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Session 1: You and the economy
Learning outcomes
Session learning outcomes
By completing this session, you will be able to describe:
What an economy is.
How young adults contribute to the UK economy.
Glossary
1.1 What is an economy?
The economy in which you live affects almost every aspect of your life including your education, future employment, and products/services you consume.
But what is an economy?
An economy is basically a complex set of interactions as shown in the graphic below.
What is an economy?
Watch this short video by the Reserve Bank of Australia. As you watch the video, pay close attention to the role of banks. You will learn that banks enable households and businesses to borrow and lend money.
You will have an opportunity to do a short quiz based on this video at the end of the session.
Please note that the video above is produced by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is the central bank of Australia, and the emphasis is on the Australian economy.
However, in terms of the key sectors mentioned in the video, the UK economy is very similar to the Australian economy. The central bank in the United Kingdom is called the Bank of England.
The role of the Bank of England: Money
Watch this short video to learn more about the Bank of England.
1.2 Young adults and the UK economy
Most young adults (that is, people aged 15–17) in the UK are in full-time education or training. So, they directly participate in the education and training sector of the UK economy.
Young adults also contribute to many other sectors by buying a variety of goods and services (like clothes and games). Many people in this age group also work and, therefore, contribute to the production of goods and services.
More importantly, young adults are literally the future of the UK economy.
This is because young adults will play a big role in creating innovative products and services. Some of these innovations will create large successful businesses and, at the same time, help the society to solve major challenges like reducing reliance on fossil fuels and enabling the provision of clean energy.
This course will, hopefully, make a small contribution to your ability to make good financial decisions which, in turn, may affect how you make bigger decisions in your life.
Quiz
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is b.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is b.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is b.
Moving on
Acknowledgements
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources:
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Important: *** against any of the acknowledgements below means that the wording has been dictated by the rights holder/publisher, and cannot be changed.
Images:
565756 : Image: Global trade : VectorMine / Shutterstock
565759 : Image: Shopping mall : Artisticco / Shutterstock