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Economic Education

Consumers

Red Envelope  E-mail Alert for Economic Education Resources for Consumers

Consumers Understanding Economics & In Plain English

In Plain English: Watch the Video

Econ Ed Mobile Learning App

Econ Ed Mobile Learning App: Learn more

Financial Literacy & Personal Finance 101

Personal Finance 101: Learn more

Financial Literacy & Econ Ed Live

Online Courses: Econ Ed Live Learn more

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  • No-Frills Money Skills Video Series — Growing Money
    watch the video
    In this first episode of the No-Frills Money Skills video series, economic education specialist Kris Bertelsen explains compound interest, or "Growing Money." This new video series will cover a variety of personal finance topics using clear, simple language, and graphic elements so that viewers can better visualize the personal finance content being presented.
  • Online Course: Econ Ed Live — Great Depression
    online learning course
    This unit includes six courses designed to provide economic content to help people understand this significant experience in U.S. history.
  • Online Course: Econ Ed Live — Currency Crusaders of Justice
    online learning course
    Jack of All Trades and his best bud, Andy, are traveling the world by cape, having a coffee at each stop. Andy learns that purchasing those coffees using the currencies of their host countries presents a minor complication - the relative value of currencies around the world can change and make those coffees more expensive or less expensive. How does that happen? Stay tuned and you'll learn how economic conditions affect exchange rates...and the price of coffee everywhere.
  • Online Course: Econ Ed Live — Great Inflation
    online learning course
    In this course, superhero Jack of All Trades and his sidekick Andy are confronted by a villain that threatens to disrupt society and rob the world of the certainty people have come to expect. And this dastardly villain is...Inflation. Jack and Andy time travel to the period known as The Great Inflation to discover the truth about inflation. With the help of Dr. Equilibrium, professor of economics, they learn that inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods and that the Federal Reserve System plays a key role in maintaining stable prices.
  • Econ Ed Mobile Learning App
    download
    Take a look at the St. Louis Fed's new Econ Ed Mobile Learning app for the iPad, iPhone and iTouch. Our new app allows you to visualize and understand how inflation and the cost of credit can affect your spending and saving decisions.
  • Economics and Personal Finance Glossary
    online glossary
    An economics and personal finance glossary has been added to our website. Our goal is to assist teachers and students with a comprehensive list of terms. If you can't find a term, please notify Barb at barbara.flowers@stls.frb.org.
  • Online Course: Econ Ed Live — Soar to Savings
    online learning course
    In this course real-life scenarios, with Fred the Frugal Eagle, the St. Louis Fed mascot, will help clarify opportunity cost, interest, down payments, and financial investment. You will learn the benefits of saving, tips for saving, and the impact of individual saving on the overall economy. You will have a better understanding of financial intermediaries, financial markets, stocks, bonds, how the supply of and demand for loanable funds determine interest rates, the paradox of thrift, how the U.S. government finances deficit spending, and crowding out.
  • Online Courses: Econ Ed Live
    learn more
    Looking for opportunities to learn more about economics and personal finance? This collection of online courses will help bring personal finance and economics lessons to life. Watch as we continue to add new online courses.
  • Econ Ed Mobile Learning App
    download
    Take a look at the St. Louis Fed's Econ Ed Mobile Learning app for the iPad, iPhone and iTouch. The app allows you to visualize and understand how inflation and the cost of credit can affect your spending and saving decisions.
  • Economic Lowdown Audio Podcasts and Video Companions
    listen to the podcasts | watch the videos
    The Economic Lowdown is a podcast series produced by the Economic Education department of the St. Louis Fed. The series covers topics in economics, banking and monetary policy.
  • No-Frills Money Skills Video Series
    watch the videos
    This video series covers a variety of personal finance topics. The brief videos use clear, simple language, and graphic elements so that viewers can better visualize the personal finance content being presented. In the end, they will see how important these concepts are to their everyday lives.
