Inflation and Bubbles and Tulips: Crash Course Economics #7

In which Adriene and Jacob teach you about how and why prices rise. Sometimes prices rise as a result of inflation, which is a pretty normal thing for economies to do. We’ll talk about how across the board prices rise over time, and how economists track inflation. Bubbles are a pretty normal thing for humans to do. One item, like tulips or beanie babies or houses or tech startups experience a rapid rise in prices. This is often accompanied by speculation, a bunch of outrageous profits, and then a nasty crash when the bubble bursts. People get excited about rising prices, and next thing you know, people are trading their life savings for a tulip bulb. Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at Thanks to the following Patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever: Mark , Elliot Beter, Moritz Schmidt, Jeffrey Thompson, Ian Dundore, Jacob Ash, Jessica Wode, Today I Found Out, Christy Huddleston, James Craver, Chris Peters, SR Foxley, Steve Marshall, Simun Niclasen, Eric Kitchen, Robert Kunz, Avi Yashchin, Jason A Saslow, Jan Schmid, Daniel Baulig, Christian , Anna-Ester Volozh -- Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - Twitter - Tumblr - Support Crash Course on Patreon: CC Kids: