‘Swiftonomics’: UofL launches new class using Taylor Swift to teach economics
By Megan Matthews
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — The University of Louisville is inviting all Swifties to a new course, “Swiftonomics,” which uses Taylor Swift’s career to highlight core economic concepts like supply and demand and opportunity cost.
“We certainly have a lot of Swifties and a lot of people who are just interested in Taylor Swift. As you know, she’s had a huge economic impact. She’s an incredible business person. And so we thought, well, let’s try this at UofL,” said Beth Munnich, an associate professor of economics who helped develop the class.
The course is divided into three sections — each named after a Taylor Swift song — and asks students to apply economic thinking to real-world questions fans already debate.
“How do we decide how much we’re going to pay to go to an Eras Tour concert? It depends not only on how much I value something, but how much everybody else wants to go and how much they’re willing to pay,” Munnich said.
Swift’s lyrics also serve as case studies for trade-offs and scarcity.
“We don’t have infinite amounts of time. ‘August, time is slipping away,’ and we make decisions, knowing that we’re making trade-offs about how we spend our time and how we spend our money,” Munnich said.
Open to any enrolled student, the class aims to meet people where their interests already are.
“People are coming in because they have some interest and varying levels of knowledge about Taylor Swift, but they can relate to the ideas and they know the lyrics—but maybe they’ve never thought about that lyric from the song ‘August’ as opportunity cost,” Munnich said.
After a strong first day on Monday, Munnich hopes to expand Swiftonomics into a full-time course offering in the future.
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