPF.1a, d: Consumers, businesses, AND government decision-makers all face scarcity, trade-offs, and opportunity costs.
- Explain that rational decisions occur when the marginal benefits of an action equal or exceed the marginal costs.
- Explain that individuals, businesses, and governments respond to positive and negative incentives in predictable ways.
In plain words
Think at the margin: is one MORE hour of studying (or one more slice of pizza) worth its extra cost? Rational choices happen when marginal benefit ≥ marginal cost. And incentives, rewards and penalties, predictably steer behavior.How top states teach it
VAEPF.1c: The PACED decision grid, Problem, Alternatives, Criteria, Evaluate, Decide, plus cost-benefit charts for marginal analysis.
UTStrand 2: Utah devotes a whole strand to financial psychology: emotional, cultural, and social influences on decisions, then a rational decision-making process.
- Analyze how command, market and mixed economic systems answer the three basic economic questions (what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce) to prioritize various social and economic goals such as freedom, security, equity, growth, efficiency, price stability, full employment, and sustainability.
- Compare the roles of government in different economic systems with regards to providing public goods and services, redistributing income, protecting property rights, resolving market failures, regulation and providing consumer protections.
In plain words
Command, market, and mixed systems answer the three basic questions differently because they prioritize different goals, freedom vs. security vs. equity vs. growth. Government's role ranges from referee to central planner.How top states teach it
VAEPF.1e–f: Compare market, command, traditional, and mixed economies, and meet Adam Smith by name.
TNE.08: Name the policy goals systems trade off: efficiency, full employment, price stability, equity, growth, security, freedom.
- Explain how investments in human capital (e.g., education, job training, and healthcare) can lead to a higher standard of living.
- Explain how investment in equipment and technology can lead to economic growth.
- Explain how individuals, businesses, and governments benefit from specialization and voluntary, non-fraudulent trade.
- Illustrate economic growth using a production possibilities curve.
In plain words
Standards of living rise when nations invest in people (education, health), in capital (equipment, tech), and specialize and trade. On a production possibilities curve, growth shows up as the whole curve shifting outward.How top states teach it
TNE.06: One PPC diagram carries six concepts at once: choice, productivity, tradeoffs, growth, scarcity, unemployment.
VAEPF.2f–g: Productivity gains from human capital, capital goods, and technology lower costs and raise standards of living.
Personal Finance SSEPF1–10
Life decisions, budgeting, banking, credit, insurance, careers, consumer protection, and identity theft.
Downloads & quiz 6 quick-check questions
Teacher notes
The A-rated personal-finance states supply ready-made depth for every SSEPF standard. Utah’s General Financial Literacy, the most-imitated course in the country, organizes the field into five strands (economic thinking, financial psychology, income and careers, saving and investing, money management and credit), backed by the free Finance in the Classroom library. Virginia EPF.18 is the deepest postsecondary-financing standard anywhere: FAFSA, award letters, loan types, repayment options, even institutional default rates. Tennessee’s Personal Finance course is project-based, complete a practice FAFSA (PF 5), file a 1040 and W-4 (PF 7), build a balance sheet and net worth statement (PF 8), analyze a sample credit report (PF 13), design an identity-theft protection plan (PF 16). New Jersey’s 9.1.12 band adds behavioral finance: bias, delayed gratification, and predatory-lending recognition.- Apply a rational decision-making model to evaluate the costs and benefits of post-high school life choices (i.e., college, technical school, military enlistment, workforce participation, or other option).
- Evaluate costs and benefits of various ways to pay for post-high school life including scholarships, the HOPE scholarship, employment, work-study programs, loans, grants, savings, prior investments, and other options.
- Identify necessary documents needed to complete forms like the FAFSA or scholarship applications.
- Apply a rational decision-making model to evaluate other major life choices like employment opportunities, renting a home vs. buying, selecting a mortgage, and buying a car.
- Describe how individual financial decisions can help create generational wealth.
