Activity: Farmers and Fishers

Video Demonstration:

 

Concepts:  

• Incentives
• Property rights
• Voluntary Exchange

Content Standards:

Standard 4:  People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.

Standard 5:  Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain.

Standard 10:   Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. . . . [One] kind of institution, clearly defined and well-enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy.

Time:

½ class period

Materials:

• Screen Share Visuals:
  • Scenario
  • Overview of United States Water Law
  • Property Rights Rules
  • A Better Solution . . .
• Download & Print
  • Role cards – one per student
    • Copy farmer and fisher roles on different colored paper

*This activity is excerpted from the FTE curriculum unit Economics of Water and the Environment:  Are We All Wet? “Lesson 4:  Farmers and Fishermen.”