The Simpsons — Opportunity Cost of Lines

If you’re teaching opportunity cost, this is a great clip to show the value of time. Homer waits in line 8 days to grab a coveted ticket to an event. A passerby accurately notes that the Homer could have just purchased the ticket with the money he would have earned from working.

The following scene has a nice clip that can be used to talk about efficiency and equity.

If you love economics and The Simpsons, Josh Hall edited a book that may interest you.

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Brothers Osborne – It Ain’t My Fault

Introduce correlation vs causation using this music video from Brothers Osborne. In the story, the singer describes a bunch of events from a previous night of drinking, but reiterates that it wasn’t his fault. While his presence was correlated with a bunch of events, he insists he didn’t cause those events. He then goes on to list the causes of each event for the night:

Relevant lyrics:
Blame the whiskey on the beer
Blame the beer on the whiskey
Blame the mornin’ on the night
For whose lyin’ here with me
Blame the bar for the band
Blame the band for the song
Blame the song for the party that went all night long
But it ain’t my fault

For more country music videos that display economics, check out EconGoneCountry.

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New Girl – Douchebag Jar

Schmidt has a tendency to be a bit eccentric and bother his roommates with a variety of sayings/outfits. These outburst tend to annoy his roommates so they collectively agree to regular his behavior and force him to pay a tax to a “douchebag jar” when he does things the group considers unfavorable.

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Project Runway — Specialization

James Tierney shared this great clip on his website a few years ago and it covers the idea of using Project Runway to discuss specialization and gains from trade. One of the contestants describes the process of designing the outfit line and discusses each member’s role in the creation of the outcome.

Golden Balls: Split or Steal

In one of the greatest game theory game shows produced, contestants play a simultaneous-move game where they must decide whether to split or steal money from each other.

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A Beautiful Mind: Ignoring the Blonde

The classic scene from A Beautiful Mind when Nash (Russell Crowe) and his friends are discussing governing dynamics. Nash’s realization is not that of a Nash Equilibrium, but rather the classic view of Adam Smith (everyone doing what’s best for themselves) is harmful compared to if they just work together for the common good. It can be a bit confusing since the Nash Equilibrium is not that people should work together for the great good, but this is still a good introduction to a lesson game theory because it helps introduce why it might be harmful for everyone to only do what’s in their own best interest.

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The Colbert Report: Evan Osnos & Cashmere

Evan Osnos discusses many of the externalities that arise from the increased production of Cashmere in China over the past decade. Osnos explains that cashmere goats in China have sharp hooves that tear up the landscape and create dust, which then travels to the United States and reduces air quality, particularly along the west coast. As cashmere consumption has increased, so has the pollution. Osnos refers to the “real costs” of cashmere items (such as a cashmere toilet seat cover that Colbert has) as including the health care costs for those affected by the dust.

Here’s a lesson plan from SERC: https://serc.carleton.edu/econ/interactive/examples/43020.html

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Ted: Jonas Eliasson: How to solve traffic jams

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.

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