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Clock
10 minutes
Middle School - College
463 classes this year
Subjects: AP Economics Economics
Topics: Economic Growth Scarcity Specialization

Have you been to a frontier lately? Whether you realize it or not, the economy has a frontier—it has an outer limit of economic production. In the eighth episode of the Economic Lowdown Video Series, economic education specialist Scott Wolla explains how the production possibilities frontier (PPF) illustrates some very important economic concepts.

The final segment of The Production Possibilities Frontier uses the production possibilities frontier to demonstrate how, in the real world, opportunity cost increases as production increases. This is a difficult concept made simple using the PPF.

View Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics

Content Standard 1: Scarcity

Grade 4 Benchmarks

6. Productive resources are the natural resources, human resources, and capital goods available to make goods and services.

8. Human resources are the quantity and quality of human effort directed toward producing goods and services.

9. Capital goods are goods that are produced and used to make other goods and services.

Grade 8 Benchmarks

1. Scarcity is the condition of not being able to have all of the goods and services that one wants. It exists because human wants for goods and services exceed the quantity of goods and services that can be produced using all available resources. Scarcity is experienced by individuals, governments, and societies.

Grade 12 Benchmarks

1. Choices made by individuals, firms, or government officials are constrained by the resources to which they have access.

Content Standard 6: Specialization

Grade 8 Benchmarks

1. Labor productivity is output per worker.

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