Abstract: The author describes a teaching method that uses powerful contemporary media, movie and television clips, to demonstrate the enormous breadth and depth of economic concepts. Many different movie and television clips can be used to show the power of economic analysis. The author describes the scenes and the economic concepts within those scenes for a number of movies.
Key words: economic education, teaching
JEL code: A22
Empirical work suggests that most economists rely exclusively on lecturing in the classroom (Becker and Watts 1996; Becker 1997). In some other fields of higher education, class discussion and other forms of active learning have supplemented the exclusive lecturing method (Sax et al. 1996). Although instructors could incorporate movies, novels, videos, mock hearings, and radio broadcasts into an instruction menu, typically they do not (Siegfried et al. 1991). The cost of using conventional chalk and talk, rather than more contemporary outcome-based methods, may be significant in the long run as students choose to move away from economics and into the more lively and interesting classes (Becker and Watts
2001). According to McKeachie (1969), students will learn what they want to learn and will have great difficulty in learning material in which they are not interested.
Some economists have adopted teaching techniques that deviate from the pure lecture method but most are slow to change (Becker and Watts 1996). Others have created unique courses-teaching economic principles using classic films (Leet and Houser 2003). Others have created unique books. Watts (2003) brought literature and economics together in his book, The Literary Book of Economics. But more can be done.
I teach a large lecture class in economic principles with 150-200 students per semester. One method I have used for years, to break up the monotony of a straight lecture, is to incorporate video clips. The video clips (usually 3-5 minutes in length) highlight particular economic principles. I have edited clips for over
30 economic concepts and scatter these clips throughout the semester to help
Robert L. Sexton is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University (e-mail: Robert.Sexton@ pepperdine.edu). The author acknowledges the helpful comments of Bob Escudero, Gary Galles,
Philip Graves, Steven Rouse, and three anonymous reviewers and Michael Watts and William
Becker for their encouragement. Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications
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students keep their interest and retain information. Students are also required to write a brief paper, explaining the economic content of a particular scene in a movie. They soon realize there is economic content in every movie and that the economic way of thinking is entrenched in their everyday lives. In addition, this assignment leads to new movie ideas from the students to add to or substitute into my existing film library. The most consistent remark on my student evaluations, with regard to the movie clips, is, "I can't see a movie anymore without looking for the economic content."
According to learning theorists, imagery is important for learning and remembering. In fact, imagery (visual encoding) is at the very heart of many memory aids (Myers 2004). Video clips provide visual stimuli to reinforce valuable concepts and ideas. Because information is often stored in visual form, pictures and movie clips may be very important in helping students retain important ideas and retrieve them from their long-term memory. Because of the strong effects of visual stimuli, I have included a number of pictures (visual cues) with rich captions to create a welcoming and brain-friendly environment in my economics principles text (Sexton 2005). "Retention depends on how well students understand.. .Understanding, in turn, depends on organizing this material into a personally meaningful form. This integrating process is the means by which knowledge is stored in memory to become accessible later"
(Ericksen 1984). Well-selected movie and television clips that integrate economic concepts with everyday life may provide a concrete framework for students to retaining concepts.
I provide here a sample of films I use in class and identify the scenes and their economic content.
THE CONCEPTS AND FILMS
Concept: Ceteris Paribus; Film: For the Love of the Game (1999)
In this movie, Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner), an aging major league baseball pitcher is pitching in his last game. The scene begins with his team, the Detroit
Tigers, playing the New York Yankees. It is an away game and Chapel is being heckled: "Hey Chapel, you stink"; another yells, "You're done." To concentrate,
Billy repeats the phrase "clear the mechanism." When he repeats this phrase, it allows Chapel to clear out all the outside noise-it is now just Chapel and the catcher. I tell my students that we need to do this in our economic modeling-that there is sometimes noise that gets in the way of seeing the relationship between key economic variables. This is why we use the ceteris paribus condition to hold these other variables constant to focus on the relationship between variables, such as price and quantity demanded.
