Microeconomics

This educational video explores the complex field of agricultural geography, examining why food insecurity persists in a world that produces enough calories to feed everyone. Host Alizé Carrère guides viewers through the intricate web of historical, political, economic, and environmental factors that determine who has access to food. The narrative moves from local examples of farming to global systems, explaining how colonialism, the Columbian Exchange, and various agricultural revolutions have shaped our modern food landscape. The video covers critical themes including the distinction between subsistence and commercial farming, the shift from polyculture to monoculture, and the impact of the Green Revolution. It delves into the geography of hunger, explaining concepts like food deserts and the difference between food availability and food access. Significant attention is paid to how historical events, such as the triangular trade and colonization, disrupted indigenous food systems and established export-oriented economies that still influence global food distribution today. For educators, this resource serves as a powerful tool to connect geography, history, and economics. It moves beyond simple definitions to show students the systems thinking required to understand global challenges. The video provides excellent opportunities for classroom discussions on food justice, the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, and the importance of biodiversity. It is particularly useful for units on human geography, economic development, and sustainability.

This fast-paced, engaging video serves as the introductory episode to the Crash Course Economics series, hosted by Jacob Clifford and Adriene Hill. It dispels common myths about economics—clarifying that it isn't just about the stock market or getting rich—and defines the subject as the study of people and choices. Through the core concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost, the hosts explain how individuals, businesses, and governments make decisions when resources are limited. The video uses humor, including a cameo by The Muppets, and historical examples to make abstract concepts concrete. The video covers several foundational economic topics: the definition of economics, the principle of scarcity, opportunity cost, cost-benefit analysis, and the role of incentives. It explores the "Guns or Butter" trade-off using military spending as an example and discusses how incentives can sometimes lead to unintended consequences (perverse incentives), illustrated by a historical rat bounty program in Vietnam. Finally, it clearly distinguishes between Microeconomics (individual and business decisions) and Macroeconomics (national economy, inflation, unemployment). For educators, this video is an excellent hook for a high school economics unit. It provides a high-energy overview that humanizes the subject and connects it to students' daily lives (like the choice to watch the video versus sleeping). It offers multiple entry points for classroom discussion, from the ethics of government spending to the analysis of personal decision-making, making it a versatile tool for introducing the economic way of thinking.

This video provides a clear and accessible introduction to the role of banks, loans, and money in the economy. Using the relatable example of a friend starting a mobile dog grooming business, the narrator explains how banks operate as businesses that generate profit through interest on loans. It breaks down key banking concepts including principal, interest, reserve requirements, and the flow of money between savers, the bank, and borrowers.

This engaging educational video uses a relatable narrative about a robot named Mia and her lemonade stand to explain complex macroeconomic concepts. The host helps Mia decide whether to expand her successful stand into a brick-and-mortar store by analyzing key economic indicators. By grounding abstract concepts in a concrete business scenario, the video demonstrates how the broader economy directly influences individual business success and consumer behavior. Key themes include the relationship between macroeconomic health and microeconomic decisions, specific economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unemployment rates, wages, inflation (CPI), and consumer confidence. The video also covers business cycles (expansion and contraction) and emphasizes the importance of using data rather than intuition to make strategic business moves. For educators, this video serves as an excellent bridge between theoretical economics and practical application. It transforms dry statistics into decision-making tools, showing students why unemployment numbers or inflation rates actually matter to everyday people and business owners. It is ideal for lessons on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and introduction to economics, providing clear definitions and visual examples of how to interpret economic data.

In this installment of Crash Course US History, John Green explores how World War II transformed the United States domestically, shifting the focus from the battlefields abroad to the dramatic social and economic changes occurring on the home front. The video details how the war acted as a catalyst for ending the Great Depression, vastly expanding the size and scope of the federal government, and fundamentally altering the American economy through massive spending, rationing, and industrial mobilization.

This educational video provides a comprehensive overview of market demand in economics, distinguishing between changes in "quantity demanded" caused by price fluctuations and changes in "demand" caused by non-price factors. The narrator uses relatable examples like fidget spinners, pizza, and video game consoles to explain complex economic concepts, making them accessible to students. The lesson visualizes these concepts through demand curves, demonstrating the difference between movement along a curve versus shifting the entire curve to the left or right. The video breaks down the five key "shifters of demand" (non-price factors): Income, Consumer Preference, Demographic Characteristics, Expectations of Future Prices, and Price of Related Goods. Each factor is defined and illustrated with specific scenarios, such as how a holiday bonus changes buying power or how the Baby Boom impacted the toy industry. The video also covers the Law of Demand, noting the inverse relationship between price and demand. Ideally suited for high school economics or social studies curriculums, this resource helps teachers explain the mechanics of market economies. It offers clear definitions, visual graphing examples, and pause points for student reflection. The content bridges the gap between theoretical graphs and real-world consumer behavior, allowing students to analyze how their own purchasing decisions are influenced by various market forces.