In plain words
Use real decision-making tools on your actual next steps: college vs. tech school vs. military vs. work, how to pay for it (HOPE, FAFSA, grants, loans), and later calls like rent vs. buy. Small smart choices compound into generational wealth.How top states teach it
VAEPF.18: The nation’s deepest postsecondary-financing standard: FAFSA, grants vs. loans, award letters, repayment plans, even institutional default rates.
TNPF 3–6: Career aptitude surveys, education-cost comparison charts, a practice FAFSA, and an argumentative essay on student debt.
- Compare different types of income including hourly wages, salary, tips, independent contractor services (Form 1099), dividends, and capital gains.
- Review and complete a sample federal individual income tax form 1040.
- Describe the basic components of a paystub including gross pay, net pay, and common deductions (i.e. federal and state income tax, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA which includes Social Security and Medicare), and elective deductions like 401K, insurance and tax-deferred savings).
- Analyze the basic components of a personal budget including income, expenses (fixed and variable), and the importance of short-term and long-term savings.
- Explain how to reconcile a checking account, either online or on paper, including how to account for transactions that have not been posted (i.e. checks, weekend debit card transactions, or monthly auto-pay transactions) and how this helps avoid overdraft fees.
- Describe how to determine a person's net worth.
In plain words
Know where money comes from (wages, salary, tips, 1099 gigs, dividends) and where it goes: read a paystub (gross vs. net, FICA), file a 1040, build a budget with fixed and variable expenses, reconcile your account, and compute net worth = what you own − what you owe.How top states teach it
TNPF 7–9: Students complete a 1040 and W-4, build a balance sheet, compute net worth, and track a real week of spending against a plan.
VAEPF.15: Gross vs. net pay, W-2 forms, and standard employment tax forms completed in class.
- Explain the roles/functions of money as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account/standard of value.
- Compare services offered by different financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, payday lenders, and title pawn lenders.
- Compare and contrast cash, debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards and mobile payment apps in terms of how they work, acceptability, and the costs and benefits associated with each.
- Evaluate the risk and return of a variety of savings and investment options, including: savings accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement accounts (i.e. Roth IRA, 401K, 403b), stocks, bonds, 529 accounts, and mutual funds and explain the importance of diversification when investing.
- Describe the role of speculative investments (i.e. cryptocurrency and historical examples like buying on margin in the 1920's).
In plain words
Money has three jobs: medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account. Banks and credit unions beat payday and title-pawn lenders. Investments trade risk for return, diversify across savings, CDs, stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts, and treat crypto as speculation.How top states teach it
UTStrand 4: Utah’s saving-and-investing strand: financial institutions and account management, the pros and cons of saving, and the risks and returns of investing.
NJ9.1.12.PB.1: Start with the foundational distinction: the difference between saving and investing.
MAEcon.T6.1: The functions of money: medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account.
- Compare interest rates on loans and credit cards from different institutions including banks, credit unions, pay-day loan facilities, and title-pawn companies.
- Define annual percentage rate and describe how different interest rates can affect monthly payments on loans.
- Use an online amortization tool to show how payments on a fixed loan like a mortgage are applied to interest and principal.
- Explain the difference between simple and compound interest and the difference between fixed and variable interest.
- Define nominal and real returns and explain how inflation affects interest-earning savings and investment accounts.
In plain words
APR is the true yearly price of borrowing. Compound interest grows savings (and debts!) exponentially. Early mortgage payments are mostly interest. And inflation quietly eats returns, real return = nominal return − inflation.How top states teach it
NJ9.1.12.CDM.8: Compare and compute simple and compound interest and develop an amortization table using business tools.
VAEPF.13j: Compare amortization schedules across principal, time, APR, and different credit ratings.
- Describe income, sales, property, capital gains, and estate taxes in the U.S.
- Describe the difference between progressive, regressive, and proportional taxes.