Concept: Incentives Matter; Film: Captain Ron (1992)
Martin Harvey (Martin Short), his wife, Katherine Harvey (Mary Kay Place), and their children decide to take an extended vacation from their frantic life in
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Chicago to sail an inherited boat from a remote Caribbean island to Miami, where they plan to sell it. However, they need to hire someone to sail their boat-so they hire Captain Ron (Kurt Russell). The scene begins when they are checking out the engine, and they notice that it was losing considerable amounts of oil on a daily basis. Martin Short's son, Ben, says he would like to check the oil every day, but
Captain Ron tells him the job is too important and that his Dad should do it. Ben objects. Captain Ron says, "Hey swab. C'mere. Listen up. Now, the way it works shipboard is, you do your job. You do it good, you get a better job. Maybe you get promoted from swab to mate." Captain Ron tells Martin Harvey, "Sort've an incentive kind of a deal, hub? Yeah, incentives are important. I learned that in rehab." Because almost all of economics can be reduced to incentive stories, this is a fun clip to begin the discussion of the importance of incentives, both positive and negative.
Concept: Tradeoffs; Film: Rudy (1992)
Rudy (Sean Astin) has his heart set on one goal; he wants to play football at
Notre Dame. Rudy is small and has little raw talent, but he is driven by his heart and conviction. His father and brother, who work in the steel mills, think he is crazy for pursuing his dream. This clip is filled with choices and tradeoffs that
Rudy faces-whether to go to college or work in the steel mills, whether to go to the junior college to get the grades to get into Notre Dame or just give up on the dream, whether to quit the team, whether to go back to the team. Students learn very quickly that choices, costs, and tradeoffs are everywhere. Many films can demonstrate choice and costs, but this one seems to be a student favorite.
Concept: Opportunity Cost; Film: Space Jam (1996)
There is a scene in this movie that shows Michael Jordan after he left the
Chicago Bulls as a basketball player to pursue playing professional baseball for the Chicago White Sox organization. The opposing catcher is tipping Michael off on the pitches and Michael strikes out anyway-the catcher says, "Oh, wellnice talking with you." This is a great introduction into my discussion of opportunity cost. I ask my students: How much did it cost Michael Jordan to quit professional basketball and play professional baseball for the year? I am careful not to say it was the wrong decision-just a costly one.
Concept: Exchange; Film: Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The scene is when Andy (Tim Robbins) meets Red (Morgan Freeman) in the prison yard and asks him if he could get him a rock hammer. Red says, "What does an item like this go for?" Andy says, "$7 at any rock and gem shop." Red says, "This is a specialty item-risk goes up-price goes up. Make it an even
$10." Andy agrees. The scene continues and shows how the rock hammer is smuggled in through the laundry and then through the prison book distribution program. And all along the way, cigarettes are used for payment to those involved
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in the transaction. It is a nice example of exchange and can also be used to demonstrate barter-trading cigarettes for services.
Concept: Resource Allocation; Film: Castaway (2000)
When Chuck Noland's (Tom Hanks) plane crashes and he finds himself on a deserted island, he has to find a way to survive. On the island, he must find answers to the what, how, and for whom questions. The for whom question is pretty easy because he is the only one on the island-he gets what is produced.
The what question is pretty easy, too-because he is trying to survive, he is looking to produce food, shelter, and clothing. The how question is where this scene becomes interesting. Chuck has salvaged several boxes from the plane crash.
After a failed attempt to leave the island, he decides to open the boxes to see if there is anything useful. He first finds a pair of ice skates. He uses the blades of the ice skates as a knife: to open coconuts, to cut and convert a dress into a fishing net, and to sharpen a stick to use as a spear for catching fish. He uses the laces from the skates and the bubble wrap in the package to dress an injury he incurred on the island. He uses the raft as a lean-to for his shelter. He builds a fire and even
"makes" a friend with a volleyball-Wilson. This film provides a nice introduction to the classic island economy, where Chuck must use his entrepreneurial talents to make the best use of the scarce resources on the island.
Concept: Tastes and Demand Shifts; Film: Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
The scene starts with the owner of a toy store trying unsuccessfully to sell a new product-a hula hoop. In the store window, he puts up the price of the hula hoops with a sticker. The scene shows him waiting and waiting with no customers and then he starts to lower his price from $1.79 to $1.59 and eventually all the way down to "free with any purchase." He becomes so disgusted that he throws a number of hula hoops out the door and they roll into an alley. One rolls out onto the street, where a young boy (Arthur Bridgers) picks it up. He is a natural. In the meantime, the school down the street lets out and about 30 kids gather around in astonishment, watching the young boy swing the hula hoop-around his hips, ankles, and neck. You then see the students attack the store in droves to buy hula hoops, and the sticker price zooms up to $3.99. This is a good example to show the importance of taste as a demand shifter and the comparative statics of demand shifts.
