Dystopia and Economics: A Guide to Surviving Everything from the Apocalypse to Zombies
by Charity-Joy Revere Acchiardo (Editor), Michelle Albert Vachris (Editor)

About the Author
Charity-Joy Revere Acchiardo is a Lecturer of Economics at the University of Arizona. She is a frequent speaker at teaching workshops across North America and Europe where she shares tips for making economics come alive for students. Her research has been published in leading economic education journals and she serves on the advisory board for the Journal of Economics Teaching.
Michelle Albert Vachris is Professor of Management, Business, and Economics at Virginia Wesleyan University. Before arriving at VWU she taught economics at Christopher Newport University where she holds the rank of Professor Emerita and worked as an econo-mist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Her publications include articles and book chapters on Public Choice economics, teaching pedagogy and economics in literature.

About this book
Government collapsing? Zombies hunting you down? Everyone you know killed by a global epidemic? Not to worry! Economics holds the keys to survival. Often known as "the dismal science", it is particularly equipped to reveal order in what seems like chaos.
Econo-mists observe human behaviour: what leads us to take action, and the subsequent consequences. However, the choices made by individuals are not made in isolation; they influence and are influenced by the actions of others. A set of rules, even if unwritten, guides human behaviour. Foundational economic principles stand firmly in place, even when society is breaking down, and an understanding of these basic tenets of societies is essential to surviving the end of the world as we know it.
In this book, the authors draw from popular culture to show economic principles at work in the dystopian societies depicted in The Walking Dead, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hunger Games, Divergent, A Clockwork Orange, and Last Man on Earth. In each society, its members face resource and social constraints that incentivize particular behaviours and lead to predictable outcomes. How does human behaviour change when resources are severely limited, the legal system breaks down, or individual freedom is stifled? The examples presented here shed an eerie light on the principles that guide our actions every day.
Dystopia and Economics: A Guide to Surviving Everything from the Apocalypse to Zombies provides a user-friendly introduction to economics suitable for a general audience as well as devoted students of the discipline.

Brief contents
1. The walking econ: learning economics from The Walking Dead
    A post-apocalyptic scene
    Wake up, Deputy Sheriff! Law and order are gone
    Should I stay or should I go? Opportunity costs considered
    Should we flee or should we fight?
    You’re not alone: cooperate or clash?
    Lead, hunt, or nurture? Discovering the power of comparative advantage
    Pizza or penicillin?
    The walking econ (reprise)
    Note
    Reference
2. Never a lovely day: the wretched economics of Mad Max: Fury Road
    Limited resources
    Production
    Trade
    Command versus market economies
    Macro Max
    Conclusion
    Notes
    References
3. The odds are never in your favor: preventing economic growth in The Hunger Games
    The premise
    The hunger economy
    Micro and macro
    Free market and command economies
    Economic systems – Panem style
    The macro games
    The wealth of Panem (or lack thereof)
    Capital in the Capitol
    The rules of the (hunger) game
    Peculiar preferences
    Conclusion
    Notes
    References
4. The Divergent economics of factions and governing
    The divergent version of “politics without romance”
    Self-interest and political instability
    Factions, coalitions, and clubs
    Conclusion
    Notes
    References
5. Choice, liberty and repression in A Clockwork Orange
    Constructing A Clockwork Orange
    What’s it going to be then, eh?
    A noble pursuit or an inhumane tradeoff?
    Conclusion
    Notes
    References
6. Last man rules!
    Without you, I’m nothing
    With you, I’m something
    But how will we get along?
    Together, we’re everything
    A framework fit for the last humans on earth
    Organization
    Monitoring
    Sanctioning
    Living together
    Note
    References
Index

Series: Routledge Economics and Popular Culture Series
Pages: 100
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (March 19, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1138051357
ISBN-13: 978-1138051355