Economics in Action

Following on from our favourite videos from the Rockonomics student competition, here are some picks from an Advanced Placement course in Economics in the US, where students have worked economics lyrics into popular songs.

Monopoly is the Way to Go

If there’s only one seller of a product and new firms can’t enter the market, competition can’t drive prices down, as explained in this video after some nice black-and-white scene setting. Being a monopoly is nice work if you can get it.

Money quote: “Monopolistic competition, oligopolies / neither of them are efficient allocatively”

Counting Prof

Looking at the same topic from a different angle, this is so well-produced it looks like a proper music video. (more…)

The Rockonomics competition, run by a group of US universities, gets students to write economics lyrics for popular songs and raps, and to make videos for them.

Some of these are pretty good ways to stick an economic idea in your head. Read on for our eight choices from the last few years of the competition.
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Ever wondered why demand and supply are so important? Wonder no more …

Economist or rock star? Maybe it’s not either/or after all. This group of economics postgraduates at UCLA have made an amazing rap video paying tribute to Daft Punk and the drive for statistical significance. Come for the beats, stay for the academics-versus-robots battle at the end.

Stronger from ticoneva on Vimeo.

This was a follow-up to the same group’s earlier “(I Can’t Write No) Dissertation”.

Three short (i.e. 2 or 3 minute) videos from the BBC TV series “Trust Me, I’m an Economist” have found their way online, seemingly to promote the book by presenter Tim Harford. In part one, he gives free advice to someone who wants to be a gangsta rapper. In part two, he uses second-hand cars as examples of a problem called asymmetric information. In part three, he uses airport queues as an analogy for the stock market.

Films from our student film challenge are online. They can be viewed online or downloaded in better quality. Two of them show economics superheroes in action saving the world. Two more of them look at the university experience and why economics is a rational choice. Another film shows how various principles and concepts from economics apply to daily life. Thanks to all our student film-makers!