Methods of production, distribution, and exchange vary in different economic systems; alternative economic systems will have advantages and disadvantages when compared to each other. Economic systems may change over time, and in the modern world it is important to understand the process of change, especially when non-market economies are in transition to market economies. Such transitions present both opportunities and challenges for American citizens.

The complexity of the standard will increase at each succeeding grade cluster:

• K-3: Students will identify human wants and the various resources and strategies which have been used to satisfy them over time.
  
  
• 4-5: Students will identify different means of production, distribution, and exchange used within economic systems in different times and places.
  
  
• 6-8: Students will demonstrate the ways in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange in different economic systems have a relationship to cultural values, resources, and technologies.
  
  
• 9-12: Students will analyze the wide range of opportunities and consequences resulting from the current transitions from command to market economies in many countries.