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
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