This educational video explores the complex issue of income inequality through the fictional town of "Marketville," contrasting the lives of wealthy and struggling residents. It provides a balanced examination of potential solutions, categorized into market-based strategies (like equal pay policies, employee training, and social impact investing) and government-based interventions (such as minimum wage laws, Universal Basic Income, and progressive taxation). The video breaks down economic concepts like "regressive" versus "progressive" taxes, the function of NGOs, and the debate surrounding government involvement in the economy. It uses clear visual metaphors, such as balancing scales and receipt breakdowns, to explain how different policies affect individuals across the income spectrum. Ideal for high school economics and civics classrooms, this resource encourages critical thinking by presenting arguments for and against various approaches. It features built-in pause points with reflection questions, asking students to adopt different perspectives and predict arguments, making it a ready-to-use tool for sparking classroom debate and deeper understanding of economic policy.

This educational video provides a comprehensive introduction to Urban Geography, exploring how cities form, grow, and function within global systems. It begins by examining the historical and modern significance of cities, using Guangzhou, China, as a primary case study to illustrate rapid urbanization and the transition from agrarian to industrial economies. The video defines critical terminology such as megacities, metacities, and megalopolises, while explaining the challenges geographers face in creating a universal definition for "urban" areas.

This educational video uses a relatable grocery store analogy to explain the economic concept of monopolies. It breaks down complex business structures into digestible examples, starting with the basic definition of a monopoly as a single seller with no competition. The video details the specific mechanisms of how monopolies form, specifically distinguishing between horizontal integration (buying competitors) and vertical integration (owning the supply chain), while also introducing the historical concept of "trusts." The content presents a balanced view of the economic impact of monopolies by exploring both the arguments for and against them. It outlines potential benefits such as price stability, economies of scale, and technological investment, while contrasting these with significant drawbacks like price gouging, supply manipulation, and poor product quality. The narrator uses the recurring example of apple prices to make these abstract economic theories concrete for students. For educators, this video serves as an excellent foundational resource for units on Economics or U.S. History (specifically the Industrial Revolution and Gilded Age). It simplifies high-level vocabulary and concepts, making it easy to bridge into deeper discussions about antitrust laws, historical figures like Rockefeller and Carnegie, or modern-day debates about big tech companies. The clear definitions and visual diagrams provide strong scaffolding for visual learners.

This educational video provides a fast-paced and comprehensive overview of the Market Revolution in the United States during the first half of the 19th century. Hosted by John Green, the video explores how America shifted from a Jeffersonian agrarian society of subsistence farmers to a Hamiltonian commercial and industrial power. It details the explosion of new technologies—including canals, steamboats, railroads, and the telegraph—that dramatically lowered transportation costs and connected local markets into a national economy. The content dives deep into the structural changes that accompanied this economic shift, such as the development of the factory system, the legal creation of corporations with limited liability, and the crucial role the government played in financing infrastructure and protecting business interests through Supreme Court rulings. It also examines the social consequences of these changes, including the migration of people westward (Manifest Destiny), the influx of immigrants to fill factory jobs, and the changing nature of labor from task-oriented work to time-disciplined wage labor. For educators, this video serves as an excellent anchor for units on 19th-century US History, industrialization, or economics. It connects historical events to literary movements like Transcendentalism and works like Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener," offering interdisciplinary opportunities. The video challenges students to think critically about the definition of freedom, the relationship between government and business, and the human cost of economic progress, making it a valuable tool for high school history and social studies classrooms.

This educational video provides a comprehensive overview of the four primary economic systems: Traditional, Free Market, Command, and Mixed. It begins by introducing the fundamental problem of economics—scarcity—and the three basic questions every society must answer: What to produce? How to produce it? And how to distribute it? The narrator explains how different societies answer these questions based on their values, resources, and level of government involvement. The content explores key themes such as the role of supply and demand, government regulation versus market freedom, and the impact of economic structures on daily life. It contrasts the efficiency and innovation of free markets with the stability and equity aimed for in command economies, ultimately introducing the mixed economy as a balanced approach used by most modern nations. Specific concepts like monopolies, bartering, and consumer sovereignty are defined and illustrated. For educators, this video serves as an excellent foundational tool for units on economics, civics, or geography. It simplifies complex economic theories into digestible segments with clear examples, making it suitable for introducing economic systems. The video includes built-in pause points with reflection questions, allowing teachers to easily facilitate classroom discussions, check for understanding, and encourage critical thinking about the trade-offs inherent in each system.

This engaging video introduces students to the fundamental economic principles that determine how prices are set in a marketplace. Hosted by Kylie, the video breaks down complex concepts like supply, demand, and scarcity into easy-to-understand definitions with relatable real-world examples. It guides viewers through the roles of producers and consumers, explaining how their interactions shape the economy. The video explores key themes including the relationship between supply availability and consumer demand, the impact of scarcity on pricing (using natural resources as examples), and the concept of value versus quality. It demystifies why prices fluctuate for items like gasoline or trendy clothing, helping students understand the market forces at play behind everyday purchases. For educators, this resource is an excellent tool for teaching financial literacy and social studies. It provides a structured four-step guide for setting prices—determining demand, assessing scarcity, checking competitor prices, and ensuring value—which can be directly applied in classroom entrepreneurship projects, math lessons on money, or social studies units on economics.