WEBVTT - 43: Seinfeld Can Teach You Everything You Need About Economics

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to another edition of Odd Thoughts. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Tracy Alloway, Executive editor of Bloomberg Markets, and I'm Joe

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<v Speaker 1>wi isn't All Managing editor of Bloomberg Markets. So, Joe,

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<v Speaker 1>did you ever watch Seinfeld? Of course I wasn't a

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<v Speaker 1>mega fan like a lot of people I knew then.

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<v Speaker 1>But of course by now I've probably seen all that

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<v Speaker 1>most of the episodes, at least one who hasn't, Right, So,

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<v Speaker 1>I think almost anytime you flick on the TV there

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<v Speaker 1>seemed to be some sort of reruns running. It was

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<v Speaker 1>a hugely, hugely popular show of famously about nothing. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but you do like economics, right? Wait? Is today's podcast

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be about nothing? No? No, today's podcast

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<v Speaker 1>is I guess going to be about the economics of nothing.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm looking That sounds really uh, that sounds really good

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm excited about that. All right, Well, what I'm

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<v Speaker 1>referring to is there's a website that's actually called Seinfeld Economics,

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<v Speaker 1>and we are going to speak with one of the

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<v Speaker 1>guys behind it. He is Alan Grant. He is an

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<v Speaker 1>associate professor of economics at Baker University and this site, Joe,

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<v Speaker 1>if you hadn't had a chance to look yet. It's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty great. I think it kind of cuts all these

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<v Speaker 1>clips from Seinfeld and then uh relates them to a

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<v Speaker 1>certain economic concept. So, for instance, they're little clips that

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<v Speaker 1>are tied into game theory, clips about common resources, demand, substitutes,

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<v Speaker 1>all that good economic stuff. I was browsing through the

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<v Speaker 1>site earlier and I saw and I thought it was

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<v Speaker 1>hilarious and brilliant, and I'm very excited about talking talking

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<v Speaker 1>with Alan. Alright, well, let's let's not wait any longer.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's bring him in. So Alan, I suppose the first

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<v Speaker 1>question is why Seinfeld? And how did this actually get started?

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<v Speaker 1>The economics of Seinfeld. Uh, this got started probably in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand six or two thousand seven, And at that

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<v Speaker 1>time pop culture really wasn't a big deal in economics. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>But in two thousand and six a guy named Dirk Mateer,

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<v Speaker 1>who is now a professor at the University of Arizona,

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<v Speaker 1>published a book called Economics in the Movies, and that

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<v Speaker 1>really kind of got people thinking about what can we

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<v Speaker 1>bring from the things that our students know into the

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<v Speaker 1>classroom so that we can make economics more relevant to them.

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<v Speaker 1>And so my my co workers at Eastern Illinois, and

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<v Speaker 1>I kicked around ideas and we were using clips in

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<v Speaker 1>the classroom, and I kind of thought to myself, what's

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<v Speaker 1>more popular, what's a more common touch point than the

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<v Speaker 1>TV series Seinfeld? And so I did my wife called

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<v Speaker 1>research for the next couple of months, um digging through

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<v Speaker 1>all of the back episodes on DVD. Seinfeld was off

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<v Speaker 1>the air by this time, looking for compiling a database

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<v Speaker 1>of Seinfeld clips that would be useful for economics instructors.

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<v Speaker 1>Did you literally watch every episode on your on your jag?

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<v Speaker 1>I did watch every single episode on my jag. I

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<v Speaker 1>start the morning with two or three episodes when I

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<v Speaker 1>got into the office, and I finished the day with

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<v Speaker 1>a few more episodes. And I got lots and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of mocking for my wife about this. So one of

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<v Speaker 1>the things I love about the fact that you chose

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<v Speaker 1>Seinfeld is it is the show again about nothing. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just a sort of group of friends living in New York.

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<v Speaker 1>Not that much happens to them, and it just goes

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<v Speaker 1>through their daily life, which means that you end up

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<v Speaker 1>getting to relate some really banal, ordinary events to economics.

