"Save the Match"Introduction
In this lesson students will read about antitrust legislation and watch how it plays out in the court system by researching the lawsuit surrounding the National Residence Matching Program. Lesson Description
Students will use information from the “Save the Match” Web site to discover the economics and legalities of this particular antitrust case. Students will read the plaintiff's claims, and a report from an economist’s study. Students will use this information to answer five questions. They will then use what they have learned to write a letter to the editor, expressing their opinions about the ruling. Previous
Knowledge Expected
antitrust legislation: federal and state laws passed to prevent new monopolies from forming and to break up those that already exist Applied
Content Standards (from the National Council on Economic Education)Standard 10: Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and well-enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy. Instructional Objectives
- Students will gain an understanding of antitrust legislation and monopolies.
- Students will be able to review an economist’s study and research Supreme Court cases online.
- Students will use this knowledge to imagine they are medical residents reacting to the recent ruling in the antitrust case against the NRMP.
Student Web Activity Answers
- depressed wages, slowed compensation increases (raises), and increased working hours to a dangerous level
- exchanging competitively sensitive information about compensation and employment terms; eliminating competition through the Match program; establishing and complying with anticompetitive accreditation standards
- the internal medicine subspecialties do not offer different salaries to those not involved in the specialty matching program; the mean compensation for those involved in the program was actually higher than those who were not involved in the program
- mean=average, mean salary = $41,150
- Student’s letters to the editor will vary
|
