See Assignment

See Answer Key

This assignment is based on the Economists in the Wild episode on Yan Chen and her research on Wikipedia.

This assignment focuses on the public goods aspects of the episode; check out our related assignment that focuses on the randomized trial research design. 

Getting Started

When we teach public goods, we have a tendency to focus on a few key examples (military spending, asteroid defense) and a few key solutions for ensuring they exist. Yet, the face of public goods can be far more interesting and so too are the solutions for providing them.

In the assignment below, we learn from Chen and her coauthors as they get under the hood of what makes Wikipedia work. Though Wikipedia miraculously ostensibly overcame the usual challenges of a public good, it is far from perfect. By watching the video and answering the questions below, test your student's understanding of a public good and inspire them to be more creative thinkers as they learn about new ways to solve this age-old problem.