Season 4 Episode 5: Tywin Lannister and Cersei Lannister discuss the Lannister’s depleted gold resource from the wars and the obstacles they face in paying back the Iron Bank of Braavos without being able to tap into this resource anymore. This relates to the problems many developing countries face called the resource curse or Dutch …
Season 5 Episode 8: Arya and Jaqen H’ghar discuss the case where someone bets that their ship won’t successfully make the voyage, i.e., that he will die. In essence, they are discussing the ship captain taking life insurance, as the family will be paid if the captain dies. Life insurance is common in the US, …
Season 3, Episode 8: A soldier is happier to see Lady Brienne die fighting a bear with a wooden sword than to receive a big ransom. By doing so, he is paying an opportunity cost for entertainment To teach this concept in the classroom, click here for a lesson plan
Season 1, Episode 7: The newest members of the Night’s Watch are assigned to particular roles. We can see Lord Snow is visibly upset by where he was sorted. Because this is not a market mechanism, where individuals choose their jobs based on pay, working conditions, etc. and employers choose their workers based on productivity, …
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 5, Episode 8: Arya tells story of how she would reinvest her daily profits, first for a second bucket to bring to the market, then for a cart. This allowed Arya to bring more goods to the market and make great profits. Standard economic models show that with an increase in capital – which …
Season 5, Episode 9: Arya is an oyster saleswoman and for her good service receives the initial amount of money for the oyster plus a tip. Tipping is an economic phenomena that happens in many economies today and is seen as an incentive system for good service.
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 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 …