Vasundhara Thakur

@vthakur3.bsky.social

Doctoral researcher, University of Bielefeld; Junior researcher, @kiel.institute.

I organised a game today, 'Everyday choices', at Oulu's Villa Victor to introduce everyone there to how the economy works. We rewinded to the barter times when we exchanged a good for another one. As a bonus, I also added preference ranking for the endowed goods!

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I asked my students, "How many of you like Bananas?" Every hand went up. I said, "Do you know if Germany doesn't import Bananas, you can't have them? Literally, there would be no Bananas to have since Germany doesn't produce any." Silence. That’s when trade became real.

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Just like a body falling through vacuum reveals how speed relates to time, perfect competition reveals how prices respond to demand and supply. Both are worlds without friction. Both are keys to understanding the world with friction.