Oxford College Principles of Microeconomics Course

From Planet Money:Prices go up. Occasionally, prices go down. But for 70 years, the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola didn't change. From 1886 until the late 1950s, a bottle of coke cost just a nickel. On today's show, we find out why. The answer includes a half a million vending machines, a 7.5 cent coin, and a company president who just wanted to get a couple of lawyers out of his office

From Today in Focus (The Guardian):The world economy may have dramatically dipped and the price of oil crashed, but one commodity is seeing an unprecedented boom: the face mask. Samanth Subramanian explores the newly distorted marketplace for masks and the lengths some will go to get them When the coronavirus began spreading beyond China in January, the race to buy up any available protective face masks went global. It caused a frenzy of buying as prices rocketed and suppliers were overwhelmed by the demand. For one man, Ovidiu Olea, a businessman in Hong Kong, it was the start of a wild ride from mask buyer to mask dealer to ultimately, mask producer. The Guardian writer Samanth Subramanian caught up with him as he begins production. He tells Rachel Humphreys about how distortions in the mask market have led to diplomatic incidents. But with mask sales rocketing and many governments starting to either recommend or insist on their use, the evidence about their efficacy is still inconclusive. And some fear that widespread rush to buy up stocks will prevent them reaching the people who need them most: frontline workers and medics.

From Planet Money:In our second class, we find markets everywhere and discuss what makes them work and when they fail. We start off with the basic tools to understand a market: supply and demand. We find that the price of an item isn't just about money; a price reflects all the information inside a market, from a buyer's willingness to pay to a supplier's cost to make that item. Then, we put the concepts to work with the parable of the pickles. A food bank in Alaska gets sent a truckload of pickles, more than it could ever use. A food bank in Idaho gets sent a truckload of potatoes, the last thing it needs. With the help of economists, the food banks figure out a way to create a trading market, complete with information sharing and prices. We see how that works out as the food banks compete for the most coveted prize of all: a shipment of breakfast cereal.

Dive into the cheesy saga of government intervention in the milk market during the 1970s. Discover how a noble intent to support dairy farmers led to a mountain of surplus cheese that required cave storage! Explore the humorous and absurd tales of 'Government Cheese,' which became a pop culture icon, featuring unexpected appearances in comedy and cooking. With behind-the-scenes insights on cheese grading and the quirks of cheese storage, this captivating discussion reveals the surprising impact of agricultural policies on everyday life.