What would you do if you won the lottery? This clip fits nicely with two different sections of an economics course. The first is how people respond to income increases in terms of purchasing normal goods or luxury goods. For labor economics, this discussion is a good segue to discussion how increases in income decrease the time people devote to work assuming leisure is a normal good.
Recess — Stickers as Money
Colorful stickers have become de facto currency on the playground. TJ can’t buy things because he doesn’t have any stickers even though his friends have them. Because of the increase in demand, the local shop owner doesn’t even have any stickers left.
TJ decides to start working in order to earn more stickers to buy things. When he gets tired of doing labor for stickers, he turns into a managerial role and begins delegating tasks to other kids who needs stickers. When TJ collects nearly all of the Monstickers on the playground, the kids aren’t able to actually purchase anythings. Eventually, Monstickers become obsolete and the playground converts to Lick ‘n’ Stick Alien Stamps and the Monstickers become useless.
Vox — Homer Simpson: An Economic Analysis
Homer has had about 100 jobs during his many years on television and Vox writers have analyzed his work life. If you plan on using a lot of Simpsons clips throughout your course, they may be a good introduction for students unfamiliar with the show.
Swing Vote — Drink Less Beer
Molly (Madeline Carroll) and her dad Bud (Kevin Costner) are driving down the road, but Bud is unhappy with egg salad sandwich as a lunch option. Molly quickly points out that they are on a budget and that if he wants to eat better then he needs to drink less beer. This tradeoff can be illustrated with a budget constraint in economics. Given a fixed level of income, the only way to get more (or better) food, is to give up something else.
Life in Pieces — The Sleepover
Sam is ready for her sleepover, but didn’t pack a toothbrush. She’s already realized that when her teeth fall out, she gets money from the Tooth Fairy. She’s connected the dots and realized that by not brushing she could get the income sooner. Her parents aren’t amused.
This scene was brought to my attention by a regular #TeachEcon contributor, Courtney Conrad.
Thanks to James Tierney for actually posting the video on Critical Commons.
Quartz — Robots Should Pay Taxes
Bill Gates, in an article with Quartz, argues that if a robot which take workers’ jobs should be required to pay taxes. Those tax funds should be redistributed to pay for re-training programs.