Concept: Shortage; Film: Jingle All the Way (1996)
In this film, mattress salesman Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) asks his son Jamie if there is anything he wants for Christmas. His son, Jamie
(Jake Lloyd) says, "I want the Turbo Man action figure with the arms and legs that move and the boomerang shooter and his rock'n roller jet pack and the realistic voice activator that says 5 different phrases including, 'It's Turbo time!'
Accessories sold separately. Batteries not included." Howard soon realizes it is
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the hottest toy in years, and there is no Turbo Man available anywhere. Howard and a stressed-out mailman, Myron Larabee (Sinbad), are both trying to find the
Turbo Man on Christmas Eve. As Howard and the mailman start their frenzied quest to find Turbo Man, the toy clerk tells Howard, "It's only the hottest selling
Christmas toy ever-duh!" This scene provides a fun introduction to shortages.
You can also talk about differences between anticipated and actual demand and the eventual adjustment process. Or, in more advanced classes, it can lead to a discussion of bandwagon effects and positive network externalities.
Concept: Elasticity; Film: Forrest Gump (1994)
The scene begins with the "great" storm. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) said,
"Lieutenant Dan-he was mad." "You call this a storm. It's time for a showdown; just you and me. You'll never sink this ship," said Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise).
The scene cuts to the local news station: "Hurricane Carmen came through here yesterday, destroying nearly everything in its path." Actually, only one boat survived the storm. That was Forrest Gump's shrimp boat and that was the beginning of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. This is a good clip to show students the impact of a supply shift-the devastating storm-on total revenue of firms that still remain in an industry. I ask the students: If the demand for shrimp is relatively inelastic, and most of the shrimp boats are destroyed, would the total revenue of the shrimp industry increase or decrease?
Concept: Diminishing Marginal Utility; Film: The Great Outdoors (1988)
Chet (John Candy) and Roman (Dan Aykroyd) converge upon a lakeside resort for a summer of relaxation. The scene begins in Paul Bunyan's restaurant, the home of the "Famous 96er." If anyone can finish a whole 96-ounce steak, than everyone in the party eats free of charge. Chet (Candy) decides to give it a try. He eats all but the fat and the very large chef tells him he is not finished. Candy presumably finishes off the rest. Roman (Aykroyd) asks the waitress, "If we can get a couple of desserts down him would you be willing to throw in a couple of Paul
Bunyan hats for the kids?" At the end of this scene, Chet is in a lot of discomfort, leaving the restaurant with Paul Bunyan hats. This movie is a good starter for the discussion on diminishing marginal utility-especially because Chet is required to finish his steak in a specified period of time.
Concept: Consumer and Producer Surplus; Film: Pretty Woman (1990)
The movie is about Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), a successful corporate mogul who meets an energetic, carefree woman-Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts).
The scene begins with Vivian taking a bubble bath and then Edward walks in and says, "Vivian, I have a business proposition for you. I would like you to spend the week with me... I would like to hire you as an employee." Vivian says, "24 hours a day; it's going to cost you." "How much?" says Edward. Vivian says, "Six full nights, and days too-$4,000." Edward then counters with $2,000, and Vivian
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says $3,000, and Edward says, "Done." Then Vivian says, "I would have stayed for $2,000" and Edward says "I would have paid you $4,000." I ask the class:
How much consumer surplus is Edward receiving if he was willing to pay $4,000 but only pays $3,000, and how much producer surplus is Vivian receiving if she is willing to stay for $2,000 but receives $3,000?
Concept: Externalities and Regulation; DVD: The Simpsons, "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" (1990)
The scene begins with Bart and Lisa fishing at the local fishing hole in
Springfield, not far from the nuclear plant. An investigative reporter stops to see how they are doing. A couple minutes later, Bart catches a three-eyed fish. The news moves fast. The next morning, the newspaper headlines read: "Mutation
Caught at O' Fishin Hole," "Fishing Hole or Fission Hole," and "Governor Calls for Power Plant Investigation." The government inspection team visits the plant and finds their Geiger counters very active-Mr. Burns, owner of the company and Homer Simpson's boss, says, "That must just be normal background noise."
