In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered a 20,000-word speech to Congress asking for a moderate, but sure, regulatory plan for big business.

Anti-trust policy was developed to prevent single entities, such as a single telephone company, from dominating the marketplace and essentially eliminating all competition. Often considered an anti-trust politician, Theodore Roosevelt actually favored regulation of companies rather than the dissolution common in anti-trust litigation. When he spoke before Congress in 1901, Roosevelt sought a balanced policy, focused on a free market economy, that would reward sound business practices and allow the market to self-regulate through competition, supply and demand. At the same time, Roosevelt favored a regulatory policy that would protect the interests of the American public by preventing the domination of a market by a single entity.

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In Bank Mergers Lead to Greater Business Concentration (9–12), students explore the concepts of types of markets, oligopolies, competition and business concentration. The 1998 merger between NationsBank and BankAmerica created the USA's largest bank by the end of that year. At the time, it was the third merger in the banking industry within a week.

It's a Matter of Power (9–12) helps students learn about the concepts of tradeoff and opportunity cost. Students see the role of profit motive in business decision-making. Through analyzing one company's business decisions, students are able to explain how firms use cost-benefit analysis to pursue the goal of profit.

All in Business (6–8) helps students create the basic framework of a business plan. Students recognize that there are costs and benefits associated with any new project. They assign their own values to identified costs and benefits in order to determine whether or not to take the risk of starting a new business.

Roosevelt believed that sensible government regulations coupled with the self-regulating mechanisms of a market economy would produce the best results for society. In Market Failures and Government Regulation: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease? (9–12), students explore the costs and benefits associated with economic and social regulation.

Government regulation may seem like an abstruse concept, but it has practical effects on our everyday lives. In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (6–12), students identify the costs and benefits of government regulation and information in a market economy. They also interpret the information provided on food labels and use this information to make a choice between two food products.