As part of our Sonlight Core 5 curriculum, the boys and I are reading Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury. I was really looking forward to reading this book and finding out how Maybury was going to explain complicated economic principles in a way that an almost 9 year old and an 11 year old could understand. And let's face it, folks, I took several economics courses while earning my accounting degrees but it's not like I pour over economic journals every night for fun. :)
The boys were instantly turned off by the book when they found out that it wasn't really about candy but about how you can't get candy as cheap as you used to could (ha! Southern grammar!) and why. Shocker. Nonetheless, we delved in and we were all pleasantly surprised.
Maybury uses an engaging format of letters between an economist uncle and his nephew to bring these complicated concepts to life. Some of the information is new to me. Some of it is simplified explanations of the laws of economics I learned way back when. A lot of it is stuff that most adults in our nation talk on and on about but really have no idea what it really means. We're still working our way through the book since the boys can only digest a bit at a time.
So far we've learned:
- In modern countries, we don't actually use coins (which are made of precious metals like gold or silver). We use tokens.
- Tanstaafl is a basic economic law that says, "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." People have always wanted something for nothing and it's always been a problem. Guess we are nothing new, huh? Someone's gotta pay the piper.
- The grooves on the sides of dimes, quarters, and half dollars is called reeding, and it is a direct result of inflation. Figure that one out!
- Inflation is an increase in the amount of money in circulation. Period.
- Other problems, like rising prices, are caused by inflation.
- The wage-price spiral is a symptom of inflation. More, more, more, huh?
- What goes up, must come down, and getting rich quick is dangerous business.
- And lots more!
What I think is most interesting is that Parker and Wesley are really getting all of this. They can explain it and talk about it! And they're even a little bit excited about what they're learning. But don't tell them I said that. It's not cool to be excited about economics.
To sum it up, I highly recommend Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? if you'd like to teach your older elementary, middle school, or high school child about economics. And also for adults wanting to shake the dust off your memory of what exactly is the difference between a recession and a depression? And what are they talking about when they mention the velocity of the dollar? It's all here in this one slim, entertaining book!
