Teaching macroeconomic principles using animated cartoons.

Luccasen, R. Andrew ; Hammock, Michael ; Thomas, M. Kathleen 等

I. Animated Cartoons in the Classroom

As colleges and universities continue to devote resources to instruction technology, academics are given more opportunity to innovate in their classrooms and make learning more active. The modern university classroom is often equipped with LCD projectors, DVD and VCR players, Internet access, and document cameras. (l) These technology improvements make it possible for more teachers to use visual media in their courses as a way to move economics instruction away from the still prevalent method of chalk and talk (Becker and Watts 2001). A number of instructors employ the use of animated cartoons to illustrate principles in a variety of subjects such as physics (Halpern 2007), psychology (Brown and Logan 2005), religion (Pinsky 2001), and social psychology (Eaton and Uskul 2004, 277-278). We contribute to this literature by discussing several examples of animated cartoons relevant to macroeconomic principles.

Several papers have addressed the use of animated cartoons to demonstrate economic principles. However, we are not aware of any papers that discuss macroeconomic principles. Hall (2005, 165-176) and Luccasen and Thomas (2010, 136-149) use the cartoon The Simpsons to illustrate principles of microeconomics, while Considine (2006, 217-228) and Gillis and Hall (2007) use the same cartoon to teach public policy concepts. In this paper, we suggest four cartoons to teach the basic macroeconomic concepts of the velocity of money, inflation, interest rates, Gross Domestic Product, and unemployment. Examples are drawn from Beavis and Butthead, DuckTales, Futurama, and The Simpsons.

Visual media as a pedagogical tool is part of a more general movement away from the standard lecture. Becker and Watts (e.g. 1998 and 2001) and Becker, Watts, and Becker (2006) have done extensive research on teaching techniques in economics, and despite innovations in the classroom by a minority of university instructors, most economists continue to use chalk and talk as their primary mode of instruction. There is some evidence that student learning can be enhanced by presenting concepts in a variety of formats. Research in the field of education (Gardner 1993; Armstrong 2009) shows that different students have different sensory modalities for learning information. For example, some students learn best by reading and writing, whereas other students my learn best from visual and auditory modes. For some students, watching a cartoon illustrate the velocity of money may be more effective than reading the quantity equation while listening to a lecture.

Furthermore, many educators report the typical attention span of a young adult begins to wane after ten minutes (e.g. McKeachie and Svinicki 2006). (2) These educators suggest changing the medium of instruction in 10 to 15 minute intervals to maintain interest. As an example, after using PowerPoint slides for 10 minutes, one could play a video clip, then start a class discussion or graphically analyze the scene on the marker board. Simply changing the mode of instruction in such a manner can help students focus on the material. We contend that if the change in instruction mode is also humorous, students will be even more likely to actively listen to the lesson segment. Economics was long ago labeled the dismal science, and our efforts are also part of a larger movement in the field to teach using humor. Yoram Bauman has recently coauthored the Cartoon Introduction to Economics and has a stand-up comedy routine targeted at economists and economics students. Economic Inquiry has even begun to publish humorous articles, some written by Nobel Laureates, indicating that research economists want to laugh as much as their students.

Instructors can use the suggested cartoons in several ways. One can begin by discussing the concept using traditional lecture format. After introducing the concept, the instructor can play the animated clip and then generate new discussion about how the cartoon illustrates the concept. This is the method we use most frequently in our own classrooms. Another possibility is to introduce the concept, play the clip, and then distribute an in-class or homework assignment that allows the students to apply what they have learned. Instructors could design worksheets that are appropriate for their own class. A worksheet could be completed by the students while the clip is playing to encourage active listening, and therefore could include questions not related to the economic lesson. Other problems could be applications of topics covered, and can be assigned after the clip is played or outside of class. Sample worksheets are available online at http://misweb.cbi.msstate.edu/kthomas/ fileshare?macrocartoon and http://utilitymaximizer. shackspace.com/Research Supplements/Worksheets.docx. A third method is to ask students to view the available video clips on YouTube [TM] outside of class in preparation for classroom discussion. Research on learning strategies suggests that students can improve their learning if they become more aware of their own learning and then choose to act on that awareness. This "self-regulation" of students reduces the extent to which they are passive participants and encourages students to become active in the learning process (Svinicki 1994). While viewing cartoons may appear to be a passive learning model, it does allow students to realize that economic content can be retrieved from a variety of sources, not just textbooks and newspapers.