  • Calculating Present Value and Future Value
    watch the video
    How much money should you save today in order to have $10,000 in 10 years? If you won the lottery, how will you decide whether to take the lump sum payment? To answer these questions, you need to understand present and future value. Take advantage of this opportunity to watch an economist from the St. Louis Fed explain what they are and how they are calculated.
  • Economic Short Takes
    watch the videos
    View National Economic Education Video Competition winning videos.
  • In Plain English Video
    watch the video
    Need to learn - or teach someone else - about the Federal Reserve? Have no fear! Whether you're a high school history teacher from Helena or a businessperson from Boise, Buck, our friendly tour guide, will show you around the Federal Reserve System, introducing you to who we are and what we do.
  • National Economic Education Video Competition
    learn more about the current competition
  • A Word on the Economy: Why Is the Country Facing a Financial Crisis?
    presentation with audio commentary
    Need a little help understanding and explaining current events in financial markets to your students? Check out this easy-to-understand presentation on the current economic situation, developed by Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of the Fed's Banking Supervision & Regulation division. Additional resources: presentation (no audio, .pdf 267 kB) | glossary (.pdf 102 kB)
  • Online Courses: Econ Ed Live
    learn more
    Looking for opportunities to learn more about economics and personal finance? This collection of online courses will help bring personal finance and economics lessons to life. Watch as we continue to add new online courses.
  • Econ Ed Mobile Learning App
    download
    Take a look at the St. Louis Fed's Econ Ed Mobile Learning app for the iPad, iPhone and iTouch. The app allows you to visualize and understand how inflation and the cost of credit can affect your spending and saving decisions.
  • Curso educativo de economia a distancia
    más información
    ¿Busca oportunidades para aprender más sobre economía y finanzas personales? Esta colección de cursos en línea ha sidos galardonada numerosas veces, y le permitirá aprender como llevar sus finanzas personales así como lecciones básicas en economía general. Actualizamos y añadimos nuevos cursos a menudo, de forma que le recomendamos que visite frecuentemente.
  • Glossary of Economics and Personal Finance Terms
    online glossary
    An economics and personal finance glossary to assist teachers and students with a comprehensive list of defined terms. If you can't find a term, please notify Barb at barbara.flowers@stls.frb.org.
  • Personal Finance 101
    learn more
    Find quick answers to frustrating personal finance questions that pop up now and again. Choose a topic and watch a short (pre-recorded) instant-messaging exchange with a trusted adviser. Then, view common financial forms, enhanced with roll-over hints on how to complete them.
  • A Christmas Present for the President
    .pdf 324 kB
    Presents a short history of the creation of the Federal Reserve System, using excerpts from reminiscences, letters and newspapers published at the time. Provides an inside look at the diverse forces and personalities that came together to bring about the formation of the nation's central bank.
  • In Plain English
    web site
    An easy-to-read guide to the structure and functions of the Federal Reserve System.
  • Inside the Vault
    current issue | subscribe | past issues
    An economic education newsletter for elementary- and secondary-level teachers. Distributed twice a year.
  • Kids & Money
    Kids & Money (.pdf 216 kB) | Los Niños y el Dinero (.pdf 211 kB)
    This short-and-sweet booklet from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis helps parents teach their school-age children how to manage money. It highlights three key topics (planning, budgeting and saving) and suggests fun family activities that will get kids thinking about saving—and spending responsibly. You can also order the booklet free of charge by calling: (314) 444-8761 in St. Louis; (501) 324-8296 in Little Rock, Ark.; (502) 568-9202 in Louisville, Ky; and (901) 579-4101 in Memphis, Tenn.
  • Page One Economics Newsletter
    current and past issues | e-mail alert | RSS
    A newsletter written for librarians, students and the general public on current economic topics. Includes links to relevant data and articles. Published nine times a year, August - November, and January - May.
