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About the Course

Course Information
Course Title Ideas in Economics (Doing Economics)
Course Code ECON123
Credits 2
Level 100
L + T + P 2 + 0 + 0
Prerequisites None

Instructor

Ravikiran Naik Assistant Professor, FLAME University

Course Description

Economics is a way of understanding the world. This course uses films as a gateway to introduce fundamental economic concepts. Through movie analysis and Nobel Prize-winning research, students explore market behavior, incentives, labor dynamics, development, and policy. The course also serves as a foundation for further study in microeconomics and macroeconomics.

No prior knowledge of economics is required. By engaging with stories told on screen and the ideas of some of the greatest economic thinkers, students develop an intuition for how economic reasoning applies to everyday life, public policy, and the Indian economy.

Course Objectives

  1. Introduce core economic concepts through accessible, real-world narratives drawn from cinema, enabling students to connect abstract ideas to concrete situations.
  2. Develop economic reasoning skills by analyzing trade-offs, incentives, market behavior, and strategic interactions as depicted in feature films.
  3. Expose students to landmark economic research by pairing each module with the work of a Nobel Prize-winning economist, grounding film-based discussions in rigorous scholarship.
  4. Apply economic thinking to the Indian context, helping students understand how concepts like informality, public goods, labor markets, and development policy operate in India's economic landscape.

About This Site

This website is an interactive companion to the Ideas in Economics course at FLAME University. Built with MkDocs Material, it provides:

  • Six learning modules, each anchored on a film and a Nobel laureate, with concept explanations, film analysis guides, and self-assessment quizzes.
  • Indian Context essays connecting economic ideas to India's economy and policy.
  • 30+ interactive simulations drawn from Dan McCreary's open-source Introduction to Economics textbook, allowing students to experiment with economic models directly in the browser.
  • Economist Stories --- biographical narratives of influential economists from diverse traditions and backgrounds.
  • A searchable glossary of 120+ economic terms with definitions and examples.

The site is designed to be used alongside classroom instruction and can also serve as a standalone self-study resource. Use the search bar, navigation tabs, and sidebar to move between sections. Dark mode is available via the toggle in the header.