Some teachers in North America have incorporated music into their introductory economics courses. Here I share with you how Susan Glanz does this so that students love to learn economics. She has been teaching at St. John’s University at Queens in New York, since the mid-1980s. Her proactive role in showing students that economics is interesting, that it applies to everyday life, that economics is accessible, and that an understanding of economics is essential to their future roles as citizens in society, is admirable beyond words.
There is a song called “Equilibrium”. It explains how changes in supply and demand will result in new equilibrium. Its words are as follows:
Some change supply, some change demand
Now let me count’em off to try to help you understand:
You’ve got natural events like a fire,
Or when the number of competitors gets lower or higher
If the factors of production cost more or less,
Or if there’s some sort of change in what the seller expects,
Or new technology, or a project on the side
All of these can change the quantity supplied.
The following song is used to ask students to list elastic and inelastic goods:
Percent change in demand over percent change in price
If you sell it for less, you’ll sell more merchandise
But how much more?
We can get it precise using elasticity (elasticity)
Let’s look at what drives elasticity up
People are more sensitive when they’ve got a substitute
Or it’s a big part of their expenses
Or when they’ve got more time to adjust to circumstances…
If e is >1
Then demand is elastic, you’ll see people respond
But raise your price, and your revenue drops
‘Cause demand falls faster and you suffer a loss
The above two songs are used in the microeconomics class.
In the macroeconomics class, the following songs are very useful.
Consider the song which is a great summary of the policies of the two economists, Hayek and Keynes. On this basis, students are asked to compare and contrast the two conflicting philosophies, and also to find out some biographical information on each economist.
Keynes:
You see it’s all about spending, hear the register cha-ching
Circular flow, the dough is everything
So if that flow is getting low, doesn’t matter the reason
We need more government spending, now it’s stimulus season
Hayek:
So forget about saving, get it straight out of your head
Like I said, in the long run—we’re all dead
The boom gets started with an expansion of credit
The Fed sets rates low, are you starting to get it?
That new money is confused for real loanable funds
But it’s just inflation that’s driving the ones
There is a song that was written in 2010. It discusses the Fed’s (America’s central bank) policy of keeping interest rates close to zero. It focuses on the fears created by the Fed’s continuous increase of money supply since 2001; it mentions the Keynesian liquidity trap and the dangers of the Fed doing too little (deflation) or too much (inflation). It is the perfect introduction to discussions on current economic events, and goes like this:
As we go through this recession
As farther down we slip
Will our central bank get traction soon, or
Will it lose its grip?
It’s a mini-Great Depression
Our markets went berserk
The Fed is printing trillions now, but
Will their efforts work?
Inflation or deflation?
Tell me, if you can
Will we become Zimbabwe
Or will we be Japan?
Using this song, students are told to find out the meaning of the term quantitative easing and write a short essay to explain, if possible by using a timeline, why the Federal Reserve turned to non-traditional policies, such as quantitative easing. Students are told to create a table where they have to fill in the dates, the start and end dates of each round of quantitative easing, and the amounts and the types of securities involved in the policy. Students are told to read more about the Fed’s choices in order to answer the questions as to: 1. Why critics of the quantitative easing policy argue that the policy is inflationary; and 2. How the Fed can use the interest rate it pays banks on their reserves at Fed banks to prevent high inflation. Students are also told to research in order to explain the causes of the long Japanese deflation and recession and the Zimbabwean inflation (2006-2008). Students are also asked to look up CPI (Consumer Price Index) and per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) data for a country of their choice and see the differences between countries.
Consider this song:
Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
With his wife and five children
And his cabin brokin’ down
You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
Your children are so hungry
That they don’t know how to smile.
On the basis of this song, students are told to do research on comparison of unemployment rates and the natural unemployment rates between two periods in the USA, possibly between 1964 when the song was written by Bob Dylan (Nobel laureate) and today. Students are also asked to research the percentage of people living in poverty in the 1960s and today. They are also told to research the government’s anti-poverty programmes, if any; and to internationally compare poverty rates.
Once I built a rail road, made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it’s done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it’s done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Students are given two assignments with this song, one to search for data on the unemployment rate during the Great Depression and the Great Recession; the other is to convert the value of a dime by using the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to today’s dollars. Students are also asked to research and list items (e.g. Sunday newspaper, candy bars) that cost a dime in 1930 and if possible the price of the same item today.
The Beatles’ Paperback Writer song runs like this:
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
Based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.
Students are told to classify the employment status of the paperback writer who ‘needs a job’. Is he unemployed? Actively seeking new work? Does self-employment create a measurement problem for the Bureau of Labour Statistics? Does ‘years to write’ suggest anything about the opportunity cost of his time? Students are also given research assignments on the definition of long-term unemployment, the unemployment rate and the average length of time for unemployment in 1990, 2012 or today.
There are two songs that can be used in both macro- and microeconomics class.
Consider this Beatles song:
Let me tell you how it will be;
There’s one for you, nineteen for me.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
In relation to this song, students are asked to research on tax rates in various states, on corporate tax rates in various countries, and on the highest marginal income tax rates in five countries. Do States and local governments try to avoid highly progressive tax structures because of tax competition, i.e. they fear that high taxes on the wealthy will encourage them to live elsewhere? This is a research topic for students.
Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
‘Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate ‘em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
This 2011 protest song by James McMurtry can be used to discuss gains from trade, and to deal with the preconceived misconceptions about trade that students often hold. Faculty and students know that outsourcing of US production directly reduces employment; but students are not aware that the indirect effects of higher US productivity, profits and increased global competitiveness may create more American jobs. Students are asked to write on two jobs that they are familiar with that could be outsourced. They are also told to do research on difficult questions: How could outsourcing create new jobs in the US? How does offshoring affect an industry’s productivity? Students are also told to do research some examples of insourcing, like the German car maker Mercedes Benz building manufacturing plant in the US, or to read and evaluate the last three years of Economics Reports of the President on how global commerce is changing.
Susan Glanz has, thus, not only showed students the relevance and the fun of economics but also realized that she has achieved two goals: to provide the students with the basics of economic literacy which is important for a democratic society that relies heavily on informed citizenry and personal economic decision-making; and, secondly, to encourage students to register for more economics courses!
So, cheers to Susan Glanz.
REFERENCE
By Annavajhula J.C. Bose, PhD
Department of Economics, SRCC
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