Rent seeking is the process where people or firms expend valuable resources (time, energy, or other resources) while attempting to win a competition. This is often referred to as a market failure, but many times it is actually a government failure. Some common real-world examples you see for this is when the government offers grants […]
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Thanks to J. Brian O’Roark for creating this video and the description below. The musical Urinetown presents a greedy businessman who deals with a water shortage by instituting a toilet tax. If you don’t pay, you are banished, hence the “Privilege to Pee”. In this song we see the basics of demand and supply played […]
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Javert wants to find Jean Valjean. Badly. Javert provides a great example of inelastic demand, as he swears upon the stars that he will never yield, under any circumstances, in his quest to find Valjean. In fact, economists would say he has perfectly inelastic demand – as the price won’t influence Javert in his quest. […]
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Tevye discusses what he would do if he were a rich man. Note that this musical is set in the year 1905. Many people today would find it staggering to think about what it meant to be rich in 1905. The average poor person in America today has an income that is considerably higher than […]
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In this entertaining song, Henry Dysquith and Monty Navarro explain how things are always better with a man. Economists would say that these individuals obtain a higher utility with a man than without. Discussion Questions for “Better With a Man” Link to Lyrics for “Better With a Man”
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Henry Ford was one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. His success was due in large part to the use of assembly line production, which significantly decreased the costs of production. In the song, he sings “even people who ain’t too clever, can learn to tighten a nut forever”. Now the costs of production […]
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Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother sing in this song. Initially, the song focuses on what is impossible. Relating this to economics, Cinderella desires a point that is beyond the boundaries of her production possibilities frontier (PPF). The way to obtain a bundle that is initially impossible to obtain is by obtaining or creating a new […]
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Norma Desmond wants to look younger, and is willing to endure significant pain to get there. This is a great song to illustrate two concepts – tradeoffs and opportunity cost. The tradeoffs here are clear – to look younger and better, Norma Desmond has to endure some suffering. This song also is a good one […]
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In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods was just dumped by Warner, the boyfriend she thought would marry her. In What You Want, she sings about how she’s going to get back him back. She has decided to attempt to get into law school. Once she accomplishes that, she’ll move from Southern California to Harvard and spend […]
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This is a great song to illustrate both trade-offs and opportunity costs. Kathy is singing a letter that she’s writing to her husband, Jamie. She is taking a shot at her dream of being an actress, but to do so she has to spend the summer in a small town in Ohio. She’s not happy […]
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