Geographical Understanding
SS7G5 The student will locate selected features in Southwestern Asia (Middle East).
a. Locate on a world and regional political-physical map: Euphrates River, Jordan River, Tigris River, Suez Canal, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and Gaza Strip.
b. Locate on a world and regional political-physical map the nations of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
SS7G7 The student will explain the impact of location, climate, physical characteristics, Distribution of natural resources and population distribution on Southwest Asia (Middle East).
a. Explain how the distribution of oil has affected the development of Southwest Asia (Middle
East).
b. Describe how the deserts and rivers of Southwest Asia (Middle East) have affected the population in terms of where people live, the type of work they do, and how they travel.
SS7G6 a. Explain how water pollution and the unequal distribution of water impacts irrigation and
drinking water.
Economic Understandings
SS7E5 The student will analyze different economic systems.
a. Compare how traditional, command, and market economies answer the economic questions of
(1) what to produce, (2) how to produce, and (3) for whom to produce.
Every society must deal with providing goods and services for its people. Each society must also develop an economic system that can decide how to use the limited resources of that society as well. Three basic questions must be answered:
1 What goods and services will be produced?
2 How will these goods and services be produced?
3 Who uses the goods and services that are produced?
A Traditional Economy
In a traditional economy, most of the economic decisions that are made are based on custom and on the habit of how such decisions were made in the past. The word tradition means something that has been passed down in a culture from one generation to the next. Many traditional economies are found in rural areas where people depend on members of their extended families and where work is often subsistence farming, herding animals, or working in simple crafts, and trades. Often very little money ever exchanges hands in a traditional economy. Bartering or trading in goods and services replaces currency as a way of paying for things people need. In Southwest Asia, traditional economies can still be found in rural areas of many of the countries of this region. No country today can be described as having a primarily traditional economy.
A Command Economy
A command economy is a more centralized economy, one in which government planning groups make most of the basic economic decisions for the workers. A central planning group would decide which goods and services should be produced, as well as prices for the goods and wages paid to the workers. No individual could decide to start a new business on his or her own. The government would decide what to produce and who would own the places where the goods were produced. The government would also decide what jobs the workers would do and how and where the goods produced would be sold.
A Market Economy
The third basic type of economic system is a market economy, one in which a society’s economic decisions are made by individuals who decide what to produce and what to buy. Other names for a market economy are capitalism, free enterprise, or laissez-faire (French phrase that means “to allow them to do as they please”). Many countries in Southwest Asia use a market or free enterprise economic system.
http://teacherpages.hallco.org/webpages/dpeake/units.cfm?subpage=437518
1 What goods and services will be produced?
2 How will these goods and services be produced?
3 Who uses the goods and services that are produced?
A Traditional Economy
In a traditional economy, most of the economic decisions that are made are based on custom and on the habit of how such decisions were made in the past. The word tradition means something that has been passed down in a culture from one generation to the next. Many traditional economies are found in rural areas where people depend on members of their extended families and where work is often subsistence farming, herding animals, or working in simple crafts, and trades. Often very little money ever exchanges hands in a traditional economy. Bartering or trading in goods and services replaces currency as a way of paying for things people need. In Southwest Asia, traditional economies can still be found in rural areas of many of the countries of this region. No country today can be described as having a primarily traditional economy.
A Command Economy
A command economy is a more centralized economy, one in which government planning groups make most of the basic economic decisions for the workers. A central planning group would decide which goods and services should be produced, as well as prices for the goods and wages paid to the workers. No individual could decide to start a new business on his or her own. The government would decide what to produce and who would own the places where the goods were produced. The government would also decide what jobs the workers would do and how and where the goods produced would be sold.
A Market Economy
The third basic type of economic system is a market economy, one in which a society’s economic decisions are made by individuals who decide what to produce and what to buy. Other names for a market economy are capitalism, free enterprise, or laissez-faire (French phrase that means “to allow them to do as they please”). Many countries in Southwest Asia use a market or free enterprise economic system.
http://teacherpages.hallco.org/webpages/dpeake/units.cfm?subpage=437518
b. Explain how most countries have a mixed economy located on a continuum between pure market and pure command.
Most countries in the world are based on both market an command economic systems. That's why they are called mixed economies.Almost all southwest Asia counties would be considered mixed economies because they all have the characteristics of free market and free enterprises along with government planing and control.
c. Compare and contrast the economic systems in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
SS7E6 The student will explain how voluntary trade benefits buyers and sellers in Southwest Asia (Middle East).
a. Explain how specialization encourages trade between countries.
It builds a profitable economy and to earn money to buy items that cannot be made locally.
b. Compare and contrast different types of trade barriers, such as tariffs, quotas, and embargo's.
1. Tariff - A tax on goods
2. Quota - A limit on the number of goods imported
3. Embargo - The prohibition of trading of any kind with a nation
4. Quota - Saudi Arabia's king caps oil production at 8 million barrels per day
5. Tariff - In effort to promote domestic production, Jordan taxes imported tires
6. Embargo - Israel prohibits a company from importing goods from Iran
2. Quota - A limit on the number of goods imported
3. Embargo - The prohibition of trading of any kind with a nation
4. Quota - Saudi Arabia's king caps oil production at 8 million barrels per day
5. Tariff - In effort to promote domestic production, Jordan taxes imported tires
6. Embargo - Israel prohibits a company from importing goods from Iran
c. Explain the primary function of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members, and to provide member states with technical and economic aid. OPEC is a cartel that aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil on the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/opec.asp
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/opec.asp
d. Explain why international trade requires a system for exchanging currencies between nations.
That people can buy and sell goods internationally.