Bill Gates, in an article with Quartz, argues that if a robot which take workers’ jobs should be required to pay taxes. Those tax funds should be redistributed to pay for re-training programs.
Paper Moon — Selling Bibles
The young girl performs the role of price determinator in this clip from Paper Moon. The bibles hypothetically cannot be resold because they are inscribed with a name of the deceased. The girl looks around the living room to determine the price that the consumers would be willing (and able) to pay for the bible.
Sherlock — Prisoner’s Dilemma
Sherlock works on a case involving missing women who recently arrived in London. It turns out that a taxi driver was abducting women and having them choose a poisonous pill to determine whether they lived or die. Eager for more excitement, the cabbie convinces Sherlock to play. Sherlock works through the process of trying to determine, by backward induction, which pill would be deadly.
He never finds out if he was right.
This clip was recommended by Christine Cai.
Better Call Saul — Sunk Cost Fallacy
If you’re teaching the sunk cost fallacy, this clip from Better Call Saul can be used to define the term. Kim tries to convince Jimmy to keep being a lawyer because of how much time and effort he put into the bar exam. Jimmy cuts her off to teach her about the sunk cost fallacy and how it’s a waste of time.
State Farm — I bought a falcon
Michael Coon shared this great clip from State Farm. If you saved $480 on car insurance, what would you buy with the money instead?
Super Troopers — Free Hot Dog
This clip is a great one for the first week of a principles course and can be used to teach a variety of concepts including opportunity costs, marginal analysis, and incentives. Farva isn’t the smartest police officer on the force, and he’s an even worse economist. The gas station offers a “free” hot dog for people who pump 10 gallons of gas, but Farva only needs 9 gallons to fill his car. He has to make a decision on the margin about whether he wants to get that extra gallon. He weighs the costs and benefits of the extra gallon to determine if the “free” hot dog is worth the cost of 1 gallon of gas. Ultimately, the hot dog cost his 1 gallon of gas.
TedEd: Hotelling Model
This animated clip illustrates the Hotelling Model well (even though they don’t mention it), but can also be used to introduce the idea of sequential moves.
BusinessInsider — Buying People’s Powerball Ticket
Business Insider wanted to test just how strong the endowment effect (regret avoidance) is when it comes to Powerball tickets for the large jackpot this past week. Overall, people seemed really inclined to want to keep their numbers, even when offered the twice what they paid for the tickets.
The Princess Bride: Battle of Wits
The Battle of Wits scene may be one of the best game theory examples that students have scene before. It’s a great opportunity to introduce the concept of full information and knowing what the other one knows.
Golden Balls: Coordination
In the great British game show, Golden Balls, contestants must decide whether to cooperate with each other or be devious. The dramatic outcome of the game (replicated here) is that one will steal and the other will be honest. This variant of the game has a unique twist to ensure cooperation.