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<v Speaker 1>Can you maybe give us some examples? Absolutely, I'd be

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<v Speaker 1>happy to. One of my favorite episodes for what It's

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<v Speaker 1>Worth is an episode about Jerry and Elaine, who rekindled

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<v Speaker 1>their romance. The episode is called The Deal, and Elaine

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<v Speaker 1>is very into the romance and Jerry is kind of

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<v Speaker 1>like lots of guys who don't understand exactly what it

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<v Speaker 1>is that women want to appreciate, and he decides that

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<v Speaker 1>instead of giving her a gift that she won't like,

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<v Speaker 1>he decides to give her some cash instead. Cash. You

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<v Speaker 1>got me cash, Well, that's right for you need to

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<v Speaker 1>go out and get yourself whatever you want. No good

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<v Speaker 1>you might uncle might come on talking about two dollars there.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think that's a I think this NASA. We

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<v Speaker 1>have a thread in the literature, in the economics literature

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<v Speaker 1>about the deadweight loss of Christmas, about how people give

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<v Speaker 1>gifts and spend far more money on gifts than the

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<v Speaker 1>recipients would actually actually spend for themselves. And it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out the conclusion from that threat of the literature is

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<v Speaker 1>cash is a really great gift. But the conclusion from

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<v Speaker 1>Seinfeld is, oh, yeah, there are feelings involved, and people

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<v Speaker 1>want to feel appreciated, and it's sometimes it really is

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<v Speaker 1>the thought that counts. I like that you've immediately homed

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<v Speaker 1>in on this episode because this whole question of gift

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<v Speaker 1>giving and the utility of gift giving, this is always

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<v Speaker 1>this always comes up among economists, doesn't it in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of this sort of classic example where economists say that

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<v Speaker 1>people do something irrational and that there's a better way

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<v Speaker 1>to do this. Um uh, this common everyday thing. Agreed,

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<v Speaker 1>we spend a lot of time, and over the past

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<v Speaker 1>five or six years, we spent a lot of time

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<v Speaker 1>debating whether gift giving is a rational thing or whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's just better to give the gift of cash and

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<v Speaker 1>let the recipient pick what they really want for themselves

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<v Speaker 1>on the flip side, And I don't want to delve

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<v Speaker 1>too much into this question because I want to talk

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<v Speaker 1>about the Seinfeld episodes. But this is also an example

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<v Speaker 1>of why people say that economists don't really understand human nature,

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<v Speaker 1>and so an economist might look it a perfectly rational

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<v Speaker 1>person and say you should appreciate the cash and get

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<v Speaker 1>what you want. But maybe rather than that being an

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<v Speaker 1>example of humans being irrational, it's economists thinking of humans

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<v Speaker 1>as these perfect homo economical ASTs as opposed to what

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<v Speaker 1>makes this human absolutely, And this is an important lesson

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<v Speaker 1>for our students, I think too, because we spend a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time on the blackboard, and we developed these

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<v Speaker 1>sort of models that assume everybody behaves rationally, and that

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<v Speaker 1>works pretty well most of the time, but a significant

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<v Speaker 1>amount of the time your students sort of raised their

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<v Speaker 1>hands and go, yeah, but what if, um have you

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<v Speaker 1>considered this? And the Seinfeld episode that I just spoke

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<v Speaker 1>about the deal really brings in one of those what ifs,

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<v Speaker 1>what if the thought really does count, what if it

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<v Speaker 1>really matters? And so it helps us take these blackboard

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<v Speaker 1>ideas and say they work a lot of the time,

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<v Speaker 1>but not always. So is it that TV shows like

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<v Speaker 1>Seinfeld are good at illustrating the concepts, or that they're

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<v Speaker 1>good at illustrating the limitations of the concepts, Because a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of the examples that you do have up on

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<v Speaker 1>the site are about economics not working up perfectly as envisioned.

