Chic-onomics:
Trendy Non-fiction for Your Advanced Economics Course
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Presenters
Amy Hennessy, Economic & Financial Education Specialist
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Amy.Hennessy@atl.frb.org
Leah Kilfoyle, Economics Teacher
Mountain Brook High School
KilfoyleL@mtnbrook.k12.al.us
Julie Kornegay, Economic & Financial Education Specialist
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – Birmingham Branch
Julie.L.Kornegay@atl.frb.org
Sara Messina, Public Information Specialist
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Sara.L.Messina@frb.gov
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Disclaimer

The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors, or the Federal Reserve
System.
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PRINT RESOURCES
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Objective: Light a Fire!
Use Trendy Non-fiction to expose your students to
The Economic Way of Thinking.*
1. Everything has a cost
2. People choose for good reasons
3. Incentives matter
4. People create economic systems to influence choices and incentives
5. People gain from voluntary trade
6. Economic thinking is marginal thinking
7. The value of a good or service is affected by people’s choices
8. Economic actions create secondary effects
9. The test of a theory is its ability to predict correctly
*Source: Advanced Placement Economics Teacher Resource Manual, 3rd edition. CEE, New York, N.Y.
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Objective: Light a Fire!
Or Gregory Mankiw’s “Ten Principles of Economics”.*
1. People face tradeoffs.
2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it.
3. Rational people think at the margin.
4. People respond to incentives.
5. Trade can make everyone better off.
6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.
7. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes.
8. A country’s living standard depends on its ability to produce
goods/services.
9. Prices rise when the government prints too much money.
10. Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.
*Source: Principles of Economics. N. Gregory Mankiw, Cengage Learning Inc. 2009
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Ten Titles in Non-fiction
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Ten Assessment Options: Authentic and Traditional*
1. Economic Way of Thinking
2. Economic Terms/Concepts
3. Real world applications
4. Blog entries
5. Tweets or Status Updates
6. Cartoons
7. Song/video
8. Summary/Commentary
9. Chapter Questions
10.Test/Quiz
* Include class discussion with all assessments
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When to Assign Readings?

Summer Reading

Course Supplement

Long term project

Incentive program

Pre-requisite/screening for admission
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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Online Resources
Engage your students using modern media
to which they relate.
Blogs
Websites
Twitter
(Don’t be scared of it like I was!)
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Blogs: A clearing house of current economic events

Greg Mankiw: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com

Paul Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com
http://www.krugmanonline.com

Marginal Revolution: www.marginalrevolution.com

EconSchill: http://www.valuingeconomics.blogspot.com
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Common Sense Economics

www.commonsenseeconomics.com
 Instructor Resources
 Test Bank
 Hot Topics
 Key Element PowerPoint
presentations
 Student Resources
 Reading Guides
 Exploring Topics
 Practice Questions
 Really Cool Stuff
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The Naked Economist on Yahoo Finance
Monthly column for “Expert Advice”
Articles based on material in econ standards!
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Why would I want to use Twitter?
“I am surprised how many people still think Twitter is a fad or a waste of time. I view Twitter - or some modified future version thereof -- as everlasting. Most of all, the search function
helps you tap into a real time conversation on just about any topic you want, including the
lecture you just gave. Google is wonderful but it's hard to sort through the mess and
figure out where the conversation is now. For sampling opinion on either movies or music,
Twitter is essential, or even for researching a forthcoming blog post. Think of it as Google
focused on one time-slice and giving the weight of crowd opinion no more than linear
force. If an opinion is more common it will receive more tweets but otherwise your search
brings up the splat, ordered by chronology, and thus it is more idiosyncratic than the first
Google search page and often in a good way.
At least now, the people on Twitter are smarter on average than the people whose choices
feed into Google. I am not sure that particular benefit will last forever,
If you can find some people worth following, so much the better. But the value of the
medium doesn't much depend on what they had for breakfast.
Many people use Twitter to ask for advice; I have yet to learn how to do this well.”
--Tyler Cowen, George Mason University Economics Professor and noted blogger
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Who’s On Twitter?

