What You'll Learn

  • 1

    Foundation Concepts 🧱

    • Before you get started, please answer the following questions

    • L1. Q1. Micro vs Macro. Defining scarcity

    • L1. Q2. The need for money and markets

    • L1. Q3. Opportunity costs & trade-offs

    • L1. Q4. Rational decision making
  • 2

    Supply and Demand 📈

    • L2. Q1. Understanding the demand curve

    • L2. Q2. Shifts in the demand curve

    • L2. Q3. Understanding the supply curve

    • L2. Q4. Shifts in the supply curve, equilibrium
  • 3

    Elasticity 🤸

    • L3. Q1. Understanding price elasticity of demand

    • L3. Q2. Factors influencing price elasticity of demand – Wants vs needs

    • L3. Q3. factors affected price elasticity of demand – Availability of close substitutes and share of consumer’s budget

    • L3. Q4. Familiar examples and side quests
  • 4

    Specialisation 🔍

    • L4. Q1. Specialisation and gains from trade

    • L4. Q2. Absolute advantage vs comparative advantage

    • L4. Q3. Factors of production

    • L4. Q4. Benefits of a free market & side quests
  • 5

    Utility 💎

    • L5. Q1. Utility and budget constraints

    • L5. Q2. Diminishing marginal utility

    • L5. Q3. Total utility vs diminishing marginal utility

    • L5. Q4. Optimal decision making
  • 6

    Game Theory 🎲

    • L6. Q1. Understanding game theory and the payoff matrix

    • L6. Q2. The Nash equilibrium and the prisoner’s dilemma

    • L6. Q3. Collusion and escaping the prisoner’s dilemma

    • L6. Q4. Example of game theory
  • 7

    Monopolies & Oligopolies 💰

    • L7. Q1. What are monopolies and oligopolies?

    • L7. Q2. Key types of barriers to entry

    • L7. Q3. Monopoly vs perfect competition

    • L7. Q4. Monopoly the board game
  • 8

    Income Inequality ⚖️

    • L8. Q1. Understanding income inequality

    • L8. Q2. The Lorenz curve and the Gini Coefficient

    • L8. Q3. Methods for reducing income inequality

    • L8. Q4. Inequality of wealth in gaming

    • Post Course Survey

Course Instructor

Matthew Stern

Economist

Hi, my name is Matt Stern. As you can probably tell from my accent, I’m from Sydney, Australia. I’ve been interested in Economics since first studying it in school, and I completed a Bachelor of Economics in 2016 from the University of Sydney. After going on to complete a Master of Sustainability, I’m now working as a Sustainability Consultant, trying to help businesses reach economically realistic solutions to the environmental and social challenges posed by climate change. Like many young people, I’ve also been enthusiastic about video games for most of my life. It became clear to me very early into my economic studies that many of the concepts were already familiar to through the online virtual economies my friends and I had been interacting in for years. As such, it seems like a logical approach to share this angle with new students who are eager to learn the fundamentals of economic theory. Economics is often misunderstood as being intimidating or overly dry, but the understanding it can bring for consumer behaviour and just generally how the world works can be some of the most useful tools in your toolbox. I hope you find this video series clear, informative, and most of all helpful!