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<v Speaker 1>I think there is a lot to be said about

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<v Speaker 1>that that economics does not always work perfectly. It's very

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<v Speaker 1>good at explaining the behavior of groups, but less useful

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<v Speaker 1>in explaining the behavior of individuals. But that's an extra

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<v Speaker 1>layer of complexity that we try, at least in the

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<v Speaker 1>classroom for freshman sophomores, we try to filter out those complexities.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think there's a lot to be found in

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<v Speaker 1>Seinfeld that really does illustrate sort of classical economic theory

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<v Speaker 1>that people do most of the time behave in a

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<v Speaker 1>self interested fashion. Seinfeld is wonderful for that, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>because your four characters, George, Jerry, Elaine, and Cramer, they

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<v Speaker 1>are very self interested individuals. Yeah, I'm looking at another

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<v Speaker 1>one on your website, the episode The Big Salad, which

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<v Speaker 1>I actually don't remember having seen before, but I like

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<v Speaker 1>the concept and it talks about the sort of fallacy

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<v Speaker 1>or of pure altruism. I guess tell us about this

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<v Speaker 1>episode because I think this, uh, the description on your

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<v Speaker 1>website really gets at kind of how flawed humans, and

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<v Speaker 1>in particular the Seinfeld characters are. Yes so so. In

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<v Speaker 1>The Big Salad, Elaine is hungry and she asks George

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<v Speaker 1>to go out and get her a big salad from

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<v Speaker 1>monkst the cafeteria downstairs. And so George at this time

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<v Speaker 1>is dating somebody and his girlfriend pops down and picks

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<v Speaker 1>up the salad, but takes credit for getting the salad

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<v Speaker 1>when really it was George that sort of put the

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<v Speaker 1>bill for that, and George gets really crazy about this problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's your big salad. Thank you, Julie. Oh you're very welcome.

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<v Speaker 1>Did you see what just happened? Well, that all depends

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<v Speaker 1>happened to notice that Julie handed the big salad to

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<v Speaker 1>a lane. Yeah, so, well she didn't buy the big salad.

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<v Speaker 1>I bought the big seal, Yes it is. She just

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<v Speaker 1>took credit from my selling. That's not right, No, it don't.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean I'm the one that bought it. Yes, you did.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't you think she should have said something? She could not.

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<v Speaker 1>So he's happy to get the salad free Lane, but

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<v Speaker 1>he wants some of the credit for it as well.

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<v Speaker 1>He gets some satisfaction out of knowing that not only

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<v Speaker 1>did I give the gift, but I'm being appreciated for it. So,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, perfectly rational context, you should be able to

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<v Speaker 1>give a gift, you should feel good about giving the gift,

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<v Speaker 1>but but to be truthful about it. A lot of

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<v Speaker 1>the times, and we see this at the university all

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<v Speaker 1>the time, people want their name attached to their gift.

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<v Speaker 1>They get some satisfaction from getting credit for those things, right,

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<v Speaker 1>ego driven people. You see it in the workplace all

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<v Speaker 1>the time. I think that things that seem like they

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<v Speaker 1>should be arbitrary end up mattering quite a bit too

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<v Speaker 1>people they do. UM. I mentioned that we have this

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<v Speaker 1>at the university. This is a trend in university giving

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<v Speaker 1>across the country is that we have donors that want

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<v Speaker 1>their names attached to new buildings and donors that want

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<v Speaker 1>their names attached to new facilities. And it's gotten down

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<v Speaker 1>to the level that if you visit the right campuses,

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<v Speaker 1>you can find donors who have donated urinals and toilets

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<v Speaker 1>with a little plaque above every time you go to

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<v Speaker 1>the party. That's amazing. I would do that. I think

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<v Speaker 1>that'd be great. What are some episodes or particular episode

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<v Speaker 1>that teaches about game theory. My favorite episode about game

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<v Speaker 1>theory as an episode called the pees Dispenser. And I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know if you remember the Peest Dispenser episode or not, um,

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<v Speaker 1>but in that episode, George is dating a concert pianist

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<v Speaker 1>and he's worried because George is horribly neurotic and insecure,

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<v Speaker 1>and Noel, the concert pianist is very confident, poised, self assured,

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<v Speaker 1>and George is just certain that he's going to get dumped,

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<v Speaker 1>and Kramer convinces him to do something that's very strategic.

