South 고등학교 2학년 Humans and Economic Activity
Chapters: 4
1. Humans and economic decisions
Rational decision-making · Irrational choices · Rationality and fairness
- Decision Making: How to Choose Well, Step by Step – Decision making means choosing the best option from two or more choices. A good decision follows steps: spot the problem, list options, set criteria, give each criterion a weight, score the options, choose, act and then review. A decision matrix turns this into simple numbers.
- Behavioural Economics: How Real People Decide – Traditional economics assumes people are fully rational: they know all options, weigh costs and benefits and always pick what is best for them. Behavioural economics uses psychology and experiments to show how real people decide. Our rationality is bounded by limited time, information and brain power, so we use shortcuts (heuristics) that cause predictable biases: anchoring, availability, herd behaviour, loss aversion, present bias and framing. People also care about fairness and social norms, as the ultimatum game shows. Governments and firms use these ideas in nudges and choice architecture, for example default options. Nudges keep freedom of choice but raise ethical questions about manipulation.
2. Humans and the world of work
Finding jobs · Labour problems
- Career Planning: From Knowing Yourself to Your First Job – Career planning has five steps. 1) Know yourself: interests, skills and values. 2) Explore career families and find out the work, study needed, pay and demand. 3) Plan a pathway with SMART goals and a plan B. 4) Search for jobs with a CV, cover letter, digital portfolio and interview practice. 5) Make the move from school to work and keep learning, because careers change over a lifetime.
- Employment Law: The Rules of Working for Someone – Employment law is the set of rules for the relationship between an employer and an employee. An employment contract exists when a person does work, for pay, under the employer's direction (subordination). Contracts may be permanent, fixed-term, temporary through an agency, part-time or telework; a civil-law or freelance contract is not employment. Employees have rights (at least the minimum wage, limited hours, rest and paid leave, a safe workplace, equal treatment, freedom from harassment) and duties (careful work, following lawful instructions, loyalty, safety rules). Employers can organise work and discipline, within the law. Pay is gross before tax and social insurance and net after; the employer's total cost is higher. Trade unions negotiate collective agreements. A contract ends by resignation, dismissal with a valid reason and fair procedure, mutual agreement or the end of a fixed term.
3. Humans and the economic community
Income distribution theories · Competition and its limits · Information technology and economy
- Income Inequality – Income inequality means income is shared unevenly between people. Economists rank people from poorest to richest, split them into five groups of 20% (quintiles) and compare their shares. The Lorenz curve plots the cumulative share of income against the cumulative share of people; the further it bends from the straight line of equality, the more unequal the society. The Gini coefficient = A ÷ (A + B) turns this into one number between 0 (perfect equality) and 1 (one person has everything). Wealth (what you own) is usually more unequal than income (what you earn). Causes include differences in skills, education, inherited wealth, discrimination and technology. Governments reduce inequality with progressive taxes, benefits, minimum wages and public services such as free schooling and health care.
- Market Failure – A market fails when buying and selling on its own does not give the best result for society. Resources are used in the wrong amounts: too much of some goods (pollution, cigarettes), too little of others (street lights, vaccines, education). Main causes: externalities, public goods, merit and demerit goods, imperfect information, market power and unfair inequality. Governments try to fix it with taxes, subsidies, rules, direct provision and information, but government action can also fail.
- Digital Economy: Platforms, Reviews and Personal Data – The digital economy is the part of the economy that runs on the internet, phones and data. Its heart is the platform: an app or website that links buyers and sellers (or drivers and riders, hotels and guests) and takes a fee. Platforms grow through the network effect: more users on one side attract more on the other side. Customers choose using ratings and reviews, so every business needs a good digital identity (website, social pages, reviews). Platforms collect a lot of personal data, so consent and data-protection laws matter.
4. Humans and future society
Fourth industrial revolution · Low birth rate and ageing · Carbon emissions and development
- Future of Work – Technology changes jobs. Machines and AI take over tasks that repeat in the same way every day. At the same time new jobs appear, and jobs that need people skills, care and creative thinking grow. The best way to stay ready is to keep learning new skills all your life.
- Population Ageing – Population ageing means older people form a growing share of a population. It has two drivers: fewer births (total fertility rate below about 2.1) and longer lives. Fewer workers per older person strains pensions, health care and the labour supply, while schools need fewer places. Societies respond with support for families, later and flexible retirement, pension and care reforms, technology, lifelong learning and sometimes immigration.
- Climate Policy: How the World Acts on Climate Change – Climate policy is the set of agreements, laws and plans that cut greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and help people cope with a changing climate (adaptation). Because the atmosphere is shared, no country can solve the problem alone, so countries cooperate through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015). Under Paris, every country sets its own target (an NDC) and raises it every five years, aiming to keep warming well below 2 °C and to try for 1.5 °C. At home, governments use carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, rules and standards, and support for clean energy. Many have set net-zero (carbon-neutral) targets: by a set year, any gas still emitted is balanced by gas removed. Fairness matters: richer countries emitted most in the past, so the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, climate finance and technology sharing help poorer countries develop cleanly.