Traffic jams are often provided as an example of a market failure. Drivers are focused on their own driving and don’t consider how it may impact others. As a result, too many people use road systems and congestion occurs. This Ted Talk highlights how Pigouvian taxes could be used to correct the market failure by instituting congestion taxes. While it’s not presented by an economist, he uses a lot of economics concepts throughout the talk.
Marginal Revolution University: Is Education Signaling or Skill Building?
Another great clip from the Marginal Revolution University team, but this time focused on the value of an education. Just like the robotization duel, I like to break this one down into multiple smaller clips and put clicker questions in the middle of them.
How to Make Everything: A $1500 Sandwich in Only 6 Months
This is a great clip to talk about opportunity costs and gains from trade. The author goes through the process of making an entire chicken sandwich from scratch. I often open lecture asking students how much it would cost them if they did it themselves and then we watch this video.
John McCain on NAFTA
This is one I only show after some serious prepping that I don’t care about the politics behind it. John McCain was asked his thoughts on NAFTA during the Iowa primaries. The end is geared toward the politics, he does a nice job explaining the pros and cons of trade agreements. I find that when students hear the same message from other people, they tend to remember it.
Human Powered Ferris Wheel
I use this in my international trade chapter to talk about factor endowments. Countries with a a lot of people (like India and China) will tend to do things using more labor than others.