Tag: demand

The Hudsucker Proxy — The Hula Hoop

This is a clip from the movie “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994). In the scene, the store owner have a hard time selling the Hula Hoop. He kept lower the price but still no one wants to buy the Hula Hoop even he end up giving them for free with any purchase. He then throw all them out of the store and one of them accidentally bump into a boy. The boy start playing with it and the other kids saw it. After that, they all run to the store for the Hula Hoop. As more and more kids tried to buy a Hula Hoop, the price goes up again and even higher than before.

This related to the idea of demand and supply. At first, the Hula Hoop was not popular for kids so there’s no one wants to buy it. However, after the kids saw the boy playing with it, their preference change. Preference can change the demand of a product. When the demand increase, the price of the product and the supply also increase.

Thanks for the clip and summary Yi Chun Liu.

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Pixar — One Man Band

 

I use this clip to introduce the concept of monopolistic competition in a market place and how demand shifts when close substitutes enter a market.

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The Bourne Identity — I Need a Ride

Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, asks a cash-strapped young woman (Franka Potente) for a lift while Conklin (Chris Cooper) musters all of his forces to find him. Both parties have something that the other one needs, so a mutually beneficial trade occurs. This clip really highlights the concept of double coincidence of wants.

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Futurama — Fishful of Dollars

We can see economic concepts throughout the episode when Fish learns that he is rich because of a small savings account he opened 1000 years ago. Thanks to interest rates, his money has grown to billions. When Fish and his friends try to order a pizza, he finds out that anchovies no longer exist because of overfishing when humans arrived on the planet. Zoidberg notes that his people killed the anchovies because they always believed one more wouldn’t have an impact.

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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

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The Founder — Opening Scene

The Founder is based on the rise of Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s brothers. The opening scene of the movie can be used to talk about a variety of topics in producer theory. Michael Keaton plays entrepreneur Ray Kroc and the opening scene starts with Kroc explaining how fast food establishments can upgrade to a 5-spindle milkshake machine and boost the production of milkshakes at the restaurant. Keaton also goes describes themes that are used in monopolistic competition that focus on firms differentiating their products, perhaps by being able to focus on milkshakes.

Thanks for the submission Ryan Herzog!

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Outsourced — Made in America

Many people are upset with outsourcing, but they aren’t willing to pay the price difference to ensure their products are made in America. In this scene from Outsourced, Asha walks an angry customer through the process of locating an American-made product only to find that he isn’t interested in paying the higher price.

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Pretty Woman — A Week’s Worth of Time

In Pretty Woman, Edward is really interested Vivian and makes a business proposition for her to spend a week with him. He offers to hire her as his companion. During the negotiation process, they attempt to settle on a price. They agree on a price of $3000, but at the end of the clip she admits to Edward that she would have stayed for $2000 (implying she has now earned $1000 of producer surplus), but Edward reveals he would have actually paid her $4000 (implying his consumer surplus is also $1000).

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