Tag: Netflix

Manifest — Selection Bias

Manifest is the story of a missing plane that shows up over 5 years late, but the people on the plane don’t experience any time change. Saanvi was a researcher whose work has been used to treat pediatric cancer while she was away. One of the boys on the flight qualifies for treatment, but allowing him to join the study puts the study at risk since they don’t know what happened on the flight. Selection bias occurs when people are selected (or not selected) into treatments in an unrandom fashion. The young boy qualifies to be part of the study but is excluded on the basis that it’s not clear what happened on the flight.

Thanks to Alfredo Paloyo for the clip recommendation!

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The Witcher — Diminishing Returns

Ciri is in the middle of training while Geralt repairs his armor. She struggles with her technique and becomes frustrated that she isn’t executing as she expects. Geralt calls it for the day and notes that any more training will just suffer from diminishing returns. The implication is that she can keep training, but that each additional amount of time allocated toward training would yield smaller gains to her ability. Ciri would be better off focusing on rest instead.

Thanks to @EconWoodrow for the find!

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Kim’s Convenience — Driving vs. Baking

Appa has made a collection of baked goods but his wife thinks she could do it better. In an earlier scene, Umma damages a friend’s car and made offered to pay for half the cost of repairing the damage. Her husband is disappointed because he feels he could have saved them a lot of money. Umma lets him know that’s why she isn’t a millionaire, but at least she’s a better baker.

Thanks to John Kruggel for the clip submission.

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A Series of Unfortunate Event — Library Operating Hours

 

Olivia is frustrated with the administration because they only allow the library to be open for a short amount of time. She rightly notes that it doesn’t actually cost anything for the library to be open longer, partly because her salary is paid regardless of the number of hours. The administration, though, has used the money for personal reasons and doesn’t understand why it needs to be open longer. Olivia argues that the marginal cost of operating the library is zero, which implies that operating the library is only one large fixed cost.

Thanks to Brittany Pifer for the scene recommendation!

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Girlboss — Jacket Arbitrage

 

 

Sophia browses for clothes in a vintage clothing store and finds a jacket she wants to purchase. She bargains for a lower price for the jacket before leaving the store. Later, Sophia decides to sell the jacket on eBay and takes a few photos to try and make the jacket appear more fashionable. While she was able to buy the jacket for only $9, Sophia eventually sells the jacket on eBay for over $600 (the clip stops at $185).   As the show progresses, Sophia continues to sell clothes and starts an online business called Nasty Gal, which is actually still in operation today. This clip is a prime example of arbitrage, where a person can purchase an item at a low price in one area (Sophia at the thrift store) and sell it for a higher price in a different market (Sophia on eBay). In a perfectly competitive market, the price differential should narrow, but because eBay has a much larger customer base, Sophia is able to buy items from the local thrift store and resell them later at a higher price.

Thanks to Elena Montenegro for the clip suggestion!

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One Day at a Time — Risk Aversion

Penelope wakes up from a bad, but her mother is there to comfort her. After a second, Penelope notices that her mom has makeup on despite being asleep. Her mother tells her that she goes through the process of putting makeup on each night just in case she wakes up and meets someone or if she dies in her sleep. In this context, Penelope’s mom is risk averse and undergoes a lot of costs each night “just in case.”

Thanks to Khalaf Alshammari for the clip!

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Chris Rock — Break Up

Chris Rock discusses his recent divorces and encourages couples in love to make sure they hold tight to one another. He does warn that if you’re thinking about leaving then you should probably leave immediately, perhaps after the show. A lot of people stay in relationships they don’t like being in because they’ve been together for so long, but that’s just irrational!

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Chris Rock — High School Orientation

Chris Rock describes taking his daughter to her high school orientation and hearing the vice principle talk about how students can be anything that they want to be. While optimistic, Rock points out that it’s more appropriate to tell them that they can be whatever they’re good at as long as someone is hiring. It turns out Chris Rock and stand up comedy has a lot of insights on economics.

Thanks to Kim Holder and ECONShots for clip idea!

 

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Shameless — Crying Baby

The eldest daughter takes care and provides for most of the family because their father is an alcoholic and mother is absent in their lives. One of the daughters, Debbie, gets pregnant and decides to have the child. After having the baby, she brings it back home and begins to live in her house with her newborn. One morning, the baby starts to cry. Everyone in the house is woken up by the newborn’s cries and is extremely angry. The baby crying in the morning is an example of a negative externality. By crying and waking everyone up, the baby is costing the third party, in this case the family, sleep, as a result.

Thanks to Annie Mae Weiss for the clip and description!

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Narcos — We Have Miami

The group originally agreed to have sole control over Miami and New York and share Los Angeles among the two separate gangs, but it appears that independent members have been poaching areas from one another. The strength of a cartel is in their ability to self-regulate and to not over produce. Cartels have the ability to operate like a monopoly, but only if they’re stable.

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