Videos · Episode 1 · 12:46

Basic Economics, Tested: 6 Rules That Stop You Getting Fooled

The episode's thumbnail: a model figure beside a tall stack of coins, under the words Basic Economics, Tested Premieres Saturday 31 October 2026

Did 2,000 millionaires really flee Maryland after a tax rise? We checked the state's own numbers. Then we tested six rules of economics against real data, so you can tell a true money claim from a false one.

Six rules, each tested against the numbers, with the case where it breaks: incentives, hidden prices, prices as news, price freezes and rent control, pay and the minimum wage, and trade.

Chapters

  1. Did 2,000 millionaires really leave Maryland?
  2. Rule 1: People follow incentives, not intentions
  3. Rule 2: Everything you buy has two prices
  4. Rule 3: A price isn't just a number, it's news
  5. Rule 4: Freeze a price and the shortage moves
  6. Rule 5: Pay follows the value you add, mostly
  7. Rule 6: Trade makes most people richer, not everyone
  8. Six questions that catch a bad money claim

The six questions

  1. What does the setup reward?
  2. What am I giving up?
  3. What is this price telling me?
  4. If the price can't move, what moves instead?
  5. How big is the change?
  6. Who pays, and who gets left behind?

None of these questions picks a side for you. Sometimes the evidence goes one way, sometimes the other.

Sources

How our videos are made: researched and drafted with AI tools, checked against public sources, and reviewed and approved by a person before publishing. The narration is an AI version of the creator's voice. The miniature scenes are AI-generated.

Education only. Not financial or investment advice. We never tell you what to buy or sell.