Supply & Demand
Five lessons, one thinking routine. Discover the concepts, debunk the myths, hold the model, put a hard case to the test — then prove you can do it cold.
The Concepts
Meet supply and demand the way an economist does — one idea at a time, in conversation. No prior knowledge needed.
- Supply first — what makes sellers offer more, or less · shortages, ruptures, gluts
- Then demand — what makes buyers want more, or less · crazes, fads, must-haves
- Spectacular cases — Swift’s Eras tickets, star-worn sneakers, sudden scarcity
- Guided discovery — stuck? the Coach walks you in with one small, concrete question
- Your Thinking Board — your own words for each idea, saved as findings
Debunking the Myths
Once price is the impersonal meeting of willing‑and‑able buyers and sellers, the common myths stand out — most of them quietly hand control to someone (the seller, the business). Debunk three, each in three moves: False claim → Challenge → Finding.
- Three from a growing stock — the course draws three market myths, chosen to match where you are · by difficulty
- Most hand the price to someone — the seller, the business; a few flatten it into an iron rule
- Worked in three moves — understand the claim, break it, replace it
- Findings that survive challenge — added to your board
The Graphic Equilibrium
Hold the mathematical model in your hands: the supply and demand curves, and the equilibrium where they cross.
- The interactive model — pick a scenario, move the live parameters
- Read the equilibrium — the one price and quantity where supply meets demand
- Shifts vs. movements — watch surpluses and shortages appear as the curves move
- Questions around the model — the JH exercise, as the sponsor built it
- Companion wizard — a second view on elasticity
Why Top Grads Can’t Find Work
Supply & demand in the wild: a flood of CS graduates meets hiring shaken by AI, rising rates, and vanishing VC. Weigh the forces — then test whether the story can be proved wrong.
- Read the sponsor’s paper — the CS-graduate tree: a supply glut vs. AI, rates & VC on the demand side
- Stand your ground — which force actually drove it? Write your analysis
- Complicate — the rival explanations pull against each other — and against the premise itself
- Defend — the Coach tries to break your claim (Popper); defend or revise
- Rebuild — keep only what the evidence supports
- Falsifiability — “Can our theory be proved false?”
Recap & Quiz
Board-style questions across all four lessons — every option explained, and a wrong pick sends you back to the lesson it came from.
- Board-style questions — one best answer; every option explained, right and wrong
- Grouped by lesson — the concepts, the myths, the model, the case
- Your notebook — each question drops its key takeaway to keep
- Score & first-try — what you got right, and right the first time
- Pass the bar — miss one and you’re sent back to that lesson