New Series: Economic Lessons From Friends

The One With the Wedding Budget

A New Video Series Starts Thursday!

Friends is one of the most popular TV shows of all time and also provides a number of economic lessons. I have an eight-video series starting on Thursday, October 19th where I’m dropping videos showing clips from the series and then discussing the economic lessons we learn from the clips.

In the first video, we explore how Chandler and Monica learn that her parents spent her wedding savings that Monica was counting on for her "dream wedding". That presents some interesting economic issues - especially around the trade offs between spending money on a dream wedding vs. spending money on other things. One of the most fundamental themes in economics is that people have unlimited wants but limited budgets, and this episode illustrates thinking through trade offs really well.

After Chandler and Monica learn that her parents spent her wedding savings that Monica was counting on for her "dream wedding" they have to decide whether they want the dream wedding or to spend the money on other things. This episode helps clearly illustrate both opportunity costs and trade offs.

This video will premier at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 19th, so tune in then (or just click the link below if it’s after the 19th) to watch it! I’ll be dropping new episodes weekly here and sending updates from this account, so subscribe to get updates!