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These are the best new articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources we have found to teach intro to economics and economic decision-making. They bring economics to life by showing students real-life examples and current events.
 

 News Articles

(Listed from most recent to oldest)

Red Lobster's new CEO admits it: 'Endless Shrimp' was a disaster | Quartz (Oct. 7, 2024)
TANSTAAFL gets an update-There’s no such thing as FREE SHRIMP.

Mondo Duplantis Breaks Pole Vault World Record For The 9th Time, Wins Second Olympic Gold Medal  | Forbes (Aug. 8, 2024)
The Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis broke his own world record, but audiences think he could go even higher. There’s a $100,000 reason he didn’t try. Out of free Forbes reads? Try this LadBible article instead.

Here's how much athletes at the Paris Olympics earn for winning medals | CNBC (July 30, 2024)
You don’t just win bragging rights in the Olympics. Depending on your nationality, you might win an apartment, a cow, a car, lifetime public transportation tickets, or over $700,000 in cash.

Hockey star Matt Dawson amputates finger to play at Olympics | BBC (July 26, 2024)
Weighing the expected marginal costs and benefits led Matt Dawson to a surprising decision-amputating his finger to enable him to play in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Citadel's Ken Griffin buys a stegosaurus for $45 million in a record auction sale | CNBC (July 18, 2024)
If there’s only 1 of something on earth, is it scarce? How do you know what it's worth? In the case of one unscathed stegosaurus fossil, an auction at Sotheby’s revealed the unique find is worth $45 million dollars.

US Olympic and other teams will bring their own AC units to Paris, undercutting environmental plan | AP News (June 21, 2024)
In the latest installment of unintended consequences, Paris event organizer’s plans for environmentally friendly accommodations may result in higher emissions and advantages for wealthier nations as the US announces it will bring AC units for its athletes to this summer’s games.

The M.T.A. Wants Marathon Runners to Pay Bridge Tolls, Too | The New York Times (April 3, 2024)
The MTA says the opportunity cost of marathon runners using the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge is $750,000.

Behold! The First Readable Passages From The Charred Scrolls of Vesuvius | Science Alert (Feb. 8, 2024)
The Vesuvius Challenge lured competitors worldwide with $1 million in prizes (ie incentives) to decipher passages in scrolls burned to ash in 79 CE. The winning trio, who successfully identified 4 readable passages, even found a philosophical passage on scarcity.

US High School Economics class: Baseball tries to beat the clock to appeal to younger fans | Financial Times (Sept. 4, 2023)
Changes to the “rules of the game” are reshaping baseball and the incentives of fans to tune into the game. Teachers can get free access through the FT schools program.

May the economic force be with you | Monday Morning Economist (Aug 28, 2023)
Should you abandon a hotel experience project if you will lose $250 million dollars? Disney thought so.Economists who understand sunk costs agree.

The Opportunity Cost of Holding Too Much Cash | J.P. Morgan Private Bank (Jul. 25, 2023)
Opportunity cost has lots of implications for personal finance. This breakdown of the opportunity cost of holding additional cost showcases an investor who could earn an additional $11 million if she chose to hold less liquidity.

Sesame is being newly added to some foods. The FDA says it doesn't violate an allergy law | AP News (July 26, 2023)
One unintended consequence of declaring sesame a major allergen–its addition into more foods.

Town forces argumentative parents to be umpires at Little League games | Good Morning America (April 25, 2023)
Not all incentives are monetary. This Little League is requiring parents to volunteer as umpires to discourage audience tiffs with referees.

YouTubers said they destroyed over 100 VHS tapes of an obscure 1987 movie to increase the value of their final copy. They sold it on eBay for $80,600. | Business Insider (Jan 11, 2023)
It turns out scarcity does increase the value of an old VHS.

