We Set The Economy On Fire. Now What?
Channel: Foundation for Economic Education
Date: 07/05/2020

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The economy isn’t a big computer that we can program to work a certain way. It just… doesn’t work like that. Instead, the economy -- locally and globally -- is a network of human relationships so complex that it’s constantly pushing and pulling against itself to respond to our needs and to improve our quality of life. Economics is really about people. 

In the last few months, we’ve seen that delicate balance utterly destroyed with lockdowns, quarantines, and shuttering businesses. Governments are determining who is “essential” and who isn’t, and sometimes it’s not even clear whose work matters and how important it really is.

All we need to get an understanding of this is a quick look at the entertainment industry. We’re seeing new releases delayed or pushed to digital as production grinds to a halt. And the movie theaters? They aren’t just about movies, they’re also about stuff like popcorn. Popcorn comes from farmers who need to plan their crops a year or more in advance. When we shutter a movie theater, the economic effects ripple outward into areas we couldn’t even identify if we tried.

And that’s where films like The Big Short come in. Our economy is engulfed in an unprecedented dumpster fire so severe that we needed to make one of our longest Out of Frame episodes ever, leaving a very simple, but near-impossible to answer question: Now what?

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CREDITS:
Written & Produced by Sean W. Malone
Edited by Arash Ayrom
Motion Graphics by Tim Webster & Sean W. Malone
Asst. Edited by Jason Reinhardt
Thanks to Jennifer Maffessanti, Matt Tabor, Pavel Rusakov and Paul Nelson

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LINKS:
-- Hollywood's Economic Crisis --
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/19/loss-of-jobs-income-film-industry-hollywood-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2020/03/20/coronavirus-the-effect-on-freelancers-in-entertainment/#7b05a5a93930

-- Popcorn Stats --
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264396/frequency-of-going-to-the-movies-in-the-us/
https://www.popcorn.org/Facts-Fun/Industry-Facts
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2019/corn-planting-window

-- Economic Issues --
https://fee.org/articles/panic-has-led-to-government-cures-that-are-worse-than-the-disease-history-shows/
https://fee.org/articles/no-policy-can-save-lives-it-can-only-trade-lives/
https://fee.org/articles/meat-supply-disruptions-are-the-bitter-harvest-of-the-non-essential-worker-fallacy/
https://www.aier.org/article/the-economic-takeaway-of-the-coronavirus-panic/
https://www.aier.org/article/science-and-the-pandemic/

-- The Big Short & 2008 --
https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html
https://mises.org/library/housing-too-good-be-true
https://fee.org/articles/how-the-federal-government-created-the-subprime-mortgage-crisis/
https://www.bustle.com/articles/133853-where-are-jamie-charlie-from-the-big-short-now-theyve-come-a-long-way

-- 2020 Economic Crisis --
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/12/big-short-genius-says-another-crisis-is-coming.html?mid=full-rss-krang,dailyintel,scienceofus

-- Social Problems & Unemployment -- 
https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0451.htm
https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/july-2013/exploring-the-link-between-drug-use-and-job-status-in-the-us
https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/126/597/1947/5077969
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/02/the-link-between-unemployment-and-suicide/
https://apnews.com/66ac44186b6249709501f07a7eab36da
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/25/financial-crisis-caused-500000-extra-cancer-death-according-to-l/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-children-un-idUSKBN21Y2X7?fbclid=IwAR18hL8iPtInMksBx03GMCbqeOY867shYd2Gzyjj517Cq5-E3JSF5pUMlkk
https://fortune.com/2020/04/07/big-short-michael-burry-subprime-mortgage-coronavirus-lockdowns/