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<v Speaker 1>He convinces George to stage a preemptive breakup. But he's

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<v Speaker 1>going to break up with Noel, and if she accepts that,

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<v Speaker 1>then the relationship was probably going to go down the

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<v Speaker 1>tubes anyway. But it also has the possibility of evoking

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<v Speaker 1>a response where Noel could say, oh my gosh, you

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<v Speaker 1>want to break up with me, I better step up

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<v Speaker 1>my game and take better care of you. And so

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<v Speaker 1>in game theory, we have something called a dominant strategy.

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<v Speaker 1>It's always the best response to whatever your opponent might

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<v Speaker 1>be doing. I've got nothing to lose. Will you the

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<v Speaker 1>break up, which she would do anyway, but at least

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<v Speaker 1>I go out with some dignity or I completely turned

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<v Speaker 1>the tables. This is absolutely brilliant, and Kramer convinces George

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<v Speaker 1>that this preemptive breakup is a dominant strategy that no

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<v Speaker 1>matter where the relationship has headed, whether it's going fine

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<v Speaker 1>or going poorly, George needs to break up with Noel.

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<v Speaker 1>He can't make himself any worse off. He can make

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<v Speaker 1>himself better off. You're breaking up with me, I really

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<v Speaker 1>am ever expected this? Did you? I thought Everything's fine.

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<v Speaker 1>Let learn. So I don't want to give the impression

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<v Speaker 1>that you're only about Seinfeld episodes and economics, because Joe

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<v Speaker 1>and I have also heard that you're into other TV

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<v Speaker 1>shows as illustrations of economic concepts. Tell us which ones

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<v Speaker 1>you think lend themselves well to the serena. So I

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<v Speaker 1>use lots of movie clips from old movies. I use

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<v Speaker 1>lots of television shows. Um, there are some outstanding resources

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<v Speaker 1>available for economists that want to bring this into the classroom.

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<v Speaker 1>I use a few clips from the Wire, which is

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<v Speaker 1>about the drug market in Baltimore. Um. Always good to right,

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<v Speaker 1>be exploring at a market that is largely unregulated because

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<v Speaker 1>it's an illicit market. Sorry, I seem to remember in

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<v Speaker 1>one of the first season's a main character actually takes

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<v Speaker 1>an economics course, right, a drug dealer. Yes, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a wonderful clip. Um, Stringer Bell drug kingpin in training,

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<v Speaker 1>is going back to college to get a business degree

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<v Speaker 1>so that he can run his drug empire like a

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<v Speaker 1>business instead of like a right sort of streethood and uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and they have a wonderful clip in there about the

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<v Speaker 1>elasticity of demand, about consumers price sensitivity um T changes

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<v Speaker 1>in price, and the things that may consumers more or

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<v Speaker 1>less price sensitive. Look, you're not gonna go in that corner.

0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:09.560
<v Speaker 1>Bullsto up in here, you hear me. You know what

0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.520
<v Speaker 1>we got here? We got an elastic product. You know

0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.599
<v Speaker 1>what that means. That means when people can go elsewhere

0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.040
<v Speaker 1>and get their print in and copy and done, they're

0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:19.920
<v Speaker 1>going to do it. You acting like we got an

0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.640
<v Speaker 1>an elastic products and we don't know. I won't because

0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:29.640
<v Speaker 1>to the truth the business, not no front, not no bulls.

0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.240
<v Speaker 1>It's a terrific clip. It's one that I continue to

0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.960
<v Speaker 1>show semester after semester, and students continue to respond well

0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.920
<v Speaker 1>to it. Are there any other particular I mean that

0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.840
<v Speaker 1>that show is filled with lessons I imagine about the

0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:52.040
<v Speaker 1>economics and how economics applies to unregulated criminal um industries.