Paul Krugman

Andrew Ross Sorkin

Robert Reich (make sure you have RBReich)

Arnold Kling

Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution Blog)

Russell Roberts

Greg Mankiw

Thomas Sowell
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NON-FICTION &
CENTRAL BANKING
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Exploring Issues in Non-Fiction

Personalities of central bankers

Understanding the gold standard

Central banks in economic crisis

Yes or no to a central bank?
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Personalities of central bankers
How do central bankers’ personalities,
background, experience, research interests
impact their policymaking, philosophies, and
responses?
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Understanding the gold standard
What are the benefits and costs of the gold
standard, and what are the challenges?
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Central banks and economic crisis
How do central banks respond to economic crisis, and evaluate the
effectiveness of the response.
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Behavioral Economics
Give Your Students a “Nudge”!
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Who wants to participate in
an activity?
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Which statement best describes your
attitude?
Statement 1
A
I sometimes make food
choices that I know I
shouldn’t. (Ex: fried food,
salt, sugar, etc.)
B
I always make food
choices that are in my
bodies best interest.
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Which statement best describes your
attitude?
Statement 2
A
B
I wish I would have started
saving a little earlier for
retirement.
I have always saved at
least 10% of my income
for retirement no matter
my age or salary.
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Which statement best describes your
attitude?
Statement 3
A
I wish I had more time to
exercise.
B
I include some form of
exercise into my routine
every day. It is the most
important part of my
day.
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Which statement best describes your
attitude?
Statement 4
A
B
I have trouble trying to
figure out how to invest my
retirement account.
I know exactly how my
retirement account is
invested, including
which companies make
up any index funds.
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Which statement best describes your
attitude?
Statement 5
A
I am busy and don’t have
time to think deeply about
everything.
B
I am good at translating
problems into solutions
that are solved logically.
I think all things through
thoroughly before
acting.
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Thank you for participating.
DO YOU MORE CLOSELY
IDENTIFY WITH “A” OR “B”?
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Are you a “Human” or an “Econ”?
A
B
Human
Homo Economicus

Are susceptible to
temptation

Do things “automatically”
or without thinking

Good at translating
problems into terms that
are solved logically

Utility determines choice

You can never be worse
off by having more choices
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Choices Aren’t Always Logical
Homer Simpson
Spock
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Passive Decision Making

People tend to be
passive decision
makers.

This can be
described as what
requires the least
amount of effort.

An example of this
is saving for
retirement.
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Choice Architecture
Framing – the idea
that choices depend, in
part, on the way in
which problems are
stated.
•
•Choice
architecture
can successfully nudge
people toward the best
decision without
restricting their freedom
of choice.
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How Does the Fed Use Behavioral
Economics?
Boston Fed’s –
Center for Behavioral
Economics
http://www.bos.frb.org/econ
omic/bedm/index.htm
Topics include:
Behavioral aspects of
price setting
Household savings
behavior
Fairness and the Labor
Market
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How Does the Fed Use Behavioral
Economics?
Dallas Fed’s –
Consumer Decision-making
Conference
http://www.dallasfed.org/news/c
a/2010/10consumer.cfm
•
The impact of complex
financial markets on consumers
•
Immediate gratification
•
Lack of knowledge and
understanding about the costs
and benefits of financial
services.
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Chic-onomics:
Trendy Non-fiction for Your
Advanced Economics
Course
Economics has never been trendier!
Learn to leverage popular non-fiction literature as a
powerful tool for unlocking classroom discussion
and promoting students’ economic way of thinking
in your advanced economics course. Discover
effective practices for engaging learners with the
newest ideas, anecdotes, and narratives about
globalization, behavioral economics, the financial
crisis, and other economics content, so that your
students can participate in the dismal science’s
best makeover yet!
We will be giving away copies of the
books we discuss as door prizes so make
sure you get a ticket!
Saturday 8:00 – 8:50 a.m.
Session H - 77
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