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Why Superman Doesn't Take Over The World

Clay Enos
/
Warner Bros and DC Comics

The superhero universe may be a fantasy (sorry, superfans), but that doesn't mean superheroes are free from the laws of economics. Quite the reverse, in fact: superheroes are subject to the dismal science, just like the rest of us. That's how Brian O'Roark sees it, anyhow. He's an economics professor at Robert Morris University and author of "Why Superman Doesn't Take Over The World." He uses superheroes in his econ classes, to show how economic concepts work - and sometimes don't work - and how everyone, even those of us who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, is governed by economic law.

Music: "Wonder Woman" and "The New Adventures of Superman."

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Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.
Paddy Hirsch
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