Teaching Economics with Media
In a “puff and paint” party, some patrons of a local dispensary have gone a bit too far in the describing the role of the Federal Reserve. While the stated goals of the Fed are price stability and full employment, this hallucination has the Fed at the center of a universe-wide conspiracy. Bloomberg has a podcast that looks at why so many conspiracy theories seem to form around the Federal Reserve.
My former student, Luke, sent me this clip. You should follow him on Twitter!
In this Super Bowl ad, a bar patron tries to pay for a round of drinks with a lawn mower, but this has apparently been an issue before as the bar has a sign that lawn mowers aren’t accepted. This clip is a good, quick introduction to the role of money in an economy and why bartering would be hard to accomplish.
Thanks to Brittany Pifer for the video
The Bank of Jamaica has released some catchy snippets discussing inflation targeting with a reggae beat and the benefits of low, stable inflation for investors and consumers.
Homer laments of his problem of having no money and three children, but would instead prefer no kids and “3 money.” Kids, thankfully, cannot be used as money, but do represent a tradeoff in that parents could spend their money on other items instead.
Thanks to Nick Covington for the clip!
Vox takes a deeper look into the use of ramen as currency inside America’s prison system. Ramen serves a unique function as money since actual cash isn’t allowed in prisons. In order to serve as currency, an item needs to be durable, portable, and standardized, which ramen is. Ramen is the largest item purchased in prison commissaries and once inmates stockpile ramen, they can inflate/distort prices for other goods and services in the prison. The use of Ramen in prison economies is also mentioned in Brooklyn 99.
At this part in the episode, Senior Communications Director Toby Ziegler tells Press Secretary C.J. Cregg about the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting the CPI increased by 0.7% in one month (could this be info that they released on Jobs Friday?). C.J. is about to go to a press briefing and quickly practices an answer in case a reporter asks about this startling statistic. C.J. and Toby, though they don’t name these exactly, talk about New Product Bias and Quality Bias as ways of explaining why CPI is not always reliable!
Thanks to Katie Cook and Kalina Staub from UNC for getting this clip on the website!
I just got an email from a student at 10:30pm on a Saturday because they were watching the West Wing and there was a scene where CJ and Toby were discussing CPI and inflation, and she knew what they were talking about. I will never receive a better email. My life is made.
— Kalina Staub (@TwterlessKalina) December 2, 2018
PBS Newshour investigates the economics around the first Thanksgiving, including the differences between Europe’s cash economy and the indigenous barter system as well as common resources and property rights.
Stan gets a no-limit credit card and pays the debts for the citizens of South Park so that they can go out and begin shopping again, and stimulate the economy. The entire episode is themed around the crucifixion as Stan “pays for the debts” of everyone in town. Keynesian economics argues that governments can increase spending during times of recessions in order to help lift the economy out of recessions.
Thanks to Zoe Cook-Nadel for the suggestion!
Stan describes the economy as being both real and not real at the same time. The market works because people believe in the economy and believe that paper money and plastic can count as spending. The concept of fiat money stems from people’s belief that the currency they hold actually has true value. This differs from commodity money in that the currency is not tied to a single asset.
Thanks to Zoe Cook-Nadel for the suggestion!