0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.840
<v Speaker 1>But are there any other particular episodes of that show

0:14:54.920 --> 0:15:00.120
<v Speaker 1>that really strike you as stating something profound um that

0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.400
<v Speaker 1>about economics. So one of the things that is really

0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.400
<v Speaker 1>profound about that episode is the idea, and this is

0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.880
<v Speaker 1>a first day lesson for most students of economics. The

0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.640
<v Speaker 1>idea of opportunity cost is that when you have a

0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.920
<v Speaker 1>group of individuals, or when you have an individual who

0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:24.120
<v Speaker 1>has little outside opportunity, UM, they will gravitate towards their

0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.200
<v Speaker 1>best opportunity. Right. And so, as it turns out, I

0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.560
<v Speaker 1>have this choice of dealing drugs, and the only thing

0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:33.920
<v Speaker 1>that I really lose when I choose to join the

0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.600
<v Speaker 1>drug gang is the opportunity to work at McDonald's because

0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.600
<v Speaker 1>of a lack of education, a lack of job training.

0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.440
<v Speaker 1>In fact, season four of The Wire is devoted to

0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.240
<v Speaker 1>sort of the deplorable condition of Baltimore inner city schools.

0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.320
<v Speaker 1>That helps explain, I think, in large part, why exactly

0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:55.120
<v Speaker 1>these individuals choose to join the drug gang and deal drugs. So, Alan,

0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.880
<v Speaker 1>you've obviously been doing this for a long time, and

0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.280
<v Speaker 1>over the past dec eight or so, we have seen

0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.560
<v Speaker 1>the rise of economics being entwined with pop culture, and

0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.400
<v Speaker 1>we've seen the freakonomics phenomenon and lots of imitators based

0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.520
<v Speaker 1>off of that. How useful is it? How useful have

0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.000
<v Speaker 1>you found it in practice to show economics through the

0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:24.280
<v Speaker 1>prism of pop culture and specifically television and movies. I

0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.200
<v Speaker 1>think it's been very useful. Um. Economics has been a

0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.840
<v Speaker 1>blackboard science at the undergraduate level with lots of graphs,

0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.160
<v Speaker 1>and it turns out that lots of students aren't very

0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.360
<v Speaker 1>good in graphs. Um. There are lots of really restrictive models,

0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.960
<v Speaker 1>and they're abstract, and the typical student really doesn't glom

0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.520
<v Speaker 1>onto the subtle points as well as we would like

0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.960
<v Speaker 1>them too. And so if you want to keep your

0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.160
<v Speaker 1>students sort of passionate about the subject, you have to

0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.520
<v Speaker 1>make it useful to them. And starting with Dirk Mateers

0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.160
<v Speaker 1>book on Economics in the Movies in two thousand and six,

0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.000
<v Speaker 1>we've had a group of really an economists devote themselves

0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.959
<v Speaker 1>to taking blackboard economics and making it useful to students. UH.

0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.040
<v Speaker 1>If I can give an anecdotal example of that, I

0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.000
<v Speaker 1>talked earlier about the clip from the Wire, Uh, and

0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.440
<v Speaker 1>you had actually mentioned the clip where Stringer Bell goes

0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.400
<v Speaker 1>back to college to learn how to run a business.

0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.280
<v Speaker 1>So I had a lower tail student. She was not

0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.960
<v Speaker 1>a very good student. UM. She ended up dropping the

0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.840
<v Speaker 1>class about halfway through and moving to Morocco. She was

0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.240
<v Speaker 1>a little bit flaky and Wright wanted to travel the

0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.040
<v Speaker 1>world instead of going to college. But when she came back,

0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.640
<v Speaker 1>she asked if she could get into my overlea full class,

0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.679
<v Speaker 1>and she said, you know what, it really made an

0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:43.919
<v Speaker 1>impression on me when you showed the clip from the

0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.720
<v Speaker 1>wire in class about the elasticity of demand. And here's

0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.960
<v Speaker 1>a student that is a d student and she remembers

0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.320
<v Speaker 1>not only the clip, but she remembers the concept the

0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.600
<v Speaker 1>clip was supposed to illustrate. And so I think the

0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.640
<v Speaker 1>idea of pop culture is that if you choose your

0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.040
<v Speaker 1>resources really carefully, you can make an impact on students

0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.440
<v Speaker 1>who might otherwise just sit in the background and be lost.

