Name_____________________________________ Date_________

Scarcity, Choices, and Opportunity Cost

A. Jake and Carol have always wanted to sell lemonade in the summer. This summer, their mother
said they could! They got supplies from the store and made a sign and set up their shop at the
end of their street. It was a hot, summer day and everyone in the neighborhood wanted to buy
lemonade. By 2:00, they ran out of sugar to make the lemonade sweet. They knew people liked
their lemonade because it was sweet. They could make more lemonade, but it wouldn’t be
sweet. They decided to run to the store and get more sugar instead of making sour lemonade.

What Scarcity problem did Jake and Carol

have?

Because of the scarcity, what two choices 1.

did they have?
2.

What decision did they make?

What was their opportunity cost?

B. Tomorrow is the bake sale at school. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for the bake
sale, because my mom has a really good recipe. She makes the cookies with BIG chocolate
chips, which make them extra chocolaty! At the store, I went to find the big chocolate
chips and they were all out! I stopped to think about my options. I could use the small
chocolate chips and still make cookies, or I could make brownies. My mom has a really
yummy brownie recipe, so I decided I would make brownies.

What Scarcity problem did girl have?

Because of the scarcity, what two choices 1.

did they have?
2.

What decision did they make?

What was their opportunity cost?

Scarcity and Choices Quiz

Scenario Scarcity Choices (at least two)
 You go to the store and you
desperately want the new
PS6. When you get to the
store, you realize that you
only have enough money for
the PS5.

Create your own scenario (not used in class) and identify the scarcity and two choices that can be made.

Scenario Scarcity Choices (at least two)