The investigation team also notices gum used to seal a crack in the cooling unit and a plutonium rod being used as a paper weight. The inspectors find 342 violations and tell Mr. Burns that he will have to bring it up to code or shut it down.
Mr. Bums then tries to bribe the government officials as he leaves the room saying, "Look, a careless person has left a pile of money on the table and when I come back, hopefully it will be gone." This is a very popular lecture opener for discussing externalities and regulation.
Concept: Costs of Production; Film: Castaway (2000)
In this scene, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a Federal Express efficiency expert, is in Moscow talldng to his employees at the Fed Ex office about the importance of working hard and keeping track of time. Noland says, "Time rules over us without mercy.. .like a fire it can either destroy us or keep us warm.. .Every Fed Ex office has a clock because we live or die by the clock."
Noland sends himself a package from Memphis, Tennessee. It is a clock, and he opens it and says this is an outrage "it took 87 hours and 22 minutes for this clock to travel from Memphis, Tennessee, to Moscow, Russia. What if this was a paycheck, or adoption papers? Eighty-seven hours is an eternity." You might ask students what type of incentive Fed Ex could use to get greater productivity out of their workers? Negative incentives? Positive incentives? Do you think culture makes a difference?
Concept: Patents and Monopoly Power; Film: The Jerk (1979)
The scene begins with Nathan R. Johnson (Steve Martin) working in a gas station and a customer, Stan Fox (Bill Macy), comes in complaining about his glasses that keep slipping from his nose. Martin says, "I can fix those glasses," and he goes into the garage bay and solders a metal piece onto the frame of the
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glasses to prevent slippage. The man leaves the gas station and receives a patent for the glasses. The glasses become a huge success, and Nathan Johnson is contacted to pick up his check for his share of the money from the "opti-grabber."
Everything is fine until Carl Reiner, a movie director, finds that the glasses have caused him to be cross-eyed and as a result people on the sets of his movies have died. Reiner heads up a class action suit against Nathan R. Johnson and wins-a rags, to riches, to rags story. However, it is a nice introduction to monopoly profits and losses-that even if you have a patent, it does not guarantee that you will always have a profit.
Concept: Property Rights; Film: Tombstone (1993)
The trailer to Tombstone, demonstrates the hardships and difficulty of living in a world where there was a lack of a central authority to assign and enforce property rights. The scene begins with the narrator stating that, "Murder rates were higher than modem day New York or Los Angeles... the earliest example of organized crime was the cowboy." Virgil Earp (Sam Elliott) says to Wyatt Earp
(Kurt Russell), "If we are going to have a future in this town, we are going to have to have law and order." Later in the clip, the dialogue returns to the topic of law and order in the saloon over poker. Ike Clanton says to Wyatt Earp, "Mr. Kansas law dog. Laws don't go around here. Savvy?" Wyatt Earp responds, "I'm retired."
Curly Bills says, "That's real good." Ike Clanton concurs, "Yeah, that's good, Mr.
Law Dog, 'cause law don't go around here." Earp says, "I heard you the first time." Silver strikes were making men rich and attracting people to Tombstone.
The town was only a few months old, but it was already full of outlaws. The lawmen and the outlaws were always at odds. Many problems on the frontier centered on ownership: who owned the cattle, the water, and the land? This scene can lead to some interesting classroom conversations about life on the frontier. What impact did barbed wire have on the West? What led to range wars? Why was it so difficult to enforce property rights in these small towns?
Concept: Inflation; Film: Austin Powers (1992)
In this scene, Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) is meeting with Number Two (Robert
Wagner) and the rest of the board of Virtucom. Dr. Evil, who has been frozen for
30 years, has no idea how much inflation has occurred over that time span. He says, "I have a plan. Its called blackmail.. .we get the warheads, and we hold the whole world hostage for ONE million dollars!" Number Two says, "Don't you think you should ask for more than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't exactly a lot of money any more."
Concept: Regulation; Film: Zoolander (2001)
The scene begins with Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) leaving his job as a male model to bond with his family, who are coal miners. He tells his father and brother that he wants to be a miner. His father, Larry Zoolander (Jon Voight) says,
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"You wouldn't last a day." Derek says, "Give me a chance, Pop." Derek works one day in the coal mines, and it does not work out well. Among other things,
Derek thinks he is coming down with black lung disease. Derek says, "It's not very well ventilated down there." His father says "Derek, you've been down there one day. Talk to me in 30 years." This is a good opener to a discussion of the
Occupational Health and Safety Administration and regulation.
