What am I Giving Up?

Keystone Economic Principle™ #2 – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch™

Click here for a printable PDF version of this Monthly Teaching Theme Assessment

(Secondary Grades)

Name _________________________________ School________________________________

Date _________________ Grade_________________________________

I. Explain in writing why the statement below is not true.

“If my brother gives me a ticket to see a movie, then seeing the movie doesn’t cost me anything.”

II. Vocabulary

Match each word with its definition.

____ 1. Cost

____ 2. Opportunity cost

____ 3. Trade-off

____ 4. Tangible Cost

____ 5. Intangible Cost

____ 6. Price

a. The amount of money that people are charged and pay when they buy a good or service;
the amount they charge or receive when they sell a good or service.

b. The giving up of one benefit or advantage in order to gain another that is better or more
desirable.

c. Something you can’t see or touch that you give up in order to get something else you want more.

d. An amount that must be paid or spent to buy or obtain something. The effort, loss, or sacrifice necessary to achieve or obtain something.

e. Something you can touch or see that you give up in order to get something else you want more.

f. The second-best alternative (or the value of that alternative) that must be given up when scarce resources are used for one purpose instead of another.

7. I worked 2 months in order to save $150 to buy a pair of tennis shoes?

What is the price of the tennis shoes? ________________________________________

What is the cost of the tennis shoes? ________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

8. My brother gave me $50 to buy a ticket to the concert, so I had to postpone my trip to the gym in order to go with him tonight.

What is the price of going to the concert? _____________________________________

What is the cost of going to the concert? ______________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

9. The daycare center is spending their weekend painting its playroom with a $25 can of paint donated by the Boy Scouts.

What is the price of painting their playroom? ___________________________________

What is the cost of painting their playroom? ____________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

III. Write the cost represented in each of the following sentences. Circle the “T” if the cost is tangible or “I” if the cost is intangible.

11. In order to support his local church, Dwayne donated his personal computer.

What is the cost supporting his church? _____________________________________

T (tangible) or I (intangible)

12. In order to take Susan to the airport, Jeff had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning.

What is the cost of bringing Susan to the airport? _________________________________

T (tangible) or I (intangible)

13. Even though she really wanted to save for an iPod, Terrica gave her birthday money to her favorite charity.

What is the cost of giving to charity? __________________________________________

T (tangible) or I (intangible)

14. Greg took the day off from work and spent Saturday morning helping his neighbor with his yard work.

What is the cost of helping his neighbor?_______________________________________

T (tangible) or I (intangible)

IV. Relevance – How much does this apply to me?

15. Where do you see yourself using the information you learned about TANSTAAFL™ particularly in terms of what experiences you are giving up or what things you decide not to purchase?

16. Please rate the impact that studying about TANSTAAFL™ has had on your life. Circle the
number below:

0 – No Impact

1 – A little impact

2 – Moderate amount of impact – I might consider it

3 – Quite a bit of impact – I see how it fits and appreciated learning about it

4 – Great Impact – I understand how important it is to my life
and will use the information I learned