In this paper, we provide sufficient background information about the cartoon clips that instructors should be able to discuss the episode without playing the clip in class. This option is available for instructors who do not have access to the necessary technology to play the clips. However, we wish to emphasize the impact a short video clip can have in the classroom. In Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers, by Teachers, Justin Reich and Thomas Daccord write, "It's one thing to read Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but its quite another to watch him deliver it. Educational technology allows teachers to bring the best sources from our disciplines easily into the classroom." While these cartoons do not have the impact of the "I Have a Dream" speech, they provide memorable examples for students. Our experience is that the majority of students have seen at least one episode of each cartoon discussed in this paper and are intrigued by the idea that these cartoons provide economic content. These cartoons also hold the attention of students who are not already familiar with these cartoons.

Table 1 provides information about each clip and where the instructor can find the clip to play in class. Following Luccasen and Thomas (2010), Table 1 also includes a categorization of each concept according to The Voluntary National Content Standards" in Economics (Meszaros and Siegfried 1997) published by the Council for Economic Education. These standards can be a useful organizational device and serve as a cross-referencing tool for instructors who want to find additional lessons for classroom use. Although these lessons were not created for postsecondary use, the authors find that many of them, particularly the high school lessons, can be adapted for use in college-level principles of economics courses. These lessons can be found at http://www.councilforeconed.org.

The following sections include descriptions of each animated scene from the four cartoons and suggested ways instructors can teach the macroeconomic concepts to their students. A variety of worksheets are posted online. The worksheets for longer clips include a scavenger hunt which not only addresses topics relevant to the macroeconomic concept covered, but also includes questions about clip details. These questions are meant to be completed by the students while the clip is playing to encourage active listening and are not meant to test knowledge of economic understanding. Instructors can also use these worksheets as a template to develop assignments that best fit the needs of their classrooms. We encourage instructors to use our suggestions and materials as a springboard for their own classroom innovations and adapt what we have provided to suit the interest of their students as well as their skill level. Finally, we discuss results from a student survey administered to 199 principles students about their perceptions of the cartoon clips as a teaching tool.

II. The Velocity of Money

Beavis and Butthead has a reputation for lowbrow humor and crude language. One particular clip, however, provides a unique demonstration of the velocity of money. For those who want to play the video clip but want to avoid the occasional use of crude language (which many college students find humorous), you can discuss the first and last relevant scenes with your class and play only the middle scenes.

In the episode "Candy Sale," Beavis and Butthead are asked to sell candy bars to raise money for their high school. The candy bars cost $2 each. They approach their neighbor, Mr. Anderson, for their first sale. Mr. Anderson only has $2 on him, so Beavis and Butthead decide to sell a candy bar to him for half price. Mr. Anderson buys one candy bar from Beavis and one from Butthead, so each of them has a dollar. Mr. Anderson then advises that they sell the remaining candy bars at the full price of $2. Butthead soon decides he wants a candy bar but realizes he only has the dollar from Mr. Anderson. Butthead borrows Beavis' dollar so he now has $2 and buys a candy bar from Beavis. Beavis now has $2, and he buys one from Butthead. Beavis and Butthead then trade the $2 back and forth until they have eaten all of the candy bars. When asked how many candy bars they sold, Butthead says, "We sold every one of them, dude." A school official asks for the money they raised, so Beavis and Butthead give him $2, saying, "That's all of it, dude. Two dollars. You can count it if you want." The two dollars are enough to buy all of the candy bars because of the velocity of money. This example clearly demonstrates the Equation of Exchange-that the velocity of money times the money supply equals the values of goods and services in an economy (PQ = MV). Suppose Beavis and Butthead were each left with 19 candy bars after each selling one to their neighbor. Then the equation becomes $2.19 = $2.19, and the money supply is sufficient to sell all the goods in the endowment economy.

This example can lead to a discussion of the conflicting views of the Keynesian and Monetarist schools of thought. For example, what if Beavis and Butthead had $5 between them? In other words, what if the money supply increases? The traditional Keynesian position is that prices are sticky and the velocity of money is unstable. With $5 in circulation, the price of candy bars is expected to stay at $2 and the velocity of money would decrease. The traditional Monetarist position is that prices are flexible and the velocity of money is stable. This school of thought instead predicts that the price of candy bars would increase to $5, leaving the velocity of money unchanged. In the Beavis and Butthead candy bar economy, adding extra money would not make either of them wealthier. The next example more directly demonstrates the effects of an increase in money supply when velocity is fixed.

