Season 6, Episode 6: In this clip, Daenerys flies in on her dragon and asks her soldiers to be her loyal “blood riders.” This is similar to how nations in the past have overcome the ‘principal-agent problem.’ The principal-agent problem asserts that there is some conflict in priorities between the ‘principal’ and the ‘agent,’ who …
Read more “Daenerys’s Dragons: A Solution to the Principal-Agent Problem”
Season 7, Episode 4: Tyrion and Daenerys are discussing strategies and Tyrion recommends a complete restriction on King’s Landing ability to trade. Most government decisions to restrict free trade make society worse off, however one key argument for trade restrictions is when it can impact national security, which is the grounds on which Tyrion is …
Season 3, Episode 1: Bronn and Tyrion are discussing how much Bronn should be paid to continue defending Tyrion. Bronn claims he is worth more on the market because he’s been knighted. He likely isn’t more productive but this credential has value, in part because the opportunity cost of his time is likely higher.
Season 4, Episode 6: Tyrion explains how borrowing money works. To teach this concept in the classroom, click here for a lesson plan
Season 1, Episode 2: Tyrion explains that he learned to specialize in being intelligent – by reading a lot, while his brother could specialize in fighting. This is a good example of comparative advantage and specialization.
Season 1, Episode 3: The Night’s Watch is a public good. They protect the Seven Kingdoms from white walkers and wildlings. But like most public goods, the Night’s Watch is underfunded – which is a market failure. In this clip, we see Aemon appealing to Lord Tyrion to help convince the King and Queen for …