Teaching Economics with Media
In this particular scene from Zootopia, Nick Wilde and Finnick buy a large popsicle to eventually meltdown and reform into small “Pawpsicles” to sell to other animals. This scene can be used when teaching barriers to entry since the popsicle market appears to have very few barriers. The two of them are able to access all the necessary ingredients and can setup their businesses outside the bank easily.
Thanks to Bryn Goldman for the clip suggestion!
George has become quite the entrepreneur through arbitrage. First, he buys snow globes from a company going out of business to resell at a higher price than to his neighbors. Now, he realizes that he can buy candy in bulk and then sell it outside the vending machine to people looking for a cheaper option. Even though it’s against school rules, he realizes that the school’s monopoly power over the vending machines results in higher prices than what’s necessary.
George notices that the greeting card store downtown is going out of business and he sees this as a business opportunity! He believes that he can buy Texas-themed snow globes for $1 and resell them to his neighbors for $5. George is arbitraging the snow globes, buying low and selling high. He goes through some struggles at first, but finds out how to sell them by the end of the episode.
Newman gets the bright idea to take bottles from New York (where the deposit refund is 5 cents) and return them in Michigan for 10 cents. Kramer stops him quickly and let’s him know that this isn’t a good idea because he’s not thinking about the costs of transporting them. Newman quickly realizes he can get a truck at no cost from the post office, which makes the arbitrage scheme profitable.
The full clip comes from Economics of Seinfeld.
Sophia browses for clothes in a vintage clothing store and finds a jacket she wants to purchase. She bargains for a lower price for the jacket before leaving the store. Later, Sophia decides to sell the jacket on eBay and takes a few photos to try and make the jacket appear more fashionable. While she was able to buy the jacket for only $9, Sophia eventually sells the jacket on eBay for over $600 (the clip stops at $185). As the show progresses, Sophia continues to sell clothes and starts an online business called Nasty Gal, which is actually still in operation today. This clip is a prime example of arbitrage, where a person can purchase an item at a low price in one area (Sophia at the thrift store) and sell it for a higher price in a different market (Sophia on eBay). In a perfectly competitive market, the price differential should narrow, but because eBay has a much larger customer base, Sophia is able to buy items from the local thrift store and resell them later at a higher price.
Thanks to Elena Montenegro for the clip suggestion!
Sinbad travels to a popular city with goods from a country which is not only highly secluded, but up until this point has refused to trade with other nations. Sinbad, being the only one able to establish trade with them, sets up a shop in this popular city, knowing that his goods will sell quickly. Within the hour of setting up shop, a merchant comes by and buys out his entire stock and sells them for a higher price. Realizing his mistake of setting a low early price, and eager to try to learn more about the economy, Sinbad finds the merchant again in a bar and asks for his help. This clip shows the interaction between the two, as the merchant teaches Sinbad about how his mistake heavily put him behind, and how to avoid such a mistake in the future.
Since Sinbad was the only one who is able to get sell these products from the highly secluded country, he was a monopoly firm in the area. He was bested when the other firm arbitraged his product.
Clip and summary provided by Michele Killoran.
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.