154: Pat Holt on the Economics in Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and Black Panther

Pat Holt is a computer engineer, a comic book geek and a born-again economics lover.

Pat reached out to Brian O’Roark after listening to episode 116 of this podcast and after a while, he contributed a chapter tothe book ‘Superheroes and Economics: The Shadowy World of 

Capes, Masks and Invisible Hands’ edited by Rob Salkowitz and Brian.

In this Episode, Pat mentions and discusses:

• Unemployment, utility maximisation when saving the galaxy.
• Human capital, opportunity costs and trade-offs.
• How comic books provide a historical context life by capturing the social and economic issues of the day.
• Racism, chauvinism and feminism.
• How Superman brought down the Ku Klux Klan.
• How Spider-Man epitomises many of our battles to get through the day.
• Whether Spider-Man is representative of a start-up entrepreneur.
• The gender inequalities of the 1960s and how Wonder Woman led the way to fight for women’s rights and continued the feminist movement.
• The Dandy and The Beano at the time of World War 2.
• Lou Ferrigno as the Incredible Hulk.
• How Gloria Steinem helped Diana Prince gain back her Wonder Woman powers.
• Black Panther, the Resource Curse, trade and vibranium.
• Captain Marvel.
• Supergirl.
• Wakandanomics by The Economist
• Weird Al Yankovich: Everything You Know Is Wrong

Other Episodes of Interest:

• 116: Brian O’Roark on The Economics of Superheroes and The Hunger Games
• 118: Zachary Feinstein on Systemic Risk and Economics in Star Wars and Harry Potter
• 060: Manu Saadia on Trekonomics – The Economics of Star Trek: Scarcity, Productivity and Public Goods
• 057: Alvin Roth on Match-Making, Repugnant Markets and Market Design
• 054: Christine Exley on the Economics of Volunteering, Market Failure in the Homeless Dog Market and Wagaroo

How to Contact Pat Holt:

• Twitter: @PatNHolt
• Email: ballroomsalsadancer[at]gmail[dot]com

Books:

• Superheroes and Economics: The Shadowy World of Capes, Masks and Invisible Hands by Brian O’Roark (Editor) and Rob Salkowitz (Editor)
• Poor Peter Parker: Spider sense doesn’t apply to making a living by Patrick Holt
• The Hitchhiker Trilogy by Douglas Adams

Patreon

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

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