South Park — Uber and Handicar

The characters are complaining about Handicar, a service provided by Timmy and how it is stealing all of the transportation business. Mimsy, another driver, adds his two sense by talking about competition. He includes an economist’s take on incentives and how a certain producer can gain economic advantages in a competitive market. This is important to economics because it includes the topics of a competitive marketplace as well as the concepts of advantage in that marketplace.

Thank you for the clip and the summary Taylor Campbell.

 

Forrest Gump — Only Boat Left

 

Forrest easily enters the shrimp market by buying a boat. There are multiple buyers and sellers, and no one shrimping boat controls the price of shrimp. Therefore the shrimp market is an example of perfect competition. Once the hurricane hits it forces all the other boats to exit the market. Turning the market into a monopoly. Forrest is the sole supplier of the product, controlling the entire market, turning it into a monopoly.

Thanks for the clip and summary Keagan Rallis

I Love Lucy — 5 Cent Hamburgers

 

Price wars aren’t good for business profits, which is why many firms may want to collude. If two goods are close substitutes, prices should be driven down near the marginal cost of production. This is a good introduction to the long run outcome of perfect competition, but can also be used to show the shut down rule. When prices drop too low, it may be worth some firms to stop production.

Up ↑