Tradeoffs are one topic you can use this video for. With only $3 to his name, Chris needs to decide between a gallon of gas or a 6-pack of beer!
Thanks to James Tierney for the clip and description. For more country videos with economics, check out EconGoneCountry!
When introducing money we usually start with a historical lesson on money. Barter economics is always discussed. Here is a funny news item that talks about a man who tried to barter but got arrested. You can also use it to talk about unit of account because they talk about bail being set at 4 alligators.
Thanks to James Tierney for the clip and description.
Jack needs to speak with Liz Lemon, and he knows the fastest way to get her to his office is by breaking the vending machine so that she would come up and complain.
Thanks to James Tierney for the clip!
Really neat summary of the history of the price tag. This could make a great opening for a principles course or a good example of price discrimination before the price tag was invented. The price tag can be used as an example of the Quaker’s insistence on the law of one price or the idea of efficiency/equity tradeoffs. I like to use this video in the beginning of my course to introduce the idea of prices, values, and costs.
Have a friend who brags about things they get for free? One of the common components of long-term contracts is that it includes a phone, but the price of the phone is often just built into the contract so the phone isn’t really free.
This commercial is a great opening piece to talk about the differences between equity and efficiency. While both young girls are better off that before (efficiency improvements), they are not relatively better off because one is getting an actual pony (equity issues). One of the hard portions of this concept is to think about this issue as a true tradeoffs that efficiency gains often come at the cost of decreased equity. This increase in inequality between the two girls may be a nice, short way of demonstrating that tradeoff.
Frank convinces an art gallery director to come to the bar in order to try and convince her to buy their bad art. After looking around and watching a homemade video, she describes how art is worth what the buyer is willing to pay and that everyone has different preferences and values items differently. She also discusses the double coincidence of wants and how she no longer wants to buy back Frank’s painting.
Thank you to Ian Pearson for the clip reference!
Charlie has been crabbing in the local river, which may or may not have waste runoff, to try and raise some money during the recession. Their logic is that food is depression-proof since people have to eat. They believe that people’s demand for food is inelastic and they just need to acquire food to sell in order to earn money.
Frank poses as an art collector to try and convince the art gallery owner that a really bad piece is actually really valuable. This clip is a great segue into subjective value and preferences of individuals.
Mac and Dennis come up with a plan to create Paddy’s Dollars in order to stimulate their bar’s revenues, but they have the system a bit backward. They decide to give away a bunch of vouchers that could be used to buy beer to local homeless people. Unfortunately, there’s no incentive for those individuals to come back and buy more Paddy’s Dollars later. This would also be a neat example when teaching circular flow diagrams.