Author Archive
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/06/13/137109349/the-friday-podcast-the-case-for-preschool
Summary: Discussion with economist James Heckman on the findings of a study of the economic and social impacts of preschool.
Original air date: June 10, 2011
Length: 21:14
Main story content begins: 3:12
Discussion Prompt: If you were the U.S. Secretary of Education considering whether to require universal preschoool for all children in the U.S., what factors from the podcast might you consider as you weighed the costs and benefits of this decision? What other factors (not included in the podcast) might you need to consider (or might, say, the President of the U.S. or Congress need to consider). Which of these factors do YOU think would be most important to consider, and why?
Follow-up Prompt: If you were promoted (!) to President, what sort of tradeoffs might you have to think about that are different from those of the Education Secretary? What might you have to take into account from that higher perspective? How can you see – from either position – that budgets reflect scarcity, choices and tradeoffs?
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/20/129328075/the-tuesday-podcast-allowance-economics
Summary: Interview with Economist Joshua Gans, author of Parentonomics, on the use of incentives for children and the lessons for economic policy
Original air date: August 20, 2010
Length: 18:09
Main story content begins: 2:42
Discussion Prompt: Why do you think it was difficult at first to determine the right reward to give to provide an incentive for the kids to use the potty? How do you think this discussion of incentives helps us understand the economic idea that “incentives and economic systems impact choice in predictable ways”?
Follow-up Prompt: The podcast also talked about the idea of ‘budget constraint’ through Bea’s allowance and about the concept of ‘leakage’ in an economic system. What do budget constraint and linkage mean and how are they demonstrated here? How do they help us understand the behavior of the children in this podcast? Can you think of any other examples of leakage associated with incentives, perhaps at the government level?
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/12/130512149/the-tuesday-podcast-would-you-rather-be-middle-class-now-or-rich-in-1900
Summary: Discussion with Economist Tim Taylor on the puzzler question he poses on the first day of Econ 101: Would you rather make $70,000 a year in 1900, or $70,000 today?
Original air date: October 12, 2010
Length: 19:32
Main story content begins: 4:10
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/22/130757997/the-friday-podcast-the-price-of-lettuce-in-brooklyn
Summary: Explains CPI through a shopping trip with one of the federal employees in charge of contributing to the monthly determination of the Consumer Price Index.
Original air date: October 22, 2010
Length: 16:45
Main story content begins: 2:54
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/01/26/130917279/the-friday-podcast-cotton-wars
Summary: Presentation of the trade war in the cotton market between Brazil and the U.S. Part of a series of podcasts inspired by Pietra Rivoli’s “Travels of the T-Shirt”
Original air date: October 29, 2010
Length: 31:28
Main story content begins: 1:45
Discussion Prompt: The US is the largest exporter of cotton—thanks to government subsidies—and is in direct competition with Brazil. Discuss how subsidies and protectionist acts by the government impact industries and consumers in the United States and in Brazil, and whether you agree with these policies by the U.S.
Written Assignment Prompt: In the podcast, Pedro describes the US as breaking the ‘rules’—which refers to a WTO agreement that Brazil, the US, and many other countries signed. Brazil fights back and wins! Sort of. Imagine you are a member of the WTO ruling on decisions such as these. Considering the outcome and impacts of this case in particular: how much power do you have over making rulings and forcing countries to follow them? Is there a way to make the US and others in violation of WTO rules comply?
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/01/11/132838904/the-tuesday-podcast-our-cute-animal-experiment-explained
Summary: An illustration of Keynes’ explanation of the origin of asset bubbles using videos of cute animals.
Original air date: January 11, 2011
Length: 21:43
Main story content begins: 2:44
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/09/podcast_economics_for_medieval.html
Summary: Discussion of the economics of life in pre-industrial China in the lower Yangtze River Valley. Also compares the experiences of living in China vs. in Europe in the middle ages.
Original air date: September 4, 2009
Length: 17:00
Main content story begins: 1:18
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/07/hear_bloody_miserable_medieval.html
Summary: Discussion of the economics of a French village in the middle ages.
Original air date: July 27, 2009
Length: 21:55
Main story content begins: 3:18
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/11/137705590/the-friday-podcast-manufacturing-the-song-of-the-summer
Summary: Discussion of the development and production process for Rihanna’s song “Man Down”
Original air date: July 8, 2012
Length: 26:25
Main story content begins: 2:04
Discussion Prompt: This podcast discusses a variety of production costs. Give examples of specific types or categories of production costs that you identify in the podcast. Then pick one of these costs and discuss how a firm (such as a recording studio) might benefit from minimizing or expanding this production cost item.
In your second post later in the week, review the ideas of your peers and comment on their accuracy / expand on their ideas / give additional examples of that type of production cost, or give an example of a type of cost not discussed in posts so far, but which relates to the recording industry.
Follow-up Prompt: Can you take any of the costs you or your peers identified from the podcast and categorize them as: fixed vs. variable costs, as implicit vs. explicit costs, or even marginal costs? Explain your reasoning.
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