Students in Dr. Basu Roy’s Principles of Macroeconomics classes got the opportunity to participate in this year’s Rockonomix national competition.  Rockonomix is a group-based project where students are instructed to write new (economics theme based) lyrics to a popular song and produce their original music video. This pedagogical technique has been used in introductory economics courses by several undergraduate institutions across the nation over the last 4 years. In order to increase student interest and collaboration across institutions an intercollegiate Rockonomix competition is held every fall semester to choose the best overall video.

Here are links to some of the best videos produces this fall in Dr. Basu Roy’s classes:

Opportunity Cost – Aldon since U Been Gone Parody

The video covered the concept of opportunity cost. They described someone choosing one alcoholic beverage over the other and then regretting the decision and wishing they had chosen the other option and the benefits that it came along with.

Thrift shop Macklemore Parody

The video relates to several topics/concepts covered in Principles Macro class like aggregate demand, supply, inflation, social insurance, budget deficit and banking.

Unemployment- That’s How You Know Parody

The video relates to the problem of unemployment and how the labor market works during a recession in the economy.

The students had a fun time doing this project. They were able to better understand some concepts. While writing the lyrics they had to refer to lecture notes so that gave them opportunity for extra review.

Here is the feedback from one group of students; “Not only did we have a lot of fun making the video, it also helped us review the topics we covered in class.  Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”  This goes perfectly with the project because song lyrics can’t be lengthy explanations.  They are simple and to the point.  Writing the lyrics forced us to go back into our notes and make sure we understood everything well before we put into the song.  We also decided not to go into too much depth with any one topic, but rather mention a little bit of multiple topics.  That way we had a basic understanding of mostly everything covered in class.”