Teaching Economics with Media
The national championship of the Rock, Paper, Scissors League was filmed in the mid-2000s in Las Vegas, Nevada. The announcers walk through the variety of strategies that players consider during the game and whether each method is valid. As a simultaneous game, RPS is taught that players should randomize, but professional players try to outsmart their competition.
Here’s a neat AI program to play RPS in your class.
Sir Harold Evans, the author of They Made America, describes how the shipping container revolutions international trade and made it easier to ship products around the world. This TED Talk could be used when discussing comparative advantage and trade or even when thinking about factors that have led to the growth of countries.
This prankster is going around Chicago asking people to sell their dog for up to $10,000. Most people aren’t willing to part with their beloved pooch, but some people consider his offer. This clip is a good introduction to the idea of willingness to sell and people’s subject valuation of their possessions.
Watch Nixon address the nation during a period of high inflation. Nixon’s decision to implement price freezes across the United States sounds like a great policy, but the inefficiency of price manipulation typically outweighs the benefits that some consumers receive. Here’s a nice summary from the Cato Institute.
Adam Ruins Everything is a half-hour informational comedy were host, Adam Conover, debunks popular myths. Each episode is divided into 3 segments with some common theme. In the Spring of 2018, James Tierney and I sat down to go through all three seasons of Adam Ruins Everything to pick out examples in each episode that could be used in an economics course. If you’re curious about the paper, you can read about it here.
Eyeglasses in the United States can cost hundreds of dollars and that’s probably because 80% of glasses are manufactured by one firm under different brand names. Because they produce both luxury and basic brands, they are able to raise prices well beyond a more competitive price. Luxottica even owns many of the sunglasses stores, which gives them buying power over inputs.
It takes a lot of courage to propose to your partner in front of thousands of on-lookers and most of the time the answer, at least in public, is a solid “yes,” but this individual wasn’t so lucky. This clip is a good opening clip to use for opportunity costs, which is the value of the next best alternative. For the young lady, she quickly considered life with her partner and realized that the opportunity cost outweighed the benefit.
If you were the young man proposing, what would you rather be doing at that moment than what he’s going through? Instead of purchasing the engagement ring (average of $6000 in the US), what would you have spent that money on?
Thanks to Greg Caskey for the suggestion!
Watch a market in action during the Aalsmeer, Netherlands flower auction.
The local train comes through the market a few times each day, but that doesn’t stop local shops from selling their produce. The resources are used so efficiently in this village that the train runs right through the middle of the market and then the market re-establishes itself after the train passes.
When countries decide not to participate in international trade, we enter a world of autarky. Few of us realize the impact that international trade has on our daily lives. One grocery store in Germany decided to remove all foreign-made products from their shelves in order to make a statement about trade, immigration, and diversity.
This clip was originally recorded by instragram user @Heinzinger and then shown on a Germany news channel with the additional commentary added on top of the original video. Thanks to @NinjaEconomics for bringing this to my attention.
Erik Hurst, an economist with the University of Chicago, delivered an interesting commencement address that focused on the role of video games in the supply decisions of young men. While a bit more academic than some other commencement addresses, it sets the stage for a nice discussion on the increasing value of leisure.