Economics in Songs
This Swedish band sang about the psychological toll of severe income inequality.
Who is ABBA? (“Money, Money, Money”)
When the price of a good rises, the quantity demanded falls, all else equal. When the price falls, the quantity demanded rises.
What is Law of Demand?
What software is commonly used by economists to run regressions and analyze statistical data?
What is R? (or Stata, SAS, or Python)
This economist wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776.
Who is Adam Smith?
What school are you at?
What is Hamline University?
With her 1985 hit about a material world, this singer demonstrates a high marginal propensity to consume luxury goods.
Who is Madonna? (“Material Girl”)
A benefit that extends to a third party as an indirect effect of another party's transaction.
What software is mainly used to create data visualizations and interactive dashboards?
What is Tableau?
This occurred in the 1970s when the U.S. economy experienced the combination of high inflation, high unemployment, and stagnant economic growth.
What is Stagflation?
What is the only letter that does not appear in any U.S. state name?
What is Q?
Labor economists study this invisible barrier, which Dolly Parton runs into when her boss won’t give her the promotion she’s earned in “9 to 5.”
What is the glass ceiling?
Goods for which demand falls when income rises.
What is the process of identifying and correcting missing, incorrect, or inconsistent data called?
What is Data Cleaning?
This economist advised President Franklin Roosevelt during his New Deal.
Who is John Maynard Keynes?
What is the only planet in our solar system that rotates on its side?
What is Uranus?
This Beatle sings lead on “Taxman,” his 1966 protest of a top marginal tax rate that, by his count, left him one pound in every twenty.
Who is George Harrison?
The Federal Reserve most often takes this action when it prioritizes employment and economic growth over price stability.
What is lowering interest rates or buying government bonds (increasing the money supply)?
Where did the founder of RStudio complete their undergraduate studies?
What is Macalester College?
This event occurred on October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22% in one day.
What is Black Monday?
What mammal is the only one capable of true, powered flight?
What is a Bat?
In this 2025 song, two London-born rappers point out that a price climbs once it’s converted from pounds to dollars.
What is “GBP”? (Central Cee featuring 21 Savage)
The price below which firms will, at least temporarily, halt production.
What is the minimum average variable cost or the short run shutdown price?
What is the term for converting categorical variables, such as occupation or race, into numerical indicator variables for regression?
What is Dummy Coding?
Who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2026?
Who is Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford?
What fruit is technically classified as a berry, while strawberries are not?
What is a Banana?