III. Inflation

DuckTales was the first syndicated Disney cartoon, originally airing in the late 1980's. Episodes are being released on DVD, but the episode entitled "The Land of Tra-La-La" has not yet been released. Available on YouTube[TM], this episode demonstrates the effects of inflation. The main characters are Huey, Dewey, Louie, and their great-uncle Scrooge McDuck. Scrooge McDuck is thought to be the richest duck in the world. Scrooge McDuck is a very caring person and is very charitable. In "The Land of Tra-La-La," the stress of managing his charitable contributions becomes unbearable, so his doctor suggests he vacation where there is no money - a hidden land called Tra-La-La, where the inhabitants have never even heard of money.

Scrooge, his great nephews, his personal pilot Launchpad McQuack, and accountant Fenton Crackshell are brought to an inn when they arrive in Tra-La-La. They try to tip the locals who help them with their luggage, only to have them respond, "We don't need pieces of paper. Here in Tra-La-La, we are happy to help one another." When exploring the countryside, Fenton meets some farmers who find an object foreign to them a bottle cap. Fenton has a hard time believing the people of Tra-La-La have not heard of money, and he tries to explain the concept to the farmers. Fenton explains money is like the bottle cap; because the bottle cap is rare, it has value. Another farmer offers to trade seven sheep for the bottle cap, and thus a medium of exchange is created in Tra-La-La.

Meanwhile, Scrooge is enjoying his stay so much he considers spending the rest of his life there. Unfortunately, a local inhabitant sees his cooler full of drinks (each having a bottle cap) and declares Scrooge McDuck to be the richest person in Tra-La-La. Scrooge wants no part of this, so he gives the bottle caps away. This creates inequality and social turmoil, so Fenton devises a plan to give one bottle cap to each local resident. After distributing the bottle caps, Fenton provides insightful commentary by stating, "They were only nuts for bottle caps because they were rare."

However, one farmer uses a disguise and manages to get two bottle caps. He laughs and declares himself to be twice as rich as everyone else. Because the rest of the local inhabitants are angry, Scrooge tells his pilot to fly back home, collect one million bottle caps, and drop them from the plane. Fenton goes further, convincing Scrooge to make it one billion bottle caps. All the farmers are happy at this announcement, and Scrooge feels like he has done a good deed.

Although the airplane drop creates a significant increase in the money supply, the effects are initially positive. Most people feel rich, and some even swim in pools full of bottle caps. Scrooge rewards himself for this good deed by going out for a meal. Fenton says that soon everyone will have forgotten all about bottle caps. Scrooge is then shocked to see the price of a hamburger is 45,000 bottle caps, and laments, "My paradise ... lost!" At the same time, the airplane drops of bottle caps continue because they could only fit one million bottle caps in the airplane. One thousand airplane drops are necessary for the one billion bottle caps promised. By now the locals are very unhappy with the inflationary effect the airplane drops are having. Scrooge is summoned by the high court of the land. Interestingly, Scrooge's inflationary policy is equated with littering. The court orders Scrooge to contact the airplane and order an end to the bottle cap drops. Before they leave, Scrooge and friends collect the bottle caps. The locals are happy to see this contractionary monetary policy. (3)

Instructors can use this episode to discuss several macroeconomic concepts. First instructors can discuss how the citizens of Tra-La-La could benefit by using a stable currency rather than functioning as a barter economy. Instructors can then discuss how the bottle caps are used in this episode as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value. "The Land of Tra-La-La" also provides an excellent illustration of the effects of hyperinflation. Instructors can use this episode to highlight the difference between inflation and hyperinflation and to discuss the nations throughout history that have experienced hyperinflation in their economies. (4) Instructors can also see if their students can identify the increases and decreases in the money supply throughout the episode and how these relate to modern expansionary and contractionary monetary policy.

IV. Interest

Futurama is a science fiction comedy from some of the creators of The Simpsons. The main character, Fry, was cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve, 1999, and awoke 1,000 years later. The first five seasons of the show are available on DVD, and a set of new episodes is being released straight to DVD.

The episode "A Fishful of Dollars" (season one, episode six) begins with Fry's discovery that in the year 3000 advertisements are beamed into dreams. After seeing an advertisement for Lightspeed Briefs (high-end underwear), Fry and his friends go shopping. Fry decides to buy a pair of $30 Lightspeed Briefs, but discovers that Visa disappeared 500 years ago, American Express went out of business 600 years ago, and the store does not take Discover. He has no cash, but finds that his old bank still exists. A visit to the bank reveals that the $0.93 cents he had in his account has, over the course of 1,000 years at 2.25 percent interest, grown to $4.3 billion.

