Interactive Manual

Unit 1.2 — How the Economy Moves — includes five interactive learning tools built into the study guide and quiz pages. This manual explains how each one works, what it's designed to teach, and how students and facilitators can get the most from each experience.

All five tools are self-contained in the browser — no login, no downloads, no internet connection required after the page loads. They work on any device: desktop, tablet, or phone.

How to Play

• 1Navigate to the Study Guide page and click the 🎮 Games tab. The Match the Flow game loads by default.
• 2You'll see two columns: Economic Actor / Concept on the left and Role in Circular Flow on the right. Both columns shuffle into a new random order every time the game starts or restarts.
• 3Click any item on the left to select it — it highlights in navy blue. This is the actor or concept you're trying to match.
• 4Click the matching item on the right. If correct, both items turn green and lock. If wrong, both shake red, then reset — try again.
• 5You can click a different item on the left before clicking the right side to change your selection mid-match.
• 6Match all 6 pairs to complete the game. The progress bar tracks how many pairs remain. Click Restart for a fresh shuffled set.

The Six Pairs

Left Column (Actor / Concept)	Right Column (Role)
Households	Supply labor & resources; demand goods & services
Firms	Hire resources; produce and sell goods & services
Government	Taxes withdraw from flow; spending & transfers inject
Financial Institution	Channels savings from households to borrowing firms
Economic Leakage	Money that exits the local flow before recirculating
Dollar Velocity	Number of times a dollar circulates before leaving

Tips & Strategy

Start with the actors you know cold

Households and Firms have the most straightforward descriptions — match those first. Each correct match shrinks the pool, making the remaining ones easier to identify by elimination.

Government vs. Financial Institution

Both move money between economic actors, but in different ways. Government taxes withdraw and then spending injects. Financial institutions don't tax or spend — they channel existing savings from those who have it to those who need it for investment. The key word is "intermediary."

Economic Leakage vs. Dollar Velocity

These two are the most conceptual. Leakage is about money leaving — a problem. Velocity is about how many times money circulates before leaving — a measure. High velocity = low leakage relative to total flow.

Restart for reinforcement

Each restart shuffles both columns into a new order. Completing the game three times in different orders builds genuine recall rather than sequence memory.

How to Play

• 1Click the 💵 Follow the Dollar card in the Games tab. The first scenario loads automatically.
• 2Read the scenario carefully. Each one describes a real-world economic situation in Birmingham-Bessemer — a household spending decision, a government action, a business model, or a community intervention.
• 3Click one of the four answer buttons. Buttons are labeled with economic concepts — not letters — so you're making a direct conceptual choice.
• 4After clicking, the correct answer turns green and any wrong answer turns red. A full explanation paragraph appears explaining why that classification is correct.
• 5Click Next Question → to advance. After the sixth scenario, your final score and a performance message appear.
• 6Click Restart to reset to scenario one and try again.

The Six Scenarios

#	Scenario	Correct Answer	Concept Tested
1	Bessemer family spending at local stores vs. rent to absentee landlord	$2,000 local spending = circulation	Leakage vs. circulation identification
2	Birmingham builds a library in underserved neighborhood	Government injection	Government's injective role in circular flow
3	Woodlawn family pays 400% APR payday loan interest	Extraction — wealth leaving community	Predatory lending as extraction mechanism
4	Pratt City credit union deposits loaned to local entrepreneur	Financial intermediation	Financial institutions channeling savings to investment
5	Distribution center — wages vs. profits to out-of-state shareholders	Wages = injection; profits = leakage	Distinguishing injections from leakage within same firm
6	Historical Black community dollar velocity vs. today's six-hour exit	Loss of locally owned economic infrastructure	Dollar velocity and its structural causes

Tips & Strategy

Follow the money, not the story

Each scenario has a narrative, but the answer comes from asking one question: where does this dollar end up? If it stays in local hands — circulation. If it exits to distant owners — leakage or extraction. If new money enters from outside — injection. If money is channeled from savers to borrowers — intermediation.

Scenario 5 is the most nuanced

The distribution center scenario is intentionally complex: wages are an injection, but profits are leakage. The same employer can inject money into the community (through worker wages) while simultaneously extracting it (through shareholder profits). This dual character is common and important to recognize.

