{"id":45901,"date":"2018-11-07T10:48:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T18:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45901"},"modified":"2018-11-07T10:48:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T18:48:04","slug":"teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/","title":{"rendered":"Teach the economy with “The Simpsons”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nThe economy, a matter too abstract?\u00a0If it permeates their daily lives, from the evolution of prices at the local supermarket to the opening of a bank account, through the search for a summer job, the economy raises many a priori in students.\u00a0Even in business schools, though frequented by young people interested in principle by the operation of companies or international trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their fears?\u00a0The importance of math in the courses, basic theories to assimilate, the need to cram or the severity of the notation.\u00a0The use of fiction, such as the animated series\u00a0<\/span>The Simpsons<\/span><\/em>\u00a0, can be a way to overcome these blockages, by creating links between a familiar universe and new concepts to assimilate.<\/span><\/p>\n

A base of concrete examples<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Some researchers suggest drawing educational materials from popular culture to\u00a0<\/span>teach the basics of economics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0The use of supports of this type has the advantage of stimulating reactions among students, starting from playful and concrete examples.\u00a0This approach is part of broader reflections on “active learning” and the\u00a0<\/span>educational innovation needed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to approach the economy differently.\u00a0It has favored punctual initiatives in schools and universities, but also more formalized productions, such as the book series\u00a0<\/span>Economics in comic strips<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Economix<\/span><\/em><\/a>\u00a0.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of an introductory economics course, the basic mechanics of microeconomics – consumer and producer behavior – are generally used to formulate supply and demand, and hence the market and its properties.\u00a0Then we slide towards the macro-economic mechanisms, the questions of international or industrial economy.\u00a0TV series can be used to support debates on the representation of the economy, for example, or to support technical explanations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Simpson<\/span><\/em>\u00a0series\u00a0is particularly relevant for this, as\u00a0<\/span>some economists specializing in pedagogy indicate<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0Created in 1987 by Matt Groening, the cartoon presents the daily life of the Simpson, a middle-class American family, in the small town of Springfield, with a few breakaways in other American cities, or even in France, Japan or Canada. Australia.\u00a0It offers different levels of reading to its audience and, with its 30-year-old seniority, provides an important base of examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

The richness of analogies<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Many episodes take a critical look at society and give many insights into politics, science, culture, and so on.\u00a0In particular, there are references, explicit or implicit, to basic economic mechanisms or to major socio-economic facts: the work of women, the place of senior citizens, the role of unions, precariousness … There are also mentioned the environmental economics, through the\u00a0negative\u00a0<\/span>externalities<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the nuclear power plant, state interventions and public markets, or the world of finance, from the Enron affair to the subprime crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

With first year undergraduate students, who do not yet have good abstraction skills or significant field experience, this artifice can be more educational than working on totally decontextualized exercises (company E , the variable X, etc.), or on very real cases, but too far removed from their daily lives.\u00a0Indeed, a simple image of a recurrent Simpson character will be immediately associated by the students to all the specific, sometimes caricatural features he embodies in the series.<\/span>
\n

\"\"

Illustration of behavioral biases of the consumer using the Simpson – 1) Over-confidence (in his capacity for analysis) 2) Over-valuation of “striking” information (follow the opinion of relatives) 3) Stubbornness ( do not change your mind) 4) Impartiality (remember what works)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Create a click<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Of course, the use of this type of approach must remain punctual and measured.\u00a0It is sometimes necessary to relativize the too caricatured or simplistic image of certain cases to cling to the economic reality, but this is a good way to trigger a “click” in learning.\u00a0The rise in experience and maturity of students can then slide to more classic case studies.<\/span>
\n

\"\"

Illustration with characters from the Simons of Engel’s Law (law that the share of income allocated to food expenses is even lower than the income is high).<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The use of these fictional sources can be criticized for their lack of realism.\u00a0However, this can be relativized for two reasons.\u00a0The first is that the analogy mobilized and its limits are explained to the students and that they have the capacity to relativize this exercise.\u00a0Moreover, it remains an artifact within a complete course that is not just about this approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, economic theories themselves contain some fiction.\u00a0In this sense, we follow the position of\u00a0<\/span>Ariel Rubinstein<\/span><\/a>\u00a0, a renowned theoretical economist, who compares theoretical models in economics with fables.\u00a0For him, in both cases, we move away from reality while learning relevant things about it.\u00a0With our approach, we reverse the concept by using fables to understand patterns, then reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Vincent Helfrich is an Associate Professor at the Excelia Group – UGEI<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The economy, a matter too abstract?\u00a0If it permeates their daily lives, from the evolution of prices at the local supermarket to the opening of a bank account, through the search for a summer job, the economy raises many a priori in students.\u00a0Even in business schools, though frequented by young people interested in principle by the […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":45902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[8188],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-45901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-economics-3"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeach the economy with "The Simpsons" - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teach the economy with "The Simpsons" - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The economy, a matter too abstract?\u00a0If it permeates their daily lives, from the evolution of prices at the local supermarket to the opening of a bank account, through the search for a summer job, the economy raises many a priori in students.\u00a0Even in business schools, though frequented by young people interested in principle by the […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"488\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Teach the economy with “The Simpsons”\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":796,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/simpsons.png\",\"keywords\":[\"economics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/\",\"name\":\"Teach the economy with \\\"The Simpsons\\\" - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/simpsons.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/simpsons.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/simpsons.png\",\"width\":680,\"height\":488},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Teach the economy with “The Simpsons”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teach the economy with \"The Simpsons\" - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teach the economy with \"The Simpsons\" - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"The economy, a matter too abstract?\u00a0If it permeates their daily lives, from the evolution of prices at the local supermarket to the opening of a bank account, through the search for a summer job, the economy raises many a priori in students.\u00a0Even in business schools, though frequented by young people interested in principle by the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":488,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Teach the economy with “The Simpsons”","datePublished":"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/"},"wordCount":796,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png","keywords":["economics"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/","name":"Teach the economy with \"The Simpsons\" - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png","datePublished":"2018-11-07T18:48:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/simpsons.png","width":680,"height":488},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teach-the-economy-with-the-simpsons\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teach the economy with “The Simpsons”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45901"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}