This presents an opportunity to discuss interest, present value, and future value. Is the calculation in the show correct?

FV = [PV(1 + r).sup.t] = [$0.93(1.0225).sup.1000] = $4,283,508,450

It appears so. Even a small amount of money, if compounded annually over a long period of time, can grow to an extraordinary sum. It is also worth pointing out to students that they can perform this calculation in reverse and use future values to calculate present values:

FV = FV/[(1 + r).sup.t] = $4,283,508,450/[1.0225.sup.1000 = $.093

That is, to end up with $4,283,508,450 in 1,000 years, one would have to deposit $0.93 today. For a more realistic demonstration of the power of compound interest, instructors can show students the effect of a 5 percent rate of return over 20 years on $10,000 of principle:

FV = [$10,000(1.5).sup.20] = $26,532.98

If this were a country with a per-capita GDP of $10,000 growing at 5 percent for twenty years, then per-capita GDP would more than double over this period. It does not take one thousand years for a country to grow from poverty to wealth.

What about inflation? There appears to be little inflation in the Futurama universe. Either the Fed adopted a zero inflation policy in 2000, or there was a large deflation at some point. A leading brand of men's underwear currently sells for $15 for a three-pack, where as the Lightspeed three pack sells for $30 in this episode. (5) It is reasonable to assume in class that all prices have doubled over this 1,000 year time period. The average annual inflation rate is then 0.0007 percent. Fisher's equation gives us this approximation:

r [approximately equal to] i - [pi]

The real interest rate is approximately the real nominal rate minus the rate of inflation. Students can then calculate the real rate of interest, and the present value of Fry's wealth.

Finally, instructors can discus monetary policy. Using the additive version of the Equation of Exchange:

%[DELTA]M + %[DELTA]V = %[DELTA]P + %[DELTA]Q

For simplicity assume that velocity is constant. We have assumed that prices have doubled, so the percentage change in P is 100 percent. The world of Futurama is one of incredible technological progress and wealth, so there has been a large increase in output. Suppose that the percentage change in Q is 500 percent. Therefore the money supply must have increased by 600 percent--a remarkably restrained policy over a thousand year period. The amount of money supply growth would be even smaller if velocity growth were positive.

V. Non-market Production and GDP

The Simpsons is a popular source of classroom examples. The show follows the lives of the Simpson family who live in the ordinary town of Springfield, U.S.A. The father, Homer, works in a nuclear power plant, and the mother, Marge, is a stay-at-home morn. Homer and Marge have three children: 10 year old Bart, 8 year old Lisa, and an infant named Maggie. The first thirteen seasons of The Simpsons have been released on DVD, and new seasons are being released approximately once per year.

The episode "Marge Gets a Job," can motivate a discussion about household production and how Gross Domestic Product is underestimated because of its exclusion. Although the clip is short, instructors can also use it as a springboard to discuss other shortcomings of using GDP as a measure of well-being. Some examples include: l) GDP does not account for negative externalities, such as pollution, produced by the market, 2) GDP does not account for changes in health or leisure time, and 3) changes in GDP over time do not take into account changes in product quality.

In this episode, the Simpsons discover that their house needs major foundation repair which costs $8,500. When Marge offers to work outside the home to earn extra income, Homer initially protests, insisting that they do not need the money that badly. Eventually the house becomes so unstable, living conditions are hazardous to their children. That same evening, the Simpsons attend a retirement party for one of Homer's colleagues at the nuclear power plant. Marge then decides to apply for the position vacated by the retiree. Although Homer does not like the idea of working with Marge, he finally agrees that extra income is needed.

Marge begins her job search by typing a resume, which reads, "Marge Simpson: Homemaker 1980 - present." Upon seeing this, Lisa suggests a more creative approach to writing her resume. Lisa includes market equivalents to Marge's household production, such as seamstress and chauffer. Many students know from other episodes that Marge also provides daycare services for infant Maggie, prepares meals, tutors Bart and Lisa, and provides other non-market services.

