This CIA4U online course examines current Canadian and international economic issues, developments, policies, and practices from diverse perspectives. Students enrolled in CIA4U will explore the decisions that individuals and institutions, including governments, make in response to economic issues such as globalization, trade agreements, economic inequalities, regulation, and public spending. Students will apply the concepts in CIA4U of economic thinking and the economic inquiry process, as well as economic models and theories, to investigate, and develop informed opinions about, economic trade-offs, growth, and sustainability and related economic issues.
Course curriculum
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The Grade 12 economics credit for business and commerce
The Ontario course that introduces the micro- and macroeconomics first-year commerce, economics and BBA programs build on, with a prerequisite most Grade 12 students already meet.
Demand, supply and market structures
Read and manipulate the charts economists use, understand elasticity, and compare competitive and concentrated markets through a real Canadian company merger.
GDP, inflation, the Bank of Canada
Measure economic performance with GDP, CPI and the unemployment rate, then see how fiscal policy and the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy move the economy.
Canada in the global economy
Trade agreements, exchange rates and the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, and a country-analyst website you build for a designated country.
CIA4U Course outline
Full unit-by-unit breakdown.
Examine the basic concepts of economics: the economic problem of scarcity and choice, and how households, businesses, government and foreign markets allocate scarce resources.
Key topics
Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost · economic sectors · economic systems · public versus private provision · influential economists
Assessed by
Health care policy discussion · economist presentation
Examine the relationship between the supply and demand of a product and how price affects each, using statistics, charts and graphs. Learn elasticity and compare the four basic market structures.
Key topics
Demand and supply curves · equilibrium price · elasticity · perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly
Assessed by
Canadian company merger assignment · unit test
Learn how GDP, the Consumer Price Index and the unemployment rate measure the economy, how government fiscal policy and the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy work, and how budget decisions affect the labour force.
Key topics
GDP · CPI and inflation · unemployment · fiscal policy · the Bank of Canada and monetary policy · labour markets
Assessed by
Inequality documentary assignment · labour market assignment
Analyze governance in Canada’s economy: how federal administrations set economic priorities, how their performance is judged, and how minority and majority governments shape economic decisions.
Key topics
Government economic priorities · assessing government performance · budgets and public spending · regulation
Assessed by
Assessing government performance research assignment
Examine the key concepts of international trade, Canada’s open trading policy and trade agreements, the benefits and concerns of globalization, and how Canada can prepare for future economic challenges.
Key topics
International trade and comparative advantage · trade agreements · exchange rates and the Bretton Woods system · globalization · Canada’s economic future
Assessed by
Country analyst website · collapse of the peg system assignment