Read every explanation

The explanation after each answer is where the deepest learning happens. Even a correct answer may contain nuance worth internalizing before the unit quiz.

How to Play

• 1Click the ⚖️ True or False card in the Games tab to switch to this game.
• 2A statement appears in a large card. Read it carefully — some statements are deliberately worded to test common misunderstandings about the circular flow.
• 3Click either ✓ True or ✗ False. After clicking, the correct button highlights and an explanation appears below.
• 4Click Next → to advance. After statement 10, a final score screen appears. Click Restart for a freshly shuffled round.

The 10 Statements — Answer Key

#	Statement (summarized)	Answer
1	Households are the only buyers in the product market	FALSE
2	Government taxes are a withdrawal from the private circular flow	TRUE
3	Economic leakage and extraction mean exactly the same thing	FALSE
4	A credit union keeps more money circulating locally than a distant-owned bank	TRUE
5	The community multiplier means each local dollar generates more than one dollar in community activity	TRUE
6	Transfer payments like Social Security reduce total money flowing in the economy	FALSE
7	Black Wall Street achieved dollar velocity of approximately 19 times	TRUE
8	Household savings deposited at a bank are permanently removed from the circular flow	FALSE
9	Redlining weakened the circular flow in Black communities by blocking access to capital	TRUE
10	New employer wages paid to local workers are an economic injection	TRUE

Tips & Strategy

Watch for absolute language

Statements containing "only," "permanently," or "exactly the same" are frequently false — the real world rarely works in absolutes. Statement 1 ("households are the ONLY buyers") and Statement 8 ("permanently removed") are both false for this reason.

Statement 3 is the subtlest

"Economic leakage and extraction mean exactly the same thing" — FALSE. This distinction is important: leakage is the broad category (any money that exits); extraction is the specific predatory pattern (businesses serving a community but routing profits outside it). Understanding the difference helps students analyze specific community economic situations with precision.

Statement 7 connects to heritage content

The Black Wall Street dollar velocity figure previews the Heritage-as-Capital framework content. Students who understand this data point early will approach the heritage sections of the curriculum with greater analytical depth.

The Four Inputs — What They Mean

1 · Monthly household spending ($)

The total amount this household spends on all goods and services per month — groceries, utilities, clothing, entertainment, transportation. This is the base amount from which local impact is calculated. Students should use a realistic estimate of their own household's spending, not just their personal spending.

2 · Estimated % spent at locally owned businesses

Five tiers from "under 10% — mostly national chains" to "over 60% — strong local spending commitment." This is the key variable driving the community multiplier. As the local fraction rises, the multiplier rises with it. The calculator applies small adjustments for community type and banking to refine this estimate.

3 · Community type

Urban, suburban, or rural. Urban neighborhoods in Birmingham/Bessemer proper often have denser locally owned business ecosystems, slightly raising the effective local fraction. Rural communities sometimes have fewer locally owned options, slightly reducing it. The adjustment is small but realistic.

4 · Primary banking institution

National bank, regional bank, or credit union/CDFI. Banking at a local credit union adds to the effective local fraction because interest and fee revenue returns to members as dividends rather than exiting to distant shareholders. This input models the impact of financial institution choice on community economic circulation — a direct application of Topic 4 content.

Reading the Six Outputs

Monthly spending

The base amount entered — displayed for reference. This is the total dollar amount the household puts into product markets each month.

Estimated local fraction

The adjusted percentage of spending estimated to stay in the local community, after accounting for community type and banking institution. The gold progress bar below this number provides a visual representation of how local this household's economic footprint is.

Community multiplier (×)

The calculated multiplier: 1 ÷ (1 − local fraction). This is the factor by which each locally spent dollar expands total community economic activity before fully exiting. A multiplier of 2.0 means every locally spent dollar generates $2.00 in total local economic activity.

Monthly local economic impact ($)

Monthly spending × local fraction × multiplier. This is the estimated total community economic activity generated by this household's spending in a single month. It accounts for both the direct spending and the multiplier effect as that spending circulates through the local economy.

Monthly leakage ($)

Monthly spending × (1 − local fraction). The estimated dollar amount that exits the local circular flow each month — through national chain spending, out-of-state bank fees, and out-of-community purchases. This is the "opportunity cost" of non-local spending patterns.

