Curriculum Everyday Economics Puzzles
Everyday Economics Puzzles
Why is cinema popcorn so pricey? Why do prices end in 99? Why do jewellery shops sit side by side? Short puzzles from daily life, each solved with a simple economic idea.
- Why Is Cinema Popcorn So Expensive? The economics behind high snack prices at movie theatres, from revenue sharing with film studios to a clever form of price discrimination. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Is the First Mango of the Season So Expensive? Why the first boxes of Alphonso mangoes or first-flush tea fetch sky-high prices, and why prices tumble weeks later, explained with supply, demand and novelty. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Is a Samosa Pricier at the Airport? Why food costs far more at airports, stations and stadiums, explained through rents, limited competition and captive customers. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Do Sachets Sell So Well in India? Why tiny single-use packs of shampoo, ketchup and detergent cost more per gram yet dominate sales among lower-income households. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Is Milk at the Back of the Supermarket? How supermarket layouts, shelf placement and checkout displays are designed to increase spending, and how to shop with a plan. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Do Gyms Push Annual Memberships? How gyms profit from people who overestimate how often they will exercise, based on a famous study of gym attendance. 📄 Read-aloud
- Everyday Economics Puzzles: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on popcorn, first-of-season mangoes, airport food, sachets and gym memberships. 5 questions
- Why Is It Hard to Find a Taxi in the Rain? How a famous study of New York cab drivers raised questions about how people decide how long to work, and why fixed fares create shortages when demand spikes. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Do Jewellery Shops Cluster Together? Why competing shops often open right next to each other, from jewellery bazaars to electronics markets, explained by Hotelling's model and customer search. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Don't Shops Raise Umbrella Prices When It Rains? How ideas of fairness limit price increases even when demand jumps, based on a famous survey about snow shovels. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Were Third-Class Train Carriages So Uncomfortable? How firms sometimes deliberately make cheaper products worse to push customers toward premium options, from 19th-century railways to modern airline seats. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Do Coupons and Discount Codes Exist? Why companies make customers work for discounts, and how coupons, cashback and promo codes sort price-sensitive buyers from everyone else. 📄 Read-aloud
- How to Be an Economic Naturalist How to spot and solve economic puzzles in everyday life using a few core ideas, inspired by Robert Frank's approach to teaching economics. 📄 Read-aloud