LESSON FOUR: Ratted Out

GO DIGGING: Join some more rats along with the world’s most famous archaeologist, Indiana Jones, and high school teacher Jacob Clifford to learn more about the equilibrium pricing thanks to ACDCEcon. Combining economic education with famous movie quotes? Are you kidding me? This is so good I wish I was back in high school (or had at least thought of this first). Check out the video, then go ahead and create some demand by subscribing to the YouTube feed or becoming a student at www.acdcecon.com. 

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Econoclass: Birka

Games, activities, and resources for high school economics classes.

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL: We don’t talk about them in this course due to time constraints, but Viking raiders from the eighth to the eleventh century set up trade routes to plunder much of Europe and trade their spoils. Play the card game Birka, a game of strategy where you play the role of a Norseman bartering pillaged loot. Cards with relative scarcity, i.e. lower supply, will have a higher price and you’ll have to know when to hold ‘em and fold ‘em. Check out the instructions and download a scorecard.

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PLAY ONLINE: Card games too old school for you? The Supply and Demand Game challenges you to get a new kind of charcoal to catch fire. Lighter fluid will only take you so far. Determine supply and demand curves while trying to get to market at a price that will maximize profits. 

Supply & Demand Game

Supply & Demand game by PhDs from Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley. Economic simulation with points and prizes in a Supply & Demand game.

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CHECK OUT A SHOW: Go to StubHub.com and pick a show. Watch prices adjust in real time as the supply and demand curves move silently about the inter-webs. 

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​LOSE SOME SLEEP: Read the novel Inferno (2013), by Dan Brown. Everything you expect is here in Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon’s fourth novel. Clunky prose and naïve characters cavorting about historical ruins that somehow leads to late nights of frantic page turning and missed slumber. Oh, and references to the plagues abound, especially as a modern one is released to supposedly help balance the global supply and demand equation. 

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WATCH A MOVIE, DRAW A GRAPH: Check out Tim Robbins in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994). Skip the standard evil corporation schlock and the love story with Jennifer Jason Leigh and get to the good part: economic theory in action. The introduction of the Hula Hoop is a colossal flop, its lack of demand driving the price down from $1.79 to zero. Literally, they are giving them away. Until, that is, all the cool kids start doing it and demand soars settling the price at $3.99 for a cheap plastic hoop. Grab a pencil and graph a rough demand curve based on the information from the movie. ​

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DON’T JUST GRAPH, CHOREOGRAPH: If economics makes you want to get up and dance, you’ll be happy to know you aren’t alone. The folks at wetheeconomy.com, including filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, cut in to provide you with a look at supply and demand that ain’t the same old song and dance.

Supply & Dance, Man! - Film - WE THE ECONOMY

Why is the law of supply and demand so powerful? A whimsical tale of love, dance and the economic concept of supply and demand from director John M Chu. Bored in class, JONATHAN and KRISTIN are woken up by our friendly NARRATOR who helps guide them on an adventure in economics and...