Teaching Economics with Media
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.
In this episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Mac and Charlie try to go swimming during the heat wave in Philadelphia. They grab their beer and floaties and head over to the local swim club. However, they are stopped by a worker who makes them put their beer away and then proceeds to tell them that they cannot be there because they are not members of the swim club. Frustrated with this, Mac and Charlie decide to make their own swim club, one that anyone can attend.
This clip relates to economics because the swim club is an example of an excludable, non-rival good, which is a club good. Because Mac and Charlie don’t pay the fee to be a member, they are unable to swim there. And, the worker tells them that they are at full capacity and are accepting no more members because the pool has the ability to restrict the number of members and charge higher prices. The two get disgruntled because they think the pool really isn’t at full capacity. They decide to go to an abandoned pool, one they used to swim in during their childhoods, and revamp it to make it nonexcludable and nonrival, which would make it a common resource. However, since it would become a public good, it would be easy to get overcrowded, making it rival and a common good.
Thanks to Anna DeCecco for the clip and summary.
Dennis and Dee are trying to buy a crack rock in order to manipulate the welfare system, but they aren’t really sure of the cost of a crack rock. When they approach a street dealer, he quickly realizes that the two clients aren’t well informed and he can earn a bit of extra profit by charging them a higher price. Luckily for him, they agree.
Charlie decides to start smoking in the mailroom because it’s a stressful job and the cigarettes help him calm down. He rationalizes it that it’s okay to do something so risky because he has health insurance. In economic terms, health insurance creates a moral hazard because Charlie is only smoking because he knows he has insurance and he wouldn’t be as risky without it.
Mac, Charlie and Dennis come up with another poorly thought out get rich quick scheme by trying to start a door to door gas selling firm. After getting a loan from the bank, they plan on buying a mass quantity of gasoline, waiting for the price to go up, and selling it for profit later on. The gang believes that when the gas prices reach a certain point they would be able to undercut the gas companies and sell the product at a higher price than what they bought it for.