The Protector is a Turkish fantasy TV show that premiered in 2016. The action of the show mostly takes place in contemporary Istanbul, the largest Turkish city. In The Protector’s universe, the city of Istanbul is constantly under threat of immortals who want to destroy the city and its inhabitants. The Protector’s mission is to protect Istanbul and its people. A secret society helps the protector: the ‘Loyals’ aim to perpetuate the legacy and the knowledge the protector needs to defeat the immortals.
Clip #1
- Clip URL: https://criticalcommons.org/view?m=waZDWN78z
- Concepts: Factors of production, entrepreneurship, tradeoff
- Background: At the beginning of the series, Hakan and his friend Memo want to open their own antique shop in Istanbul from scratch.
- Question: Which steps will Hakan and Memo follow to open their antique shop?
Clip #2
- Clip URL: https://criticalcommons.org/view?m=tnW1NWx2k
- Concepts: Debt financing, equity financing, bond, stock, human capital
- Background: Starting a company is costly. Both Hakan and Memo are poor in the series and do not have the necessary funding to create their company. To find the money, Hakan tries to get a well-paid job at a large firm.
- Question 1: What are Hakan and Memo’s financing options to make the initial investment?
- Question 2: What would Hakan need to increase his chances of getting such a job?
Clip #3
- Clip URL: https://criticalcommons.org/view?m=jAGHyrI7O
- Concepts: Nominal exchange rate
- Background: If Hakan opens his antique store with Memo, he will mostly do business with foreigners. Doing business with foreigners requires understanding how exchange rates work. In this clip, we can see the price of some Turkish sandwiches (Tost) on a price board. Some of them cost 7 Turkish Liras.
- Question (Let’s use data): Compute the price in US dollars of a sandwich costing 7 Turkish Liras, using the currency exchange rate.
Clip #4
- Clip URL: https://criticalcommons.org/view?m=flTEp4deg
- Concepts: Tradeoff, opportunity cost.
- Background: In this clip, Zeynep is offered her dream job in London. However, she is also a member of the loyals, the secret society that devotes their lives to help the protector. She finally decides to decline the job offer in London to stay and help the protector in his duties.
- Question: Using economics concepts, explain why Zeynep declined the job offer in London.