Bartlett and Ferber (1998, 109-125) suggest the value of nonpaid work is a relevant topic but often not included in the typical principles textbook. Instructors can emphasize to students that the exclusion of household production from GDP calculations disproportionately affects women because women, even those who work outside the home, still produce a majority of household work. Although men and women in the United States spend the same amount of time in total work (work outside and inside the home), women work more than men inside the home (Burda, Hamermesh, and Weil 2007, 1-44). Because home production is not counted in GDP calculations, instructors might ask their students to consider whether or not this devalues the work of many women. Alternately, instructors could ask students to evaluate another scene from The Simpsons. In the episode "Bart on the Road," the elementary school participates in "take your children to work day." However, the permission slip reads, "Please note: Homemaker is not allowed as it is not real work. That is why you don't get paid for it."

VI. Unemployment

The Simpsons also provides an illustration of structural unemployment that instructors can use to highlight the differences between types of unemployment. In "Homer's Odyssey," a distracted Homer causes an accident at the power plant. Because this is not the first such accident, Homer's supervisor fires him. Afterwards, the Simpson family reads the want-ads looking for a job that matches his skill set. Lisa suggests a job at the fireworks factory, but Homer says that he cannot work for "those perfectionists." He also dismisses a job as a supervising technician because he is a technical supervisor. Homer goes on a series of job interviews, but none of them are successful. At this point in the episode, Homer is structurally unemployed because his skills are not demanded by the market. This causes Homer to stop looking for work, and he chooses to stay home all day and watch television instead. Instructors can use these scenes to discuss discouraged workers and how their exclusion from unemployment figures cause unemployment rates to be underestimated.

Homer eventually becomes so depressed, that one night he writes a goodbye letter to his family. Realizing he is missing, the rest of the Simpson family searches for Homer, finding him standing on a bridge ready to end his life. These scenes can motivate a discussion of the nonmonetary costs of unemployment such as physical and mental health. The nonmonetary costs of unemployment are estimated to be roughly twice the monetary costs of job loss for individuals (Knabe and Ratzel 2007, 1-16).

As the family approaches Homer on the bridge, a car races by, nearly hitting them. Homer pushes his family to safety, and he suddenly realizes his new purpose in life - to be a public safety advocate. Homer first successfully petitions the city government to place a stop sign at the dangerous intersection near the bridge. As Homer continues his safety campaign, his efforts repeatedly make the headline in the free daily newspaper, "The Springfield Shopper." By the time Homer decides to tackle Springfield's greatest public safety concern, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP), he is a well-known safety expert. Many people in the town demonstrate in front of the SNPP demanding that it be shut down. Indeed, one protester claims that Homer's name is synonymous with safety. The owner of the power plant, Mr. Bums, decides to hire Homer as the plant's safety inspector in order to pacify the public. Mr. Bums tells Homer that his first assignment is to tell the protesters that the plant is safe. Homer cannot do that, but he does promise the crowd to continue his crusade for safety while working in the SNPP. Now that Homer has a skill valued by the market, he is no longer structurally unemployed.

VII. Conclusion

All of these clips have been well received by our classes. Our anecdotal evidence is that students are familiar with all of these cartoons and are eager to watch a short excerpt from them in class. A survey was administered to an auditorium principles of macroeconomics class taught in Spring 2010. This class viewed the video clips from Beavis and Butthead and Futurama during class time. A link to the episode of DuckTales was posted online for optional viewing, and questions were discussed online on the class discussion board. Of the 199 students who responded to a short multiple-choice survey (out of an enrollment of 254), 82 percent report that the use of cartoons in the course helped them understand the concept, remember the concept, or made class more interesting. (6) Twenty-five percent of those surveyed report all three positive evaluations. The clip from Beavis and Butthead was particularly memorable to these students. Although 31 of the students report they do not remember seeing this particular video clip, of the remaining 168 students, 81 percent correctly identify the velocity of money as the concept covered in the video clip. Of the 116 students who report they remember seeing the Futurama clip, 60 percent correctly identify interest as the concept covered in the video. Although this survey provides no evidence regarding the impact of cartoon usage on learning, we do believe it indicates student interest and an overall positive evaluation of this teaching tool.

Chalk and talk continues to dominate the instruction methods of most academics in economics. We hope that the examples of how to use animated cartoons to teach macroeconomic concepts will inspire some instructors to experiment with alternate teaching techniques and as Wilbert McKeachie says, "break the deadly routine of lectures day after day" (McKeachie and Svinicki 2006). For this method to be successful, instructors must draw their students into the lesson segment. A passive viewing of the clip will not be sufficient. We believe that students will receive the most benefit if they are the ones who must conduct a critical reading of the cartoon and identify the concepts the clip illustrates. The student worksheets provided online should help instructors achieve that goal. In addition, instructors can use some of the academic citations about hyperinflation, nonpaid work, and the psychological costs of unemployment to generate further in-class discussion. Although most of these works are too advanced for a principles class to study in their entirety, instructors can distill the key points and make them accessible to introductory macroeconomics students.