  • Piggy Bank Primer: Saving and Budgeting—Student Activity Book
    .pdf 5.5 MB | order copies
    A student activity book and teacher guide for grades 1-3. Through a story and activities, the student book introduces students to economic concepts such as saving, spending, budgeting, wants, goods, services and opportunity cost. A teacher may order 25 copies and a teacher guide.
  • Piggy Bank Primer: Saving and Budgeting—Teacher Guide
    .pdf 515 kB | order copies
    A student activity book and teacher guide for grades 1-3. Through a story and activities, the student book introduces students to economic concepts such as saving, spending, budgeting, wants, goods, services and opportunity cost. A teacher may order 25 copies and a teacher guide.
  • The Regional Economist
    current issue | e-mail alert | subscribe | past issues
    A quarterly publication that addresses national and regional economic issues and their impact on the Eighth District.
  • Research publications
    current and past issues
    For your own research, education, or edification, learn more about the economy from the Research website: We offer a wide range of instructional, unbiased economic commentary and data.
  • Review
    current and past issues | e-mail alert | RSS
    A journal of relevant economic analysis, surveys, primers, and essays that can be accessible enough for the undergrad and rigorous enough for the PhD. Published bimonthly in print and online.
  • FinFAQs.com
    Answers to common personal finance questions, covering such topics as credit cards, home finance, fraud, loans and banking.
  • FRASER®
    Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research provides historical economic statistical publications, releases and documents.
  • FRED®
    The Federal Reserve's economic and financial database.
  • GeoFRED®
    Enables users to create thematic maps of U.S. economic data by state, county or metropolitan statistical area.
  • Glossary of Economic Terms
    A Minneapolis Fed glossary of terms related to the Federal Reserve, banking and economics.
  • Jump$tart: Financial Smarts for Students
    Activities, information and resources from the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, which promotes personal finance education for grades K-12.
  • Know Your Money
    A U.S. Secret Service site providing information on how to detect counterfeit currency and guard against forgery loss.
  • U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing
    Official site.
  • U.S. Mint
    Official site.
  • Wise Pockets World
    University of Missouri-St. Louis site that helps kids, parents and teachers learn about managing money.
  • En lenguaje sencillo: Entender el sentido de la Reserva Federal
    Curso de aprendizaje a distancia o en red
    ¿Deseas aprender sobre la Reserva Federal? ¡No tengas miedo! En lenguaje sencillo describe la estructura y las funciones del Sistema de la Reserva Federal (Federal Reserve System) en un formato interactivo fácil de entender.
  • It's Your Paycheck! (Es tu cheque de sueldo): Cómo ganar y administrar tus ingresos (income)
    plan de estudios
    It's Your Paycheck (Es tu cheque de sueldo) está diseñado para presentar contenido de finanzas personales. Los participantes en el curso aprenden acerca de una variedad de temas de finanzas personales, lo que incluye la relación que existe entre educación e ingresos (income), cómo elaborar un presupuesto (budget), los beneficios del ahorro (saving) y los informes de crédito (credit reports). Estos módulos de aprendizaje ayudarán a que los participantes comprendan los formularios W-2 y W-4, los adelantos de sueldo en efectivo (payday loans) y las tasas porcentuales anuales o APR (annual percentage rates) mediante un formato interactivo en Internet. Cómo ganar y administrar tus ingresos (income) consiste en nueve programas individuales que se pueden utilizar juntos o por separado para mejorar los conocimientos sobre finanzas personales.
  • El valor temporal del dinero
    Curso de aprendizaje a distancia o en red
    La seguridad financiera que da la acumulación de riquezas requiere entender el valor temporal del dinero. Este curso comenzará con una lección sobre el costo de oportunidad (opportunity cost), el factor más importante a tener en cuenta en cualquier decisión financiera personal. Luego continuarás con una lección sobre el interés (interest) en la que verás la importancia que tiene para protegerte del costo de vida más alto en los años futuros. El aumento en los costos futuros se deberá a la inflación (inflation), el tercer tema sobre el que aprenderás en este programa.