Star Wars Day: The Economics of an Empire

This lesson, Star Wars Day: The Economics of an Empire, uses the Star Wars universe to help students understand real-world economic concepts such as scarcity, trade routes, monopolies, taxation, resource extraction, competition, abundance, trade-offs, and economic inequality. Students examine how control over resources and trade can create power, raise prices, limit choices, and lead to political conflict. The lesson connects fictional examples like Tatooine, Naboo, the Trade Federation, and the Galactic Empire to historical and modern examples of taxation, trade control, and government power.

What’s Included:

• Student article
• Lesson objective
• Application questions
• Primary source analysis / DBQ
• Civic action scenario
• Economic decision tree
• Close reading passage
• Hypothetical scenarios
• Multiple choice questions
• True / false questions
• Vocabulary practice
• Exit ticket
• Crossword puzzle
• Word search