In plain words
Know your taxes, income, sales, property, capital gains, estate, and how they're structured: progressive (higher earners pay a higher rate), regressive (hits lower earners harder), proportional (flat rate).How top states teach it
VAEPF.15d–e: The types and purposes of local, state, and federal taxes, and how tax structures affect people at different income levels.
NJ9.1.8.EG.3: How local, state, and federal governments use taxes to fund public activities and initiatives.
- Differentiate between and explain how to access one's credit report and credit score.
- Describe the basic components of a credit score including payment history, debt to income ratio, amount owed, length of credit history, types of credit used, amount of available credit, and recent credit applications.
- Analyze and evaluate a sample loan application for credit worthiness and the ability to receive favorable interest rates.
- Explain the difference between revolving credit and installment credit.
- Explain causes of personal bankruptcy and describe consequences of declaring bankruptcy.
In plain words
Your credit score (built from payment history, amounts owed, history length, credit mix, new applications) decides what borrowing costs you. Credit cards are revolving credit; car loans are installment. Misuse can end in bankruptcy, with long consequences.How top states teach it
TNPF 13: Analyze an actual sample credit report and interpret how its contents move the score, then list habits that maintain a good one.
UTStrand 5, Std 3: Explain credit reports and the significance of credit scores.
NJ9.1.12.CDM.9: The causes and consequences of personal and corporate bankruptcy, and implications for self and others.
- Explain why people buy insurance.
- Describe various types of insurance such as automobile, health, life (whole and term), disability, renters, flood and property.
- Explain the costs and benefits associated with different types of insurance, including deductibles, premiums, coverage limits shared liability, and asset protection.
- Define insurability and explain why insurance rates can vary.
In plain words
Insurance trades a small certain cost (premium) for protection against a big uncertain one. Know your types, auto, health, life, disability, renters, flood, property, and the fine print: deductibles, premiums, coverage limits.How top states teach it
VAEPF.14: Ways to manage risk, insurance types including identity-theft coverage, and how lifestyle choices affect premiums, insurability, and employability.
NJ9.1.12.RM.7: Use opportunity-cost analysis to judge whether insurance protection is adequate or over-insured.
- Identify skills that are required to be successful in the workplace, including positive work ethic, punctuality, time management, teamwork, and communication skills.
- Describe the impact a person's social media footprint can have on their career and finances.
- Evaluate job and career options and explain the significance of investment in education, training, and skill development as it relates to future earnings.
In plain words
Earnings follow skills: work ethic, punctuality, teamwork, communication, plus education and training. And yes, employers look at your social media.How top states teach it
UTStrand 3: Income sources, employability skills, and postsecondary preparation tied explicitly to lifetime earning power.
VAEPF.4: The market value of a worker’s education, skills, training, and credentials, human capital drives income potential.
MAPFL.T1.1: People choose jobs weighing salary, satisfaction, independence, benefits, and location.
- Describe how government agencies offer protection in banking, investments, borrowing, and buying goods and services.
- Compare different methods for lodging consumer complaints (e.g., Better Business Bureau, online methods, and direct contact with business).
- Explain the primary purpose of important consumer legislation (i.e., the Truth in Lending Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Housing Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act).
In plain words
You have rights: agencies regulate banks and markets, you can complain through the BBB or directly, and laws like Truth in Lending and the Fair Credit Reporting Act require honesty about loans and credit.How top states teach it
UTStrand 5, Std 5: The rights and responsibilities of buyers and sellers under consumer protection laws.
TNPF 10: Investigate the availability and reliability of consumer-protection laws, agencies, and resources at national, state, and local levels.
- Describe common ways identity theft happens including dumpster diving, skimming, phishing, stealing, and data breaches.
- Describe ways to protect yourself from identity theft including shredding important documents, not opening attachments to unknown emails, not revealing personal information over the phone or email, using secure networks, regularly monitoring your credit report, changing passwords on accounts, and carefully managing social media.
- Describe steps that should be taken if a person is the victim of identity theft including getting replacement credit cards, freezing credit histories, alerting appropriate officials, and changing passwords.
- Describe the basic characteristics of investment scams such as Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, and "advance fee" scams and how to avoid them.
In plain words
Thieves use phishing, skimming, and data breaches. Defend yourself: shred documents, use secure networks, monitor your credit, change passwords. Know scam shapes too, Ponzi schemes, pump-and-dumps, advance-fee cons.How top states teach it
TNPF 16: Students assess identity-theft scenarios and scams, design a protection plan, and outline recovery steps for victims.
MAPFL.T4.2: Identity theft risks in online transactions, email scams, and telemarketing, and how to protect sensitive information.
Microeconomics SSEMI1–3
Circular flow, supply & demand, business organization, and market structures.
Downloads & quiz 5 quick-check questions
Teacher notes
Tennessee’s E.09–E.14 sequence is a clean scaffold: define supply and demand with ceteris paribus → identify the shifters → define equilibrium → graph it → explain shortages and surpluses. Virginia EPF.3 adds elasticity and the purposes and implications of price ceilings and floors. For market structures, Tennessee E.21–E.23 pairs the four structures with the laws that protect competition, and Massachusetts frames profit as the incentive for entrepreneurs to accept the risk of business failure.- Explain, using a circular flow diagram, the real flow of goods and services, resources, and money through the product market and the resource (factor) market.
In plain words
The circular flow: households sell resources (like labor) to businesses in the factor market and buy goods in the product market, money flows one way, real stuff the other.How top states teach it
VAEPF.2j: Illustrate the circular flow of economic activity.
MN6.2.11.1: Trace the movement of goods, services, resources, and money through markets at community, national, and global levels.
- Define the law of supply and the law of demand.
- Describe various determinants (shifters) of supply and demand and illustrate on a graph how they can change equilibrium price and quantity.
- Explain and illustrate on a graph how prices set too high (e.g., price floors) create surpluses, and prices set too low (e.g., price ceilings) create shortages.
In plain words
Demand: price up, quantity demanded down. Supply: price up, quantity supplied up. Where they cross is equilibrium. Force the price too high → surplus; hold it too low → shortage.How top states teach it
TNE.09–E.14: A complete scaffold: definitions with ceteris paribus → shifters → equilibrium → graphing → shortages and surpluses.
VAEPF.3: Adds elasticity of supply and demand plus the purposes and implications of price ceilings and price floors.
- Compare and contrast three forms of business organization: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation with regards to number of owners, liability, lifespan, decision-making, and taxation.
- Identify the basic characteristics of monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, and pure (perfect) competition with regards to number of sellers, barriers to entry, price control, and product differentiation.
In plain words
Businesses come as sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations (different owners, liability, taxes). Markets range from one seller (monopoly) to a few (oligopoly) to many-with-branding (monopolistic competition) to many-identical (perfect competition).How top states teach it
TNE.16, E.21–E.23: The four market structures paired with the laws and regulations that protect competition among firms.
VAEPF.2d, h–i: Business forms including franchises and cooperatives; why monopoly and collusion reduce competition and raise prices.
Macroeconomics SSEMA1–3
GDP, CPI, unemployment, the business cycle, the Federal Reserve, and fiscal policy.
Downloads & quiz 5 quick-check questions
Teacher notes
Virginia EPF.5–EPF.7 maps nearly one-to-one onto SSEMA1–3: indicators (GDP, CPI, unemployment) → the business cycle → Federal Reserve structure and monetary policy tools → fiscal policy, deficits, and debt. Tennessee adds two distinctive upgrades: E.37 compares the major schools of economic thought, Smith, Keynes, Hayek, Laffer, Friedman, as a capstone debate, and E.30 has students compare government budgets with personal budgets.- Describe key economic outcomes and how they are measured including economic growth using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and real GDP; price stability using the Consumer Price Index (CPI); and full employment using the unemployment rate.
- Explain the differences between seasonal, structural, cyclical, and frictional unemployment.
