Videos

Joseph: King of Dreams

Disney’s Joseph: King of Dreams is based on the Biblical story story of Jacob and his twelve sons, with a particular focus on Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph’s privileged status, marked by a special coat given to him by Jacob, stirs deep jealousy among his brothers. This animosity intensifies after Joseph shares dreams that symbolize his future dominance over his family.

This scene highlights how Jacob’s brothers are motivated by envy and the desire for profit. They seize an opportunity to rid themselves of Joseph. In a calculated move, they decide to sell Joseph into slavery, a practice institutionalized in their society, gain profit. This decision reflects not only their personal resentment but also a profit motive, as they benefit materially from selling their brother. Their actions are facilitated by the existence of slavery as an institution within their society, which provides them with the means to translate their malicious intent into a profitable outcome.

0

Evan Almighty — Sunk Cost Fallacy

In the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, God decides to reset creation, sparing only Noah, his family, and pairs of animals in an ark. This decision to start anew instead of persisting in a flawed creation illustrates His ability to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, where one refrains from continuing a venture due to past investments.

‘Evan Almighty’ modernizes this theme. Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) is instructed by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an ark amid skepticism. Like God’s decision in Noah’s Ark, Evan’s choice to build the ark, disregarding past norms and expectations, mirrors the economic principle of evaluating future potential over past costs, exemplifying the avoidance of sunk costs.

0

Gary Gulman – An Ode to Oreos

The Oreo cookie may be the best cookie of all time. Comedian Gary Gulman would agree. In this standup session, Gulman highlights the various ways that Oreos have innovated their product and even provided double the filling for no extra cost.

In the second part of the joke, Gulman highlights the ways that Oreos have differentiated their products in order to compete with other cookies. You never know what that little cookie is up to until you stop by on your way through the grocery store:

Thanks to Michael Lucas for the clip suggestion!

0

Blacklist – VSL & Ethics

A CEO (Digby) kills a 12-year-old in a hit-and-run, but there is a witness. This is where “The Ethicist” comes in. He offers to eliminate the witness because statistically, her life is worth less than the CEO’s life. Klepper summarizes the concept of the value of statistical life (VSL) and how he uses that to determine who he will murder. Whoever he determines has a more valuable contribution to the world is who gets to live.

Thanks to Alfredo Paloyo for the clip suggestion!

0

Can you negotiate at Target?

Price tags are an interesting phenomenon when you consider that it wasn’t all that long ago that negotiating in stores was a common practice. Price tags improve efficiency because they present full information for customers who don’t have to worry about negotiating, but it doesn’t mean that the price is the most efficient price. There are markets all around the world that display one price, but involve sellers willing to negotiate. Jia Jiang finds out that Target is not one of those markets.

Thanks to Bryan Sloss for sending in this clip!

1

Jaws – It’s an Eating Machine.

Who wants to swim at a beach with multiple recent shark attacks? In Jaws (1975), Mayor Vaughn knows that if word of the attacks gets out and the beaches shut down, it will cripple the local tourist economy of Amity Island. Tourists will choose other safer places to stay, and businesses will not want to invest in the area if it has become an undesirable vacation spot. If there is a shark terrorizing the local beaches, there is likely to be a decline in consumer and business confidence in the town causing the aggregate demand curve to decline.

Thanks to Amanda Mandzik for the clip submission & summary.

0

Adventureland – You’re Hired!

It’s the summer of 1987, and recent college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) can’t wait to begin his long-anticipated dream trip to Europe. Unfortunately, James’ plans come to a screeching halt when his parents announce that they are unable to subsidize his trip and he’ll need to get a job. He is turned down for a restaurant job and an asphalt mixer driver before taking a job at an amusement park.

Amusement parks serve as useful illustrations of simplified economies. Within the park borders, they create a range of goods and services such as rides, games, food, and entertainment. We can track the prices and total sales of these goods and services to determine the overall productivity of the park.

Thanks to Amanda Mandzik for the clip submission & summary!

0

Good Burger – Going Into the Grinder

Dexter needs a summer job after wrecking his car, but he is unable to keep his first job at Mondo Burger because of his incompatibility with his boss. In an all-hands meeting, Dexter makes multiple wisecracks that cause his boss to fire him and have him physically removed from the premises. Fortunately for Dexter, he will find an employment opportunity with the local competition, Good Burger. Frictional unemployment may also occur if there is a mismatch between employer and employee.

Thanks to Amanda Mandzik for the clip and summary.

0

Adventureland – Summer Jobs

It’s the summer of 1987, and recent college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) can’t wait to begin his long-anticipated dream trip to Europe. Unfortunately, James’ plans come to a screeching halt when his parents announce that they are unable to subsidize his trip and he’ll need to get a job.

When an individual is actively looking for work, unemployment can be categorized as frictional, structural, or cyclical. James is thrown into the job market early, but finding a job does not happen immediately for James. He is turned down for a restaurant job and an asphalt mixer driver because he lacks the skills necessary to do the work. For classification purposes, James is finding that he is structurally unemployed. If there were jobs available in other areas that needed his skills in comparative literature, economists would consider him frictionally unemployed.

Thanks to Amanda Mandzik for the clip suggestion!

0

The Way, Way Back – There You Go!

Duncan, the main character in the movie, The Way, Way Back, is an example of someone who wouldn’t be considered unemployed, even though he does not initially have a job. To be officially classified as unemployed, an individual from the labor force must not be currently working but must be available to work and actively looking for work within the last 4 weeks.

Not only is Duncan only 14 years old—making him too young to be a member of the working-age population—but he also is not looking for a job. In this scene, he is spontaneously offered a job at a water park by a new acquaintance. For classification purposes, he was not part of the labor force and then switched to employed.

Thanks to Amanda Mandzik for the clip and summary.

0

Up ↑