Resource 1
Planet Money tackles popular, complex issues like American health care and insider trading with abbreviated narratives (N et al., 2010). The format attempts to make economic journalism more accessible to audiences that want to learn more about current economic challenges but do not have a formal economics background. Regarding how this resource relates to my personal life, the podcast episodes detailed in this resource are usually stand-alone (N et al., 2010). Academic specialists and corporate executives are among the interviews or visitors and members of the public in North America. The podcast’s hosts provide contextual framing and discussion while providing listeners with the primary source content. To describe abstract or sophisticated economic and political themes, intimate stories are employed as a guiding thread, utilizing commonplace language and interesting narratives (N et al., 2010). This strategy converts political or economic themes, which were previously only accessible to academics and others with higher education, into stories that appeal to the broader audience. This strategy appeals to a broader and younger readership, while others are drawn in by their coverage of hot themes in North American culture. According to a theoretical economic model, an agent’s consuming behavior would normally show a positive link between revenue and expenditure (N et al., 2010). Because the material assists me in better understanding the economy, we come up with inventive and interesting methods to make sense of the vast and complex factors that drive our economy (N et al., 2010). That’s why we made a t-shirt and followed the supply chain from cotton field to manufacturer around the world; bought 100 barrels of crude oil—paying money out of a briefcase for fun—and followed it from floor to gas tank; initiated a satellite; and adopted a disused as a superhero as well as built a merchandising empire.
Resource 2
According to this resource, teachers should be aware that our Economic Education team is happy to present this collection of Planet Money episodes for your class. Through our Econ Lowdown Teacher Portal, you can assign these specifically edited episodes to students, along with assessment questions (Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown, 2016). NPR’s Planet Money is an economics podcast for those who don’t think they’re interested in economics. The podcast has attracted millions of regular listeners over ten years more than 1,000 episodes through humor, storytelling, and an approachable manner. Economists pay attention to issues like economic growth, inflation, and unemployment while tracking the success of the US economy (Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown, 2016). According to one economic model, the Phillips curve argues that when unemployment is low, inflation rises and vice versa. Learn about the relationship between inflation and unemployment and how economists’ actions can influence it by listening to this podcast. Because Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, measures the value of all products and services generated in a country during a year, this resource has helped me comprehend the economy. Knowing a country’s GDP allows them to track how strong or weak its economies are (Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown, 2016). GDP growth indicates that the economy is strong and thriving, but GDP contraction indicates something wrong. GDP is a metric that may be used to track changes in a country’s economy over time. However, GDP’s utility is limited. Find out why by listening to this tale. The post also goes into greater detail about how People must obtain a license to work in various occupations (Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown, 2016). States grant licenses, which usually entail some form of education or training, an exam, and a fee. Consumers are protected by licensing from inexperienced and unlicensed suppliers (Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown, 2016). There is, however, another side to licensing. Learn how licensing provides economic benefits to licensed professionals by keeping others out of the labor market.
Resource 3
Sandra Faber, cosmologist, and astrophysicist, offers a somewhat different perspective in this piece; she believes our mission has become “progress,” the never-ending chase of additional energy, which goes hand-in-hand with economic prosperity (“Sandra Faber,” 2016). Growth is similar to a narcotic in that the more you do it, the more you want to do it. However, things accumulate with time, and the resources available to support growth are limited. Faber offers two viewpoints to provide us with a moral compass for the future, guiding our response to limits and possibilities:
Supervolcanoes pose a serious threat, and they appear to occur once every 100 million years or so.
We’re still looking into the possibility that more planets have formed from the tiniest energy fluctuations and minuscule dust particles, each with the precise combination of ingredients needed to support life as we know it.
The essay goes on to explain how The planet must be in a star’s “habitable” zone, which is defined as the area between the star and the planet’s surface where liquid water can exist (“Sandra Faber,” 2016). A habitable zone exists on every star, although not all of them can support life. If the star is too massive and bright, its lifespan will be too short of supporting the eons needed for biological life to form. If it’s too small, its planets will be tidally locked, meaning they won’t rotate but will constantly face the same side of the star (“Sandra Faber,” 2016). For the growth of life, a brief rotation period is required. According to the author, Though we don’t yet have a solid formula for estimating Earth’s rarity, each new factor discovered dramatically reduces the chances of more Earth-like planets (“Sandra Faber,” 2016). Faber thinks that we will discover that the Earth is indeed unique and that we have been given a magnificent gift that we are failing to recognize and care for in a cosmic sense.
References
N, P, & R. (2010, April 1). About “Planet Money.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/04/27/135599807/about-planet-money
Planet Money Podcasts for Econ Lowdown. (2016). Www.stlouisfed.org. https://www.stlouisfed.org/education/planet-money-podcasts-for-econ-lowdown
Sandra Faber. (2016). Physics Today. https://doi.org/10.1063/pt.5.031384
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