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.

2017 0

Rick and Morty — Devaluing the Intergalactic Currency

One of the main characters just changed the value of the international currency to be zero which has the effect of causing all money to be worthless. The clip focuses on the president of the galactic federation and his aides discussing what to do about the sudden lack of money when the aides realize that without any money they won’t get paid and that they refuse to work for nothing. The president comes up with a solution that involves blowing his brains out with a handy space pistol.

Thanks for the summary and clip Ben Kupp!

2017 0

Family Guy — Velocity of Money

Chris’s grandfather gives him a rare dollar bill for his birthday, but Chris doesn’t know about it at the time. The entire episode follows this dollar bill through the city of Quahog and shows the variety of people that interact with the same dollar. The concept of the velocity of money focuses on how many times a single bill can circulate throughout the economy. When a dollar is creator, assuming it isn’t leaked through the money system, it’s value is much more than the actual dollar amount at which it’s printed.

This clip is 10 minutes long (out of a 20-minute episode). There are some parts that may not be suitable for the classroom, so please watch in its entirety before showing in class.

Thanks to Michael Coon for the submission! Check him out on Twitter!

2017 0

Business Insider — Paying with Bitcoin & Gold

A Business Insider correspondent travels around New York City with 100g of gold and a single Bitcoin to see how easy/difficult it is to conduct transactions using these alternative currencies. Even though gold is universally agreed currency, no one is willing to accept it. Bitcoin is a little more popular, but some local places didn’t accept it as payment.

You can see the original article here. Thanks to Jodi Beggs for the tip.

2017 0

Vegas Vacation — Money Supply

Cousin Eddie takes his savings and buries the money in metal coffee tins in the desert. When Clark Griswold losses all of his cash in Las Vegas, Eddie decides it is time to dig up the money to help Clark out.

Thanks to Adrian Fohr for the clip and description!

2017 1

Ron White — Coupons

Ron White describes how he tried to buy a beer using actual money, but by the time he got to the front of the line he finds out that the vendor requires him to pay for his beer with coupons. Ron then has to go stand in another line in order to get coupons (for cash) so that he can then trade coupons for a beer.

2017 0

The Simpsons — Money or Peanuts

Homer is looking forward to eating the last peanut and goes to toss it in mouth, but he misses and it falls behind the couch. He starts digging under the couch and finds a $20 dollar bill and is initially upset about not finding the last peanut. Homer then goes through the thought process of how money could be exchanged for goods and services and now he can buy many peanuts.

Thanks for the clip Lauren Dempsey!

2017 0

The League — Medium of Exchange

Most principles of macroeconomics classes teach the three (or sometimes four) functions of money. The main function is always its ability to be used in exchange for goods and services (use as a medium of exchange). In this clip from season 3 episode 7 of the league, Taco uses Jenny’s underwear covered in stamps in exchange for goods and services.

Source: James Tierney

2017 0

Teen Titans Go! — Bees as Money

This was forwarded along by the good folks at Norton Economics. The characters on the show go on to discuss bees as currency, which would be a great intro for a principle of macroeconomics course.

2015 0