Charlie and Mac discuss how crazy it is that Americans need to pay for healthcare and would only expect that from a communist dictator. Their confusion comes about because their friend, Dee, has a heart attack and then they realize that the could be injured at any moment.
Always Sunny — Where it Hurts (NSFC)
The gang decides to try and start selling their own gasoline because they are tired of the high prices the local gas station is charging. The three come into the gas station to let the owner know that he’s about to see the pain of a free market because they intend to take customers away from him. Free markets allow for easy entry and exit of competitors, which should drive down prices and profits.
Always Sunny — Surrogacy Savings
Dee offers her womb to become a surrogate for a couple. In order to try and get a higher payoff, she offers to have more children at a discount for the couple. She notes that savings really kicks in if the couple were to have multiple children at one time. She even offers to be an octo-mom. This could also serve as a fun example of second degree price discrimination.
Always Sunny — Supply Shifts for Fish
While trying to spy on a local fish accident, Dee has an accident that causes the business to shut down for a bit. This reduction in supply is shown later when Dennis, Mac, and Charlie go to a restaurant for lunch and intend to order fish. Because of the reduction in supply, the market price for snapper has gone up to $44, but the guys buy the fish anyway since they are charging it to Frank’s card.
Thanks to Maggie Sciabica for the reference!
Always Sunny — Circular Flow
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.
Always Sunny — Internal Economy
While visiting a Dave and Buster’s, Mac and Dennis decide to create Paddy’s Dollars to promote their bar, based on the Dave & Buster’s Power Card. They believe that by giving out Paddy’s Dollars they can get people to come back to their store and spend more money there. They want to require people to buy Paddy’s Dollars using real dollars.
This could be a cool introduction to the Capitol Hill Babysitting Co-op.
Last Leg — David Mitchell on Tax Avoidance
The Last Leg is a British comedy and late night television talk show similar to the Late Show or The Tonight Show in the United States. The economist David Mitchell was a guest one night and opted to talk about taxes, tax evasion, and tax avoidance. He notes that people who have a conscious and try to pay their “fair share” of taxes are actually being taxed at a higher rate than those who are trying to avoid paying taxes. This is backwards from the traditional notion that governments should use taxes to discourage bad behavior.
Thanks for the clip Chris Neill.
Ryan Hamilton — Canceling a Gym Membership
Ryan goes through the steps he had to complete in order to cancel his gym membership. By requiring all of the additional steps to opt out of the membership, it decreases the likelihood that individuals will actually cancel their membership and instead pay the monthly fee despite not wanting the service. Ryan even discusses how he’s fallen victim to the sunk cost fallacy because he walked by his gym on the way to purchase envelopes for the letter, but he was already “in too deep” to stop by and cancel in person.
Rick & Morty — What’s the Point of Automation?
Rick’s quote in this episode is as followed, “The point of automation is to reduce cost and labor!” He says this because his robot’s dialogue disappointed him. This directly relates to economics, labor economics in particular, as when a firm’s supply of labor becomes too inelastic they will substitute capital for labor in order to reduce costs and increase profits. The firm, or Rick, is substituting capital for labor as we saw when examining firms’ reactions to labor markets.
Thanks to Justin Cooper for the clip and description!
Brooklyn 99 — Name a Rich Juggler
Gina is back after maternity leave, but is missing her child. Terry decides to check in on Gina and ask how she’s handling her new role juggling a new child while still returning to work. Gina points out that juggling isn’t that hard or else you would see a lot of rich performers. Typically people who go through more training and have more human capital are paid better, but that may not be the case for jugglers.