Economics is much more than just numbers and graphs. In fact, we can use economics to explain much of what we encounter in our daily lives. For instance, why is customer service at your local restaurant usually better than that of the cable company? To find the answer we can take a closer look at the incentives at play. For another example, we look to eighteenth century Great Britain. What did bad incentives have to do with the death rate of prisoners shipped from England to Australia? Let’s find out together in this first video of MRU’s course on Principles of Economics: Microeconomics. ***TEACHER RESOURCES*** Supply and Demand 5-day HS unit plan: https://mru.io/q3u Assessment questions: https://mru.io/principles-1270a EconInbox, a free weekly email of class-ready news articles, videos, and more: https://mru.io/econinbox-6387e More high school teacher resources: https://mru.io/high-school-5b02b More professor resources: https://mru.io/university-teaching-4f406 ***CONTINUE LEARNING*** Next video – Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs: https://mru.io/uzq Practice questions: https://mru.io/introduction-microecon... Full Microeconomics course: https://mru.io/8lk 00:00 Introduction 00:30 Incentives 01:06 Using Incentives to Improve Results 02:22 Why Should You Learn Economics?
A century-spanning crash course in meeting new technology with the right attitude. First, we relive the headlines that always greet a breakthrough and ask why fear fades. Next, we watch curiosity turn an overlooked gadget into a rock-music revolution. Finally, we see how the camera “killed” painting—only to unleash art no one could have imagined, reminding us that even experts can’t predict what’s born from disruption. Together the three stories help us build an AI Mindset: acknowledge the jitters, experiment early, and stay open to possibilities beyond today’s forecasts.

Pedal to the Metal: The Possibility Mindset

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When Photography "Killed" Painting

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If you're new to economics (or teaching students who are), these three videos will explain some of the most fundamental concepts in economics: incentives, opportunity cost, trade-offs, marginal thinking, and sunk costs. Each one is a simple idea. Combined, they provide a strong foundation for understanding how people make choices under scarcity.

Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs

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124K views1 year ago

Marginal Thinking and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

Marginal Revolution University
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Welcome to Principles of Economics! Here, you’ll learn the economic way of thinking. That is, you’ll understand how to use economics in your life and, ultimately, you’ll see the world differently.

Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs

Marginal Revolution University
124K views1 year ago

Marginal Thinking and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

Marginal Revolution University
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The Demand Curve

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The Supply Curve

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The Equilibrium Price and Quantity

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In this course, following MRU's Principles of Microeconomics course, you’ll explore how incentives play out in large scale economies, such as that of the U.S.

What is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

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Nominal vs. Real GDP

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Real GDP Per Capita and the Standard of Living

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Splitting GDP

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Basic Facts of Wealth

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Growth Rates Are Crucial

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These videos were created by our Summer 2025 class of MRU Fellows. The Fellowship focuses on the communication of ideas in innovative ways. For more about the Fellowship, visit https://learn.mru.org/fellows/
Want to teach high school economics in a fun way? Check out our free teaching resources that are sure to engage your students. This playlist walks you through some of most popular teaching aids and resources. To browse all of our high school teaching resources, go here: https://mru.org/high-school-teaching-resources

Econ in the News

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Interactive Practice Makes Perfect!

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Play Economics: Top 5 Games for Classrooms

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The Council for Economic Education (CEE)'s Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics are the most thorough and popularly adopted national standards for high school economics. The twenty standards cover everything that is typically taught in a year-long high school economics course (more detail below). This playlist has our videos organized by those standards. You can show them in class or assign them for homework — don't forget they all come with practice questions! Available as a Google Doc here: https://mru.org/teacher-resources/video-mappings/cee-national-standards-video-mapping Standard 1: Scarcity Standard 2: Decision Making Standard 3: Allocation Standard 4: Incentives Standard 5: Trade Standard 6: Specialization Standard 7: Markets and Prices Standard 8: Role of Prices Standard 9: Competition and Market Structure Standard 10: Institutions Standard 11: Money and Inflation Standard 12: Interest Rates Standard 13: Income Standard 14: Entrepreneurship Standard 15: Economic Growth Standard 16: Role of Government and Market Failure Standard 17: Government Failure Standard 18: Economic Fluctuations Standard 19: Unemployment and Inflation Standard 20: Fiscal and Monetary Policy

Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs

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What Is Opportunity Cost?

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Marginal Thinking and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

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Introduction to Consumer Choice

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What Is the Rule of 70?

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The Miracle of Compound Returns

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If you're looking to untangle cause and effect in a complex world, then econometrics is what you seek. Join MIT professor Joshua Angrist (2021 Nobel winner) and learn to master the econometrics "Furious Five": random assignment, regression, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, and differences-in-differences methods.

Econometrics: The Path from Cause to Effect

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Ceteris Paribus: Public vs. Private University

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Randomized Trials: The Ideal Weapon

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Introduction to Instrumental Variables (IV)

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