No Choice But To See It Through: This Man Is Way Too Deep Into Trying To Explain The Sunk Cost Fallacy To Give Up Now | ClickHole.com (October 4, 2022)
Econ Joke Alert! Have you tried to achieve something so hard that you do not want to give up even if you know that your efforts will be pointless? Even if you are aware of the sunk cost fallacy…

The cost of breastfeeding | Washington Post (May 31, 2022)
Students might think of breastfeeding as “free,” relative to other alternatives for feeding babies, like formula. This article details the opportunity cost of breastfeeding with great graphics, too!

Reminder: Whenever you say “yes” to something, you’re saying “no” to something else. | Ideas.TED.com (September 28, 2021)
I love this article! Hopping on a Zoom call means not hopping on the bike, staying up late means not having a productive morning… This article is a great illustration of opportunity cost and trade-offs… and some food for thought as well.

The opportunity cost of economics education | NY Times (September 1, 2005)
Old but still relevant article. What is the opportunity cost of attending a concert? Find a problem that professional economists were given in the article, ask your students to vote for the right answer, and guess what percentage of economists answered the question correctly.

Videos

Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs | MRU
Check out our new video on opportunity cost so that you too can make decisions like an economist.

Marginal Thinking and the Sunk Cost Fallacy | MRU
Check out our new video on marginal thinking and sunk costs to flex your econ muscle memory and to ignore sunk costs in your decision-making.

Freakonomics Asks: Does your real estate agent have your best interest in mind? | Freakonomics Asks (July 6, 2016)
What would you do if you were selling your house for $300,000, got an offer for $290,000, and your real estate agent told you that this is the best offer you would ever get? Would you sell today or wait another week? Here is a hint: think about the incentives that drive your real estate agent’s advice…

Freakonomics – Potty Training | Excerpt from Freakonomics the movie (August 29, 2011)
Steven Levitt explains that it’s actually quite difficult to design incentives that can’t be gamed by telling the tale of potty training gone awry.

Opportunity Cost | MRU
Opportunity cost is actually quite difficult to grasp. In fact, highly trained economists don’t always understand the concept! The video uses trade to explore this tricky concept, but you can transfer it to other scenarios with the resource below.
Resource: Worksheet

Introduction to Economics | MRU
Why should we study economics? Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok discuss what’s so great about econ by showing how much incentives shape our lives – from the mundane to life-or-death situations.
Resource: Worksheet

 Podcasts

The case of the serial sinking Spanish ships  | Planet Money NPR
Why did Spanish galleons sailing from the Philippines sink 3 to 8 times as often as other ships at the time? Incentives.

All you can eat economics | NPR
Look no further than the all-you-can-eat buffet for the perfect illustration of intro econ concepts, especially diminishing marginal returns and the sunk cost fallacy.

Why zoos can't buy or sell animals | Planet Money NPR
This podcast is a rerun from 2014, but it’s an interesting look on what it looks like to NOT use prices

Core Principle 1: The Cost-Benefit Principle | Think like an economist (17:59)
Economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers cover cost-benefit analysis with the example of costs and benefits of buying a car. They have several other episodes on intro topics such as opportunity cost and marginal cost.

 Additional Resources

Intro to Economics Unit Plan | MRU
Start your semester off on the right foot with 5 days of lesson plans covering the big ideas of economics.

Sunk Cost or Not? | MRU
Can your students identify which costs you should factor into your decision-making process?

Unintended Consequences | MRU
This choose-your-own-adventure game shows just how tricky designing the right incentives can be.

Dollar Auction Game | MRU
Auction off a dollar for more than a dollar, and learn about incentives and sunk costs. A great game for the first day of class.

Multiple-Choice Questions | MRU
Incentives, scarcity, and opportunity cost.

What is Your Time Really Worth? | MRU
Do students value their time? Use the survey and questions to find out.

Incentives Game | MRU
Don’t just tell your students about the power of incentives, show them!

Positive and Normative Questions | MRU
Please share more with us, especially if you have some zany ones.
 

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