Leslie is hoping to obtain a piece of land for free so she can turn it into a park. Ron taunts Leslie about her $0 bid for the land because typically people expect money in exchange for goods and services. This can be a good illustration of the medium of exchