Italy Secondaria di secondo grado – classe 1ª Law and economics
Chapters: 2
1. Economics
The economic problem
- The Problem of Choice: Scarcity and Opportunity Cost – Our wants are unlimited but resources like money, time, land and workers are limited. This is scarcity, and it forces us to choose. The value of the next best option we give up is the opportunity cost. Economists study how people and societies make these choices. Every society must decide what, how and for whom to produce. Market, planned and mixed economies answer these differently, and a welfare state makes sure basic needs of all are met.
2. Law
Legal rules and the Constitution · Justice and citizenship · State and EU
- What Is a Constitution? Rules, Rights and Duties – A constitution is the highest law of a country. It says how the state is organised, who holds power and how, and what rights and duties citizens have. Legal rules differ from other rules (game, family, school, manners) because the state makes them and enforces them with courts and penalties. All laws form a pyramid: the constitution at the top, then acts of parliament, then regulations and local rules; a lower rule that conflicts with a higher one can be struck down. Most constitutions are hard to change (rigid), protecting core values such as equality, freedom, solidarity and the right and duty to work.
- Rule of Law – The rule of law means everyone, including the government and its leaders, must follow the same known laws, which are applied equally by fair and independent courts. Its main principles are supremacy of law, equality before the law, clear and public laws, fair trials, protected rights and separation of powers. Laws are made and changed through an open process, can be reviewed by courts against a constitution or charter of rights, and countries also agree to international law through treaties.
- Systems of Government: Branches, Checks and Balances – Every modern state divides power among three branches: the legislature makes laws, the executive carries them out and the judiciary interprets them. Checks and balances let each branch limit the others. Democracies arrange the legislature and executive in different ways. In a parliamentary system the government comes from parliament and must keep its confidence (UK, India, Germany). In a presidential system people elect the president and the legislature separately for fixed terms (USA, Brazil). A semi-presidential system shares power between an elected president and a prime minister who answers to parliament (France). Other forms include monarchies and Switzerland's committee system.