- Describe the stages of the business cycle and its relation to economic measurement, including: peak, contraction, trough, recovery/expansion as well as recession.
In plain words
Three gauges on the economy's dashboard: GDP (growth), CPI (inflation), unemployment rate (jobs). Unemployment comes in four flavors, seasonal, structural, cyclical, frictional, and the economy cycles: peak → contraction → trough → expansion.How top states teach it
VAEPF.5: Indicators (GDP, CPI, unemployment rate) → causes and effects → the business cycle, integrated in a single standard.
TNE.39, E.41, E.43: How each measure is calculated, the causes and impact of inflation, and the types of unemployment.
- Describe the organization of the Federal Reserve System (12 Districts, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and Board of Governors).
- Describe the Federal Reserve Bank's roles in payment processing, bank supervision, and monetary policy including the dual mandate of price stability and full employment.
- Describe how the Federal Reserve uses various tools of monetary policy to target the federal funds rate and how this rate influences other interest rates in the economy.
In plain words
The Fed (12 districts + Board of Governors + FOMC) is the nation's central bank. Its dual mandate: stable prices and full employment. Its main lever: the federal funds rate, which ripples into every other interest rate, including your car loan. Fun fact: Atlanta hosts one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks.How top states teach it
VAEPF.6c–d: The purpose, structure, and function of the Federal Reserve System plus its monetary policy tools.
TNE.37: Capstone debate: compare Smith, Keynes, Hayek, Laffer, and Friedman on government intervention.
- Explain the effect on the economy of the government's taxing and spending decisions in promoting price stability, full employment, and economic growth.
- Explain how government budget deficits or surpluses impact national debt.
In plain words
Fiscal policy = Congress's taxing and spending choices. Spend more than you collect → deficit; deficits pile up into the national debt.How top states teach it
VAEPF.7: Congressional spending and tax policy, sources of government revenue, and balanced budget vs. deficit vs. national debt.
TNE.30: Compare government budgets with personal budgets, deficits and surpluses made concrete.
International Economics SSEIN1–2
Comparative advantage, trade barriers, exchange rates, and Georgia's place in the global economy.
Downloads & quiz 4 quick-check questions
Teacher notes
Virginia EPF.9 covers this domain completely: why voluntary trade benefits all parties, absolute vs. comparative advantage, trade deficits and surpluses, exchange rates and the strength of the dollar, costs and benefits of barriers, and trade agreements and the WTO. Minnesota’s benchmark adds the equity angle, identify the groups that win and lose under free-trade treaties, trading blocs, and barriers. Tennessee E.50 closes with a structured evaluation of the free-trade debate.- Explain how nations benefit when they specialize in producing goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage.
- Explain how trade barriers create costs and benefits to consumers and producers over time.
- Analyze Georgia's role in the international economy (i.e. the ports of Savannah and Brunswick, the Northeast inland port, the presence of multinational corporations in the state, and the impact of trade on the state's economy).
In plain words
Nations win by specializing where they have comparative advantage, the lowest opportunity cost. Trade barriers protect some producers but cost consumers. Georgia is a trade heavyweight: the ports of Savannah and Brunswick connect the state to the world.How top states teach it
VAEPF.9: Voluntary trade, absolute vs. comparative advantage, barriers, exchange rates, trade agreements, and the WTO in one sequence.
MN9.2.5.12.1: Identify the groups that benefit and lose under free-trade treaties, trading blocs, and trade barriers.
TNE.50: Evaluate the arguments for and against free trade.
- Describe factors that cause changes in exchange rates.
- Explain how appreciation and depreciation of currency affects net exports and benefits some groups and hurts others.
In plain words
When the dollar strengthens (appreciates), imports get cheaper but U.S. exports get pricier abroad, helping American shoppers, squeezing American exporters. Depreciation flips it.How top states teach it
VAEPF.9d: Exchange rates and how the strength of the dollar shapes economic decisions.
TNE.49: How exchange-rate changes shift purchasing power for people in the U.S. and other countries.