Estimated annual local impact ($)

Monthly local impact × 12. The annualized community economic activity generated by this household's spending choices. This figure is often surprising — a household spending $2,500/month with a 2.0 multiplier at 40% local generates over $24,000 annually in local economic activity.

Suggested Exercises

Exercise A — Your Household

Have students enter their own household's realistic spending profile. What is their current community multiplier? What one change would raise it most? Discuss as a class.

Exercise B — Banking Alone

Keep all inputs the same and change only the banking institution from "national bank" to "credit union." Observe how the multiplier shifts. Ask: "If every household in your neighborhood made this one change, what would the aggregate impact be?"

Exercise C — The Heritage Fund Case

Discuss: if the Reginald Swanson Heritage Fund invested $500,000 in locally owned businesses in a neighborhood with a 2.5 multiplier, what would the estimated community economic impact be? ($500,000 × 2.5 = $1.25 million in total local economic activity.) This connects the calculator directly to Initiative C content.

The Quiz Interface — Element by Element

Hero Stats Box

Displays five live statistics at the top: total questions (20), passing score (70%), retakes (unlimited), best score (highest percentage this session), and attempt count. Best score and attempts update after every submission.

Progress Bar

A sticky gold progress bar sits just below the navigation bar. It tracks answered questions, not viewed questions — clicking through without answering does not advance the bar.

Question Dot Map

A row of numbered circles (1–20) plus an END dot. Dots update color as questions are answered: white/outline = not yet answered, green = correct, red = incorrect. Click any dot to jump directly to that question.

Question Card

Each question shows a type tag (Multiple Choice or True/False), the question text, and answer choices. After answering, the correct choice highlights green, any wrong choice highlights red, and a feedback panel with full explanation appears. Answers cannot be changed after submission.

Submit Screen

Reached via the END dot or the final question's "Finish & Review" button. If any questions remain unanswered, a yellow warning counts them explicitly. Unanswered questions count as incorrect. Click Submit Quiz ✓ to generate the Results screen.

Grading & Results

Grade Scale

The Results Screen

After submission: emoji and letter grade, score fraction and percentage, a performance label, a four-tile breakdown (correct / incorrect / score % / attempt number), a "New Best Score" badge when applicable, and a full Question Review showing every question, the student's answer, the correct answer (when wrong), and the explanation.

How Retakes Work

Click 🔄 Retake Quiz to start a fresh attempt. The engine draws a new random set of 20 questions from the 30-question bank and re-shuffles all multiple-choice answer positions. Best score and attempt count from prior rounds are retained in the session. The quiz resets on page reload.

The 30-Question Bank — Topic Coverage

Question Type	Count in Bank	Topics Covered
Multiple Choice	20	Circular flow mechanics, factor vs. product markets, leakage vs. injection, financial intermediation, community multiplier, government role, applied scenarios, Heritage-as-Capital connections
True / False	10	Common misconceptions about the circular flow, savings behavior, dollar velocity, transfer payments, redlining's economic effects

Recommended Learning Sequence

• 1Assign the Study Guide (independent reading, ~30 min). Students read all six topic sections including Heritage callouts, the circular flow diagram, and the comparison tables.
• 2Play Match the Flow (5–8 min). Works well as a class warm-up projected on screen, or individually as a check before moving to the harder games.
• 3Play Follow the Dollar (10–15 min). Pause after Scenario 3 (the payday lender) for a brief Heritage-as-Capital discussion on financial extraction.
• 4Play True or False (8–10 min). Use as an exit ticket — students report their score. Below 7/10 → re-read Study Guide before advancing.
• 5Use the Calculator — Exercises A and B (15–20 min). Connect to Heritage Fund case study (Exercise C). The calculator makes the multiplier concept personally tangible.
• 6Take the Unit Quiz independently. Minimum passing score: 70%. Students below 70% should review missed-question explanations and retake once before moving to Unit 1.3.

NAF / AOBF Alignment

Unit 1.2 Content	NAF Finance Standard	AOBF Application
Circular flow model	Economics fundamentals	Foundation for Unit 2.1 (Macroeconomic indicators)
Financial intermediation	Financial institution analysis	Direct preparation for banking unit
Community multiplier	Applied economic analysis	Foundation for community investment modeling
Leakage vs. circulation	Community economic development	Heritage Fund feasibility framing