Monday Morning Economist in the Classroom

Calling all teachers! If you want to share the Monday Morning Economist with your students, this is the best resource for you.

One of the main reasons I started this newsletter was because I kept sharing news articles in class with my students, but felt lost when the articles weren’t lined up with lessons or when the semester ended. I wanted a way to keep sharing those stories with my students, and with other educators who like using current events in the classroom. I have always wanted this to be a go-to resource for students and educators. It’s humbling to know that teachers find value in these posts and are sharing them with their students.

While the Substack platform has a searchable archive, it’s not easy to tag or categorize posts. This means a curious educator must read through each post to see if it’s a good fit for their classroom. Hopefully, this page will be a helpful reference for educators looking to use Monday Morning Economist in the classroom. Since September 2023, the Foundation for Economics Education has been creating lesson plans and activities for each week’s post. You can sign up for free on their website and check out their archive.

If you’ve developed any resources you’re comfortable sharing, please let me know and we can link them here as well. I have arranged the sections below based on the typical topic order in a principles of economics course. If there are any more "advanced” topics, I’ve saved those for the end. Posts with multiple concepts will appear multiple times. If you’re teaching a special course and want some recommended posts, just leave a comment and I’ll see if there’s anything that I think would be helpful:

If you know of teachers who like using current events in the classroom, please share this resource with them. Monday Morning Economist will always be a free resource for educators. I’ll add this post to the main menu so that it’s always easily accessible.

Teaching Resources & Pedagogy

• This is My Favorite Video...

• Economic Concepts in Squid Game

• The Most Magical Way to Learn Economics

• Economics Examples From Around the World

• Can K-Pop be Used to Teach Economics?

Incentives & Unintended Consequences

• Another Bottle Deposit Scheme

• Misaligned Incentives Plague Professional Drafts

• Are Incentives for Electric Vehicles Actually Good for the Environment?

• Flu Season Woes: The Misallocation of Medicine

• A Timely Discussion on Unintended Consequences

• Tattoos for Tacos

• And the Award Goes To…

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Newsletter

• The Impact of Zooming to Class

• The (In)Efficiency of Digital Nomads

Opportunity Costs

• May the Economic Force Be with You

• Is This World Cup a Waste of Money?

• What Would You Do Differently if You Didn’t Have a Commute?

• The Seen and Unseen Costs of a Hurricane

• The Million Dollar Decision

• There's No Such Thing as a Free Italian Ice

Marginal Analysis & Diminishing Returns

• Is Pumpkin Spice Basic? No, It's Just Economics.

• Finding Economics in a Waffle House Adventure 🧇

Gains from Trade & International Trade

• Panda-monium Coming to US Zoos 🐼

• Trading Places: Mexico is Back as the U.S.'s Top Trading Partner

• Houston is Fixing a Problem Using a Key Economic Concept

• Economics Doesn't Have to Be Spooky

Supply & Demand

• The Psyche 16 Asteroid Isn't Worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000

• May the Economic Force Be with You

• A Golden Opportunity to Support the Silver Economy

• The Demand for Pilots Has Reached New Heights

• A Different Inflation Issue

• This Motel Room Is 19% More Expensive Than the Other Rooms

• Gas Prices Aren't at Record Levels... Yet

• A Costlier Cup of Coffee Coming Soon ☕️

• A Tale of Two Supply Shifts

Price Controls, Quotas, & Taxes

• Inflation's Got the U.K. in a Pickle: Can Price Controls Save the Day?

• Everything But the Bagel Tax

• Sharing the Benefits of an Expanded Tax Credit

• Could a Federal Minimum Salary for Teachers be a Reality in the U.S.?

• The End of Universal Free School Lunch

• Suspending the Gas Tax Isn't the Right Response

• Debt Relief Coming for Taxi Medallion Holders 🚖

Externalities & Public Goods

• A Fight Over Beach Access

• The Rise & Fall of Another Social Media Platform

• Solving Externalities, One Mile at a Time

• New York City’s Road to Congestion Pricing Looks a Little Less Crowded

• Our Thirst for Artificial Intelligence is Costly

• The High Cost of a Good Drink

• Netflix Wants You to Chill With the Password Sharing

• A Range of Solutions for Addressing Negative Externalities

• You Should Get a Flu Shot

• Student Loans: What Are They Good For?

