Turner Books

WAR MOVIES AND ECONOMICS

Lessons from Hollywood’s Adaptations of Military Conflict

Turner College professor of Economics Frank Mixon published an edited volume of essays in 2020, titled War Movies and Economics: Lessons from Hollywood’s Adaptations of Military Conflict. Co-edited with Laura Ahlstrom of Oklahoma State University, and published by Routledge, the volume includes eight essays describing the economics principles embedded in the plotlines of famous war movies, such as Dunkirk and The Dirty Dozen.

An essay by Mixon and Rebecca Chambers of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia explains how the core economic concepts of production possibilities, specialization, and division of labor are central themes of the motion picture Memphis Belle, which focuses on the U.S. bombing campaign over Nazi Franklin Mixon Germany during World War II. Another essay, by Mixon and Ahlstrom, discusses the private provision of public goods against the backdrop of the television series Spartacus, which covers the Third Servile War.

Mixon contributed five essays to the volume. In addition to the two mentioned above, these include an essay with Kamal Upadhyaya of the University of New Haven that discusses behavioral economics concepts contained in two World War II movies/min-series – Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. A fourth, co-authored with Carlos Asarta of the University of Delaware, focuses on game theory concepts that saved the life of Marcus Luttrell, one of four U.S. Navy Seals who became surrounded by Taliban forces during a secret mission in Afghanistan. Luttrell’s harrowing story is told in the movie Lone Survivor. Other war movies discussed in the volume include Schindler’s List, Valkyrie, Conspiracy and Stalag 17. In addition to the institutions listed above, contributors to Mixon’s book are affiliated with Boston College, West Virginia University, and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

YouTube Views, Academic Rankings and Economics Textbooks

Research by Turner College Economics professor Frank Mixon was recently highlighted in a Vox.com news video titled The Electoral College Explained. The 8:08 length video was produced by Madeline Marshall, a Vox Video News producer, and was uploaded to YouTube on October 31, 2020, during the run-up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.

Since that date, the video has garnered 6,184,600 YouTube views. In other news, a 2021 article published in The American Economist indicates that Mixon ranks 36th among all economic education scholars worldwide. This ranking is based on publications in the field’s leading journal, the Journal of Economic Education, which launched in 1969.

A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Social Economics indicates that Mixon ranks 20th worldwide in terms of scholarly productivity in the area of social economics. Lastly, Mixon published his first economics textbook, Principles of Microeconomics, in July of 2020. He is currently revising the first edition of that text for subsequent publication, and later this year his second textbook, Economics and Finance for Leaders, will hit the market.