Concept: Fractional Reserve Banking; Film: It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
This is a classic film with a great scene that demonstrates the power of the fractional reserve banking system. George Bailey (James Stewart) tells his clients,
"You're thinking of this place all wrong; as if I had the money back here in a safe.
Your money is not here. Your money is in Joe's house, right next to yours, and in the Kennedy's house and Mrs. Mayplin's and hundreds of others."
Other Films and Concepts
For those interested in using movie clips to pique interest in their economics classes, I have included additional concepts, scenes, and movie or television clips in Table 1. The diversity of the clips demonstrates the true breadth of economics.
THE LEGAL ISSUES
The Federal Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code, Public Law 94-553,
90 stat. 2541) generally prohibits a public performance of a movie, or even a short segment of a movie, without receiving prior licensing. A public performance is defined as a viewing of a copyright-protected work by a substantial number of people outside of a normal gathering of friends or family members. Clearly, showing a segment of a movie in a classroom would constitute a "public performance." However, "fair-use" exemptions are provided, allowing performances to take place without prior licensing if specific criteria are met (Rouse 2005).
Simpson (2001) and Talab (1999) provide valuable explanations of the details of this fair-use exemption. An educational exemption applies if (1) the teacher or a student is showing the movie; (2) the viewing is taking place in the context of a face-to-face educational curriculum; (3) the viewing is taking place in a standard place of instruction, like a classroom; and (4) the viewing is of a legally acquired copy of the movie (that is, purchased, rented, or checked out from a library but not illegally copied). Although the use of films as described in the preceding pages would appear to satisfy these requirements, instructors might want to consult a legal representative from their institution before showing movie clips as a part of their classroom presentation.
CONCLUSION
Many introductory economics textbook authors state that a benefit from the course is to better understand human behavior. It is a very valuable lesson that
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instructors can get across more strongly if they can show students how economics is relevant to virtually every aspect of their everyday lives-even a trip to the movies. Movie clips can vividly illustrate economic issues and supplement the real-life examples that instructors present in the classroom. They can be used to spark discussion, to help students remember certain concepts, or to just make the class more fun, so students will look forward to attending the next class. Of course, some movies will not be totally accurate but that too can provide a springboard for discussion.
REFERENCES
Becker, W. E. 1997. Teaching economics to undergraduates. Journal of Economics Literature 35
(September): 1347-73.
Becker, W. E., and M. Watts. 1996. Chalk and talk: A national survey on teaching undergraduates economics. American Economic Review 86 (May): 448-53.
Becker, W. E., and M. Watts. 2001. Teaching economics at the start of the 21st century: Still chalkand-talk. American Economic Review 96 (May): 446-51.
Ericksen, S. C. 1984. The essence of good teaching: Helping students learn and remember what they learn. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Leet, D., and S. Houser. 2003. Economics goes to Hollywood: Using classic films and documentaries to create an undergraduate economics course. Journal of Economic Education 34 (Fall): 326-32.
McKeachie, W. J. 1969. Teaching tips: A guidebook for the beginning college teacher. 6th ed. Boston:
Heath.
Myers, D. G. 2004. Psychology. 7th ed. New York: Worth.
Rouse, S. 2005. Movies as illustration for introductory psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/Prentice-Hall.
Sax, L., A. Astin, M. Arredondo, and W. Korn. 1996. The American college teacher: National norms
for the 1995-96 HERI faculty survey. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institution,
University of California-Los Angeles.
Siegfried, J., R. Bartlett, W. L. Hansen, A. Kelley, D. McCloskey, and T. Tietenberg. 1991. The status and prospects of economics majors. Journal of Economic Education 22 (Summer): 197-224.
Sexton, R. L. 2005. Exploring economics. 3rd ed. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
Simpson, C. M. 2001. Copyright for schools: A practical guide. New York: Linworth.
Talab, R. 1999. Commonsense copyright: A guide for educators and librarians. New York:
McFarland.
Watts, M. 2003. The literary book of economics. Wilmington, DE: ISI.
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