• Reedy Creek Makes Economic Sense

• USPS is Not a Public Good

• Will Wordle Become Excludable?

• What do lobsters 🦞, whales 🐳, and elephants 🐘 have in common?

Costs & Production

• The Spooky Shutdown Strategy of Spirit Halloween

• The Super Bowl Slump

• Going Green Isn't as Easy as it Seems

• The Guac Isn't the Only Thing That Costs Extra

• Meat Prices Are Hitting BBQ Joints Hard

• The Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Kodak

Market Structures

• The Economics of Christmas Music [public domain]

• Unbundling the Clash Between Disney and Charter [pricing strategies]

• How Netflix Ruled as a Natural Monopoly of Home Entertainment by Mail

• Cracking Down on Mergers

• Tesla's Insurance Rates Increase for Night Drivers

• Making a Match

• Ticketing Power Takes Center Stage

• A Lawsuit on the Books

• California Governor: Nothing Epitomizes Market Failures More Than the Cost of Insulin

• The Vegas Wedding Industry Is Getting All Shook Up

• Searching for a Cause to the Formula Shortage

• The Government’s Role in Expanding Broadband Access

• Does the Board Game Monopoly Have a Monopoly on Board Games?

• Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

• Tapping the Reserves 🛢

Game Theory & Behavioral Economics

• What Happened to All the Good Black Friday Deals? [first move advantage]

• About That Last Slice of Pie 🥧 [altruism]

• The Economics of "Girl Math" [mental accounting]

• The Market for Lemon Tweets [asymmetric information]

• Statistical Discrimination in College Admissions [statistical discrimination]

• Society's $21 Billion Problem [gift giving]

• Tesla's Insurance Rates Increase for Night Drivers [statistical discrimination and adverse selection]

• Why We Say We'll Cancel But Never Do [stated vs. revealed preferences]

• September Is Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year [first mover advantage]

• An Economic Lesson for Valentine's Day [signaling]

• Second Place: The First Loser [loss aversion]

• Oversubscribed [transaction costs]

• Buy Now, Pay (More) Later [time preferences]

Principles of Macroeconomics

• What Do Economists Think About the Roman Empire? [inflation, economic growth, fiscal policy]

• Taylor Swift is Not Adding Billions to the U.S. Economy [economic impact]

• Tricks, Treats, and Economics [consumer confidence]

• What Does It Mean When AA+ Isn’t the Best Grade You Can Earn? [credit ratings]

• Cuba's Economic Makeover 🇨🇺 [comparative economic systems]

• A Run for Your Money [bank runs]

• Debt Limit or Limitless Debt: How Congress Will Decide America's Financial Future [debt & deficits]

• Pokémon Prints Them All [money supply]

• Meat Prices Are Hitting BBQ Joints Hard [inflation]

• About Those Unemployed Workers... [unemployment]

• Recession Dating [recessions]

• Exports Aren't Counted as Exports Until They Arrive at Their Destination [national accounting]

Labor Economics

• Why Stamp Prices Outpace Inflation

• The Burning Question: Is an Economic Issue Making the Canadian Wildfire Crisis Worse?

• Are You Still Watching the WGA Strike?

• The Super Bowl Slump

• Salary Transparency Laws & Asymmetric Information [worksheet by Choice]

• New FTC Ruling May Kick Restrictive Contracts to the Curb

• ChatGPT Isn't Going To Take Your Job

• Keeping the Lights On

• Why All the Empty Seats?

• The Demand for Pilots Has Reached New Heights

• Student Loans: What Are They Good For?

• From Essential to Expendable

• Oh No No: Where Did all the Santas Go? 🎅

• Welcome to Primeville, USA

• Framing The Great Resignation

Sports Economics

• Misaligned Incentives Plague Professional Drafts

• Is This World Cup a Waste of Money?

• The Olympics are Overrated

Environmental Economics

• Our Thirst for Artificial Intelligence is Costly

• Are Incentives for Electric Vehicles Actually Good for the Environment?

• National Parks Will Soon Be BYOB

• Going Green Isn't as Easy as it Seems

• TIMBER!

Economics of Education

• The Million Dollar Decision

• The Impact of Zooming to Class

• Why All the Empty Seats?

• Why Companies Pay for Your Education

Economics of Crime

• The Millionaire’s Speeding Fine Explained With Economics

• The NYPD Hopes an Apple AirTag Will Keep the Thieves Away