We recommend the following when playing these video clips in class. To be most effective, students must understand why they are watching the video. Explain how the video clips are relevant to the learning objectives for the day. Instructors can also explicitly tell students what to watch for, such as "Notice when Homer Simpson stops actively looking for work and becomes a discouraged worker." One should also load the DVD or video clip before class starts. Starting a video clip can take several minutes. An awkward pause during class to load the video can disrupt the pace of the class as well as waste valuable class time. Those familiar with video editing software can imbed any video clip into a PowerPoint presentation. Finally, a brief discussion or lecture after the clip is played can clearly relate the video to the topic at hand.

Today's college students expect their instructors to be entertaining--a skill that is not taught in graduate curricula in economics, but is left for instructors to learn on the job. We hope that the teaching tips provided here will encourage instructors to move beyond the traditional lecture format and experiment with the use of animated cartoons. While about 40 percent of all undergraduates will take at least one course in economics during their college career (Siegfried 2000, 202-204), we can expect only 2 percent of all undergraduate degrees to be awarded in economics (Margo and Siegfried 1996, 326-336). In other words, the majority of introductory economics students will never go on to take more advanced classes in the field. For these students, economics can and should be made fun.

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Notes

(1.) For example, according to a survey by Market Data Retrieval, 64 percent of two and four-year colleges and universities reported Internet access in the classroom in the 2000-01 academic year. That figure is up from 42 percent two years earlier. The survey is based on a sample of 4,700 postsecondary institutions (Branch 2001 ).

(2.) See Wilson and Korn (2007, 85-89) for an opposing view and a review of the literature on attention span.

(3.) A second episode of Ducktales has a similar story and illustration of inflation. In the episode entitled "Dough Ray Me," a scientist invents a ray-gun that can duplicate objects. Huey, Dewey, and Louie use this ray-gun to duplicate their allowance, and the end result is again hyperinflation. This episode can be used as either an alternate classroom lesson, or a homework assignment, with questions similar to those found in the worksheets.

(4.) See Reinhart and Savastano (2003, 20-23) for a brief policy report from the IMF on historical and modern hyperinflation.

(5.) Other evidence of very low inflation in this episode is the fact that Bender is fined only $80 for shoplifting.

(6.) Complete survey results are available from the authors by request.

R. Andrew Luccasen, Mississippi University for Women

Michael Hammock, Middle Tennessee State University

M. Kathleen Thomas, Corresponding Author: Mississippi State University, Department of Finance and Economics, Mailstop 9580, Mississippi State, MS 30759, Phone: (662) 325-2561, Email: kthomas@cobilan.msstate.edu

TABLE 1.
Availability of Cartoons and Content Standards *

Cartoon        Episode                Availability

Beavis and     Candy Sale             Netflix, Volume 2,
Butthead                              Disc 1

DuckTales      The Land of            YouTubeT[TM]
               Tra-La-La

Futurama       A Fishful of Dollars   Netflix,
                                      Blockbuster:
                                      Volume 1, Disc 2

The Simpsons   Marge Gets A Job       Netflix,
                                      Blockbuster:
                                      Season 4, Disc 2

The Simpsons   Homer's Odyssey        Netflix,
                                      Blockbuster:
                                      Season 1, Disc 1

               Running Time
Cartoon        (minutes)       Standard           Concept

Beavis and     1:45-4:42 **    Role of money      Velocity
Butthead

DuckTales      1:00-20:43      Unemployment       Hyperinflation
                               and inflation

Futurama       4:08-6:45 ***   Role of interest   Compound
                               rates              interest

The Simpsons   7:00- 7:34      Macroeconomy--     GDP
                               Income/
                               Employment

The Simpsons   6:53-8:51;      Unemployment       Types of
               13:21-21:57                        unemployment

* From the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics
produced by The Council for Economic Education in partnership
with the National Association of Economic Educators and the
Foundation for Teaching Economics. See
http://www.councilforeconed.org/ for more information.

** This entire episode is five minutes and thirty-eight seconds.
Shorter clips that avoid most crude language run from 2:21-2:29,
and 2:42-4:22.

*** A slightly longer clip can be played to include a commercial
for Lightspeed Briefs, the good that allows students to estimate
inflation. This clip runs from 0:53-6:45.