Jane decides to help Tarzan increase is human capital by learning some new “human” skills. After learning these various skills, Tarzan should be much more productive.
Thanks for the clip recommendation Courtney Conrad!
The Colbert Report — College Credit
Stephen goes through the issues associated with the earning potential of various degrees. This satirical piece points out that college students receive credit for different courses, but they aren’t charged differently for their credit. He then goes through examples of ways colleges could break down credit into three tiers and charge based on potential gains to the students.
Adam Ruins Everything — Student Loans
Adam Ruins Everything is a half-hour informational comedy were host, Adam Conover, debunks popular myths. Each episode is divided into 3 segments with some common theme. In the Spring of 2018, James Tierney and I sat down to go through all three seasons of Adam Ruins Everything to pick out examples in each episode that could be used in an economics course. If you’re curious about the paper, you can read about it here.
Adam is back to discuss how student loan providers have turned so evil. When traditional institutions didn’t step in to provide loan services to students, the government tried to rectify the situation, but may have made things worse.
Dee-1 — Paying Sallie Mae Back
Dee-1 has a big announcement for his fans, he’s finally paying Sallie Mae (his student loans) back. This is my favorite video to play before we start discussing human capital markets because student loan providers are viewed as evil, but they are filling a role in the market that traditional lenders aren’t willing to service.
Marginal Revolution University: Is Education Signaling or Skill Building?
Another great clip from the Marginal Revolution University team, but this time focused on the value of an education. Just like the robotization duel, I like to break this one down into multiple smaller clips and put clicker questions in the middle of them.
Neal Brennan: College Loans
A student in my Labor Economics class shared this great clip of standup comedian Neal Brennan discussing why banks don’t want to loan for college degrees. This is a great clip to talk about capital market imperfections and even signalling.
Life Cycle Considerations in Modern Family
One of the tougher topics to get across to students is why older workers leave the labor force. One explanation for the leave is that they see a decrease in their human capital and that some of their previous training is no longer relevant. This clip does a good job bringing humor to a topic that often sounds derogatory.
Manny tries to teach his step father how to use the double-click feature on his tablet, but Jay struggles to understand.
Dangerous Missions: Timber!
Documentary about the many dangers lumberjacks face while doing their work. The impact of the technological advances of chainsaws over the last century in the lumber industry is also highlighted. Great discussion for capital/labor decisions plus scale/substitution effects when capital prices change.
CNN: Should You Go To College?
You can’t excel without education. But that doesn’t mean you need to go to college. Mike Rowe explains.