Last week TED-Ed published a new video lesson titled Why Can’t Governments Print an Unlimited Amount of Money? The purpose of the video is to explain how governments, particularly the United States federal government, were able to spend trillions of dollars on COVID-19 economic relief programs in the last year. The video explains the role of central banks in controlling the money supply and the concepts of inflation and quantitative easing. There is also an explanation of government bonds, why they’re sold, and who buys them. Overall, it’s a solid video for middle school or high school students.
Why Can’t Governments Print and Unlimited Amount of Money? is the latest of many videos about money and economics that TED-Ed has published over the years. A couple that dovetail with the latest video include What Gives a Dollar Bill Its Value?, What Causes Economic Bubbles?, and What Causes an Economic Recession?
Applications for Education
Before showing either Why Can’t Governments Print an Unlimited Amount of Money? or What Gives a Dollar Bill Its Value? I’d ask students to think about some products they purchase and what contributes to the price and or price increases of those products.
All of the videos are suitable as introductions to larger lessons. To that end, I may have students watch the videos in EDpuzzle where they can answer some questions about the videos as an assignment.
Here’s an overview of how to create an assignment in EDpuzzle.