Scarcity, choices and opportunity cost

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Earnings and unemployment by highest degree, 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, read Nov 14, 2026). Columns: Highest degree, Median weekly earnings, Unemployment rate. High school diploma, $966, 4.3%; Associate's degree, $1,135, 3.0%; Bachelor's degree, $1,578, 2.8%; Master's degree, $1,876, 2.6%. Workers are age 25 and over; earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers. The 2025 figures are 11-month averages that leave out October. A made-up student would otherwise work 52 weeks a year at the high school median; a bachelor's degree takes 4 years at $18,000 a year in tuition and fees. Room and board would be paid anyway.

2. 1.

   Ari totals the cost of a bachelor's degree for the made-up student. Which total counts the right things?

   • $72,000 plus the earnings given up, plus four years of room and board, since these come out of income
   • $72,000, the tuition, since earnings given up are not a cost the student pays
   • About $273,000: $72,000 in tuition plus about $201,000 in earnings given up
   • About $201,000, the earnings given up, since tuition is a cost to the school
3. 2.

   The student earns the bachelor's median instead of the high school median once working. Bo asks how long the weekly gap takes to repay the total cost. Which is best?

   • About 4 years of work, which is the length of the degree itself
   • About 2 years of work, since $612 a week repays the $72,000 of tuition quickly
   • More than 20 years of work, since unemployment of 2.8 percent erodes most of the gap
   • About 9 years of work, if the $612 weekly gap held for the whole career
4. 3.

   A counselor says a bachelor's degree raises weekly pay by $612. Esme tests the claim against the table. What is the best verdict?

   • Supported: the same workers would earn $612 a week less if they had skipped the degree
   • The gap is real in these data, but the table cannot show how much the degree itself caused
   • Supported for workers over 25, since the table covers age 25 and over
   • Not supported: medians say nothing about a single worker, so no gap exists

5. A bakery's batches in one day (example figures, made up for practice)

   Batch	Extra cost of the batch	Extra sales from the batch
   1	$20	$80
   2	$28	$72
   3	$40	$64
   4	$54	$56
   5	$70	$48
   6	$88	$40

   Extra sales fall because the price drops as more bread is sold. The oven rent is $200 a day and is paid whether or not the bakery opens.

6. 4.

   Kira wants the number of batches that gives the bakery the largest profit. Which choice does the table support?

   • Four batches: the 4th adds $56 in sales for $54 in cost, while the 5th adds $48 for $70
   • Six batches, since the $200 oven rent is paid anyway and a full day uses it well
   • Five batches, since total sales keep rising and the 5th batch still brings in $48
   • Three batches, since the gap between extra sales and extra cost is widest early on, at $60
7. 5.

   The oven rent is $200 whether or not the bakery opens. Luz asks what the owner should do. Which choice is best?

   • Do not open, since a day that loses $70 is worse than a day with no batches
   • Make three batches, since fewer batches mean lower costs and so a smaller loss for the day
   • Open and make four: they bring in $130 over their costs, so a $70 loss beats a $200 loss
   • Make five batches, since another batch spreads the $200 rent over more loaves of bread
8. 6.

   A baker says the oven is already hot, so a 5th batch is free. Milo replies. What is the best reply?

   • Not free: the 5th batch adds $70 in cost and $48 in sales, so it lowers profit by $22
   • Worth making: the $200 rent is paid anyway, so the batch earns $48 toward its costs
   • Free: a hot oven costs nothing more, so the batch adds $48 in sales
   • Not free: the 5th batch should also carry a share of the $200 rent, making it dearer to bake
9. 7.

   Prices rise so that every batch brings in $10 more than the table shows. Noah asks how many batches the bakery should make. Which is best?

   • Five batches, since each batch brings in $10 more and the 5th now earns $58
   • Six batches, since higher prices raise the sales of each batch including the 6th
   • Four batches still: even at $58, the 5th batch brings in less than its $70 cost
   • Three batches, since higher sales mean the first batches are enough

10. Use this

    Card A, "Rosa's food truck" (made up). Last year Rosa's sales were $210,000. She paid $146,000 for ingredients, fuel, permits and a truck lease. Before the truck she earned $70,000 a year as a cook and could have kept that job. Card B, "Two kinds of profit" (in our words). Accounting profit is sales minus the costs a business pays out. Economic profit also subtracts the value of the owner's best alternative, such as the pay from another job. Card C, "Max's bike shop" (made up). Max has an accounting profit of $85,000 a year. The best job he could get pays $90,000. He owns the shop's tools outright.

11. 8.

    Pia reads cards A and B on Rosa's truck. Which statement about her year is best supported?

    • She earned a profit of $64,000 on each measure, since the cook job was not a cost she paid out
    • She earned an economic profit of $64,000, because economic profit adds the job she gave up on top
    • She lost $6,000 in accounting terms, since her costs include the pay she gave up as a cook
    • She earned an accounting profit of $64,000 but an economic loss of $6,000 after the cook job's $70,000
12. 9.

    A friend says Rosa should keep the truck because her profit is positive. Ren weighs card A and card B. What is the best response?

    • Right: any positive accounting profit shows the business beats the owner's other options, including a job
    • Positive accounting profit is not enough: the cook job would pay more, unless she values the truck's other benefits
    • Wrong: a business with an economic loss must close at once, whatever the owner values
    • Right: economic profit is the same as accounting profit once the owner's own time is counted as a cost
13. 10.

    Zee reads card C. Max asks whether he should keep his shop. Which advice is best supported?

    • On the numbers he would do better in the $90,000 job, unless he values being his own boss above $5,000
    • He should leave: an economic loss means he must quit whatever his other reasons are for staying open
    • He should stay: a positive accounting profit makes the shop worth running
    • He should stay: his $85,000 is close to $90,000, so the two options are equal