0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.639
<v Speaker 1>That is cool that that actually works and resonates. I

0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:15.000
<v Speaker 1>was gonna ask, to some extent, can you find an

0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.840
<v Speaker 1>economics lesson in any television show period, any episode of

0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.520
<v Speaker 1>any television show, just because all dramas essentially about human

0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.480
<v Speaker 1>decision making, and all human decision making can be boiled

0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:34.960
<v Speaker 1>down to economics. I think that you probably can find

0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.680
<v Speaker 1>economic content and almost in a show that you want

0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:42.000
<v Speaker 1>to watch. But I think the economic content that comes

0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.119
<v Speaker 1>out and reaches to your undergraduates and just sort of

0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:46.000
<v Speaker 1>slaps them in the face and says, oh, this is

0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.480
<v Speaker 1>a very clear illustration of what we've been doing. That's

0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.560
<v Speaker 1>a little bit harder to search for um. So Seinfeld

0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:59.160
<v Speaker 1>was on for how many seasons? Nine seasons? And out

0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.320
<v Speaker 1>of nine season and several hundred episodes, I think we

0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:07.360
<v Speaker 1>have about one hundred short to the point um concise

0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:13.240
<v Speaker 1>clips that fairly clearly illustrate general economic principles. So you know,

0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.280
<v Speaker 1>about one out of every two episodes of Seinfeld. Other

0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.720
<v Speaker 1>shows maybe not so much. All right, well, I personally

0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.000
<v Speaker 1>can't wait for the economics of Game of Thrones. That'll

0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.920
<v Speaker 1>be that'll be a good one. That'll be fantastic. It's

0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.320
<v Speaker 1>a great show and a great series of books. Alan Grant,

0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.920
<v Speaker 1>thank you so much for joining us today. It's been

0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:47.640
<v Speaker 1>my pleasure. Thank you for the chance to to talk today, Tracy.

0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.960
<v Speaker 1>I really loved that episode. I want to go back

0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.320
<v Speaker 1>and watch a bunch of old seinfelds now through the

0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.480
<v Speaker 1>prism of economics. Will you be taking like economics notes

0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.960
<v Speaker 1>while you do it? No, I probably we won't. But

0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.400
<v Speaker 1>I really I do think that Seinfeld probably is one

0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.439
<v Speaker 1>of the perfect shows to teach these lessons. As he

0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.560
<v Speaker 1>pointed out, you could probably find economics lessons in almost

0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:18.280
<v Speaker 1>any item of pop culture. But because of the varied

0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.200
<v Speaker 1>situations that the four friends find themselves in, and because

0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.360
<v Speaker 1>of their selfish personalities and the negative ramifications that that

0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.720
<v Speaker 1>often creates. Um, it does seem like kind of the

0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.120
<v Speaker 1>perfect show to teach, as he put it, chuckboard economics. Right,

0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.320
<v Speaker 1>But it's not just the characters. It's the fact that

0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.240
<v Speaker 1>there isn't this sort of dramatic, overarching plot. Right, It's

0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.000
<v Speaker 1>just these four people in New York and they're doing

0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.760
<v Speaker 1>day to day, everyday things, and through that we get

0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.639
<v Speaker 1>to learn about some pretty important economics concepts. I really

0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.520
<v Speaker 1>really like that, right, Going to pick up a salad,

0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:58.360
<v Speaker 1>getting people gifts, going to whatever. It is a series

0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:02.160
<v Speaker 1>of events and decisions that are all um, yeah, all

0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.399
<v Speaker 1>can be tied to economics. A lot of fun. People

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:09.680
<v Speaker 1>should visit the website YadA YadA YadA econ dot com

0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:14.439
<v Speaker 1>and follow Ellen Grant on Twitter at Baker Echo. All Right,

0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.480
<v Speaker 1>thanks everyone for listening. I'm Tracy Alloway. You can follow

0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.240
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter at Tracy Alloway. And I'm Joseph Why

0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:23.720
<v Speaker 1>Isn't Thought? You can follow me on Twitter at the Stalwart.

0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:24.760
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening.