A look at hidden economic concepts in the hit ABC hit comedy series Modern Family.
Alex has been asked to babysit her cousin Lily. Lily wants to play with dolls during this time, but Alex tries to convince her instead to read a book that involves empowering women. Lily insists on playing with dolls, and the first doll she shows Alex is a wife who does not have a career, but shops.
See more: gender roles, nature vs. nurture, pre-market discrimination, societal discrimination, specialization
Gloria and Jay have been having issues with Baby Joe’s behavior, so Gloria consults a priest. Gloria seems to think the men in her family have been kissed by the devil, but the priest insists it is the families that shape who children become. This is a great clip to introduce the nature versus nurture debate and also to consider the role of omitted variable bias in determining the parents’ impact on children. Could there be some other factor that Gloria hasn’t considered?
See more: causation, correlation, nature vs. nurture, omitted variable bias
Economics of Modern Family 