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Start giftingWhy Superman Doesn't Take Over The World
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Learn moreWhy do heroes fight each other? Why do villains keep trying even though they almost never win? Why don't heroes simply take over the world?
Economics and comic books seem to be a world apart. But in the hands of economics professor and comic hero aficionado J. Brian O'Roark, the two form a powerful alliance. With brilliant deadpan enthusiasm he shows how the travails of superheroes can explain the building blocks of economics, and how the laws of economics explain the mysteries of superhero behavior.
Superman has a day job because of elastic demand; Spiderman's existential doubts are all about opportunity cost; game theory sheds light on the battle between Captain America and Iron Man; the Peltzmann effect makes sense of why heroes can go to the bad; sunk cost fallacy explains The Flash's tragic dilemmas; the utility curve helps us decide who is the greatest superhero of all.
Why Superman Doesn't Take Over The World: What Superheroes Can Tell Us About Economics probes the motivations of our favorite heroes, and considers what it would look like if their stories played out in reality.
J. Brian O'Roark is a University Professor of Economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, and is a coauthor of Essentials of Economics, with Lee Coppock and Dirk Mateer. He is on the board of directors for the Journal of Economics Teaching and serves in the role of associate editor. In 2014, Brian was given the Undergraduate Teaching Innovation Award by the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration and in 2016 he received the President's Award for Outstanding Teaching at RMU.
Mike Chamberlain is an actor and voice-over performer, as well as an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. Along with animation and video game characters, Mike performs narration and voices promos for television. He lives with his wife and daughter in Southern California.