​Videos

Below are a selection of videos which will be viewed in the course. They have been posted on here, and can be used to help review material, but will not cover all of the material in class lectures.

Intro to Econ

This clip from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" shows Ben Stein teaching an Economics course to a class full of intrigued high schoolers. Hopefully your class isn't anything like this one!

Incentives

In this clip from "Terminal", Tom Hanks figures out that you are paid to return the baggage carriers at the airport. This provides him with an incentive to return as many baggage carriers as he can so he can afford to scarf down a whole meal from Burger King.

​Opportunity Cost

In this clip from the "Big Bang Theory" Sheldon contemplates purchasing an Xbox One or a Play Station 4. While comparing the two, Sheldon contemplates the opportunity costs of not purchasing the other gaming system

​Investment/Gains from Trade

In this scene from "A Knight's Tale" the three protagonists argue over how to spend their winnings from their first tournament.  They decide to invest in further training, to increase their returns later, in effect trading present consumption for future earnings.

Gains from Trade

Raj needs Sheldon to be his wingman for a couple of dates in this clip from "Big Bang Theory". Since Sheldon is reluctant, Raj offers to trade him collectibles in exchange for his time as a wingman.

Supply and Demand

In this clip from "Catch Me If You Can" a high end prostitute gets DiCaprio to show his demand curve, while she tells him to "Go Fish" at prices she is unwilling to supply.  The end result is the two agreeing on a price, at the equilibrium of supply and demand

Demand

This clip from "Frozen" shows what can happen with a shock in demand. After Elsa freezes the town in the middle of the summer, this savvy store owner realizes there is lower demand for all of his summer clothing, so he places all of his summer stuff half off, while his winter stock remains at full price and is nearly depleted due to the high demand.

Increased Supply

In this scene from "Anchorman", Veronica Corningstone is a female attempting to enter the news anchor labor market. The men news anchors, understanding that allowing women to work in the same industry as them will increase labor supply and lower their wages, attempt to sabotage her first effort reporting on the Channel 4 news team

​Free Riding

The entire premise of the movie "Wedding Crashers" is based on free riding.  The two bachelors in the movie attend weddings they are not invited to and eat the food and drink the alcohol without spending a dime on the party.

Product Differentiation

This clip from "Mad Men" shows product differentiation. While the public is finding out about cigarettes being bad for your health, Don Draper cleverly devises a way to differentiate Lucky Strike cigarettes from its competition with the phrase "It's Toasted"

Positive Externalities

In this Hyundai commercial, we see a positive externality when the car automatically applies the brakes. The Hyundai avoiding the accident is a good thing for the first vehicle. The positive externality in this case is Ryan Reynolds and the dogs not being run over because of the automatic braking system in the car.

Negative Externality

Penny and Leonard are in the middle of a fight. This is making Sheldon's "life intolerable". Penny and Leonard's argument has a negative externality on Sheldon's utility

Price Elasticity

This clip is from the movie Shawshank Redemption. In the scene, Andy has an inelastic demand for the rock pick, so he pays a much higher price for the pick than he would have otherwise.

​Price Elasticity

In this clip from "Shark Tank" an entrepreneur comes in on a pogo stick trying to take it to a mass market. The sharks all give the man the same advice: to increase prices. The sharks are assuming the product has an inelastic demand, and the entrepreneur will increase his profits by selling at a larger margin.

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​Asymmetric Information

This clip explains what happens when the producer and consumer in a market have different information. In this case, the producer of the dress has more information about the cost of production than the consumer, leading the consumer to overspend on her wedding dress.

​Consumer Surplus

This clip from "Just Go with It" shows a negotiation for an acting job. At the end of the clip, both parties reveal their willingness to pay, thus revealing their consumer and producer surplus.

Tragedy of the Commons

This clip from "You Can't Even Talk About It" gives a great example of what happens when property rights are not established, using endangered animals.

​Utility Maximization

In this video, Jerry and Elaine have started dating, and Jerry gives her the best gift any economist can give, cash. Elaine must not have taken an economics course yet, or she would understand that Jerry was actually maximizing her utility!

Income and Price Effect

In this scene from "Big Daddy", Adam Sandler is throwing cans on the ground to reduce the price (price effect). He is doing this because his budget constraint has decreased from the income effect of Microsoft stock falling 3 points.

Positional Good

In this clip from "The Big Bang Theory", Sheldon explains the concept of a positional good using Howard's girlfriend, and Raj's lack of a significant other

Game Theory

In this clip from "A Beautiful Mind" John Nash develops his revolutionary idea of game theory in a bar.

Game Theory

This clip is from the movie "The Dark Knight". The Joker loads both boats with explosives, and gives detonators to the passengers of each boat.  His plan sets up a Prisoner's Dilemma between the two boats, where their options are detonate or not detonate.

​Comparative Advantage

This scene from Shawshank Redemption shows Andy using his comparative advantage in knowledge of the tax system to trade for beer with a prison guard.

​Wealth Effect

This ad for Straight Talk Wireless shows the wealth effect. The woman in the ad does not have more money, but she feels wealthier because of her increased savings.

Inelastic Demand

This clip from "The Bourne Identity" shows Jason Bourne's demand for a ride to Paris is inelastic. He offers a stranger $10,000 just for a ride. When she hesitates, he offers her another $10,000 when they arrive, showing his real demand for a ride to Paris is at least $20,000.

​Diminishing Marginal Returns

This scene from "New Girl" depicts Jess listening to a song over and over again to help her cope with her breakup, but her roommates point out that the effect probably isn't the same after the 100th time listening to the song

Diminishing Marginal Returns

This scene from "The Big Bang Theory has quite a few jokes at Howard's expense.  This shows the law of diminishing marginal return in joke repetition

Complimentary Good

In this clip from "The Big Bang Theory" Sheldon needs to see a complimentary good next to the chocolate chip cookie, a glass of milk. 

Substitute Good

In this commercial for Verizon, Jamie Foxx discusses the difference between Verizon and it's two main competitors, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Monty Hall Problem

This clip from 21 quickly explains the Monty Hall problem, used as an example in Kevin Spacey's course.

Product Differentiation

In this clip, Toys R Us tries to differentiate itself from competitors by staying open for 87 consecutive hours

Government Intervention

Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope debate whether it is good or bad for the government to intervene in the marketplace. What do you think?

Market Power

Ron is in desperate need of a fleet of vans. He negotiates with a man who owns all of the possible vans to rent in Pawnee, Indiana.

Price Ceiling

As Chandler and Monica are moving out, Chandler looks back with fondness on his rent controlled apartment.

Price Floor

Chris Rock duscusses the benefits of a price floor on bullets along with complementary and substitute goods.

Consumer Surplus

In this clip Sheldon discusses the loss of consumer surplus brought on by gift giving

International Trade

Penny starts her own business, but after Sheldon does some math, he realizes Penny is making less money than a worker in Indonesia.

Moral Hazard

In this clip from "The Daily Show" they look at an advertising campaign designed to promote health insurance for a college audience