Teachers: Explore creative ways to integrate economics into your classroom.
August 5, 2025
Good as gold? A simple explanation of the gold standard
By: Graham Iddon
In an ideal gold standard monetary system, every piece of paper currency represents an amount of gold held by an authority. But in practice, the gold standard system’s rules were extremely and repeatedly bent in the face of economic realities.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Business,
Economics,
Financial literacy,
History
Grade level(s):
Grade 03,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
May 22, 2025
Speculating on the piggy bank
By: Graham Iddon
Ever since the first currencies allowed us to store value, we’ve needed a special place to store those shekels, drachmae and pennies. And the piggy bank—whether in pig form or not—has nearly always been there.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Arts,
Business,
Economics,
English language arts,
Financial literacy,
Geography,
Health,
History,
Math,
Science
Grade level(s):
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
July 16, 2024
Rai: big money
By: Graham Iddon
An item is said to have cultural value when it can be directly associated with the history, people, beliefs or rituals important to a society. It’s the same with a rai—its value can be greater depending upon who authorized it, who carved it and who subsequently owned it.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Economics,
Geography,
History
Grade level(s):
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
April 18, 2024
Lessons from the Great Depression
By: Graham Iddon
What the stock market crash of 1929 did was starkly reveal the weaknesses of economic systems that had evolved from the unregulated capitalism of the late 19th century.
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Financial literacy,
History
Grade level(s):
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5
November 27, 2023
Mo’ money, mo’ questions
But what do you do with money once you have it? That’s for you to decide. A budget can really help. It will allow you to keep track of what you earn (income) and what you spend (expenses).
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Financial literacy
Grade level(s):
Grade 04,
Grade 05,
Grade 06,
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5