 Aw, seriously, 1500? Uh, I mean, would you accept this shiny piece of candy instead? Ugh, kid knows how to break the system. Well, looks like we're all bankrupt. So one person ends up with everything and the rest of us starve? I would say that's a pretty good lesson in economics. Except it's actually a really bad lesson. Huh? What? I'll admit it, this game's a lot of fun. But it's not as instructive a teaching tool for learning about a market economy as some people think. It's fundamental flaw is that it's molded around the fixed pie fallacy of economics. Really? We're debunking board games now? I wish this was just about board games, but unfortunately the fixed pie fallacy extends far beyond your tabletop pastimes. The misguided view that wealth exists as a quantifiable and fixed figure is all too pervasive. But wealth isn't simply something static, which is eventually divided up among us, it's something we're constantly creating more of. If you were to look back to the products and services popular even just 50 years ago, it would be immediately obvious how much new wealth is created for everyone over time. But whereas the fixed pie view would suggest everyone but a select few should be bankrupt, the reality is everyone has become exponentially more wealthy. In fact, according to Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute, between 1979 and 2010 the income of those in the bottom one-fifth has grown by 50%. Yet, because of the pervasive fixed pie fallacy and other economic myths, nearly three-fourths of Americans believe the opposite is true. They believe the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. But according to the data, everyone is getting richer. I think I get it. If you believe there's only a fixed amount of wealth and that no new wealth can be created, well, then every time someone gets rich, you'd have to assume that that wealth was taken from someone else. Bingo! The argument is frequently made that the particularly wealthy only have what they have because they've taken from others, and that it's the government's job to stop people from amassing too much wealth to prevent this from happening. But when that happens, what's often actually being prevented is the creation of new wealth. And so everyone suffers. Suffers as badly as a person who just got beat at a board game by a baby? Oh, look who has all the money. It was sweet of you guys to let him win. Totally. Let him win. Yeah, I'm a nice guy. I have a generous soul. Hey, folks, thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed this, please check out fee.org for more educational content. Thank you.