Jack needs to speak with Liz Lemon, and he knows the fastest way to get her to his office is by breaking the vending machine so that she would come up and complain.
Thanks to James Tierney for the clip!
National Science Foundation — Tragedy of the Commons
The tragedy of the commons are predictable outcomes when looking at grazing lanes, highways, fisheries, and forests. This quick video from the National Science Foundation is a short introduction to the issues that plague common resources. The ending portion of the video paints the tragedy in a much broader light by highlighting the growing need to preserve nature as populations continue to grow.
TedEd — What is the tragedy of the commons
Here’s a great opening video for teaching common resources and the tragedy of the commons. This version of the video actually does a great job explaining the math of the overfishing problem and how you need to have enough reproductive pairs in order to maintain the optimal level of the stock. This video could be used a pre-lesson video to introduce the topic.
Bud Light — Swear Jar
Normally a swear jar would be used to curb bad behavior (like in this clip from New Girl), but the folks around this office are using the money to buy Bud Light and have incidentally increased the usage of swear words.
Louis CK — If Murder Were Legal
Louis CK works through the rational model of crime by Becker and why he’s happy that there are laws against murdering people. This clips would be great for a behavioral economics course or maybe a funny introduction to principles to talk about incentives, externalities, and public policy.
The Simpsons — King-Size Homer
In this episode, at work Homer is required to participate in an exercise class. He learns that if he is considered disabled that he will not have to participate in the class. He looks up ways to be considered disabled and finds that being over 300 lbs. makes him disabled. He’s now incentivized to become obese and not have to participate in the class when most people try to avoid becoming overweight.
Thanks to Brooke Bauman for the clip!
The Colbert Report — Roland Fryer
Stephen Colbert interviews Harvard economist Roland Fryer about his pay-for-learning system in Chicago, Washington DC, and New York City. Fryer discusses the incentive mechanism that his team developed in order to encourage learning across those three cities.
Wanda Sykes — Someone Else’s Kids
Wanda Sykes describes how she treats her nephews is much different than how she would treat her own kids. She’s not interested in making sure they eat healthy or go to bed at a decent hour because they aren’t her children. This is a great illustration of the principle-agent problem in that the two agents, Wanda and her sibling, don’t have the same motives.
Bleacher Report — The Coach That Never Punts
At Pulaski Academy in Arkansas, Kevin Kelley’s team never punts because he opts for high risk decisions because the probabilities are in his favor. He doesn’t believe in taking the risk averse method and he also believes in focuses on his team’s comparative advantage instead of just doing the traditional method.
The Onion — Social Security Reform Bill (NSFW)
The Onion takes a satirical look at social security reform by proposing that Americans become riskier and try to die earlier so that there’s more money left in the system for those that survive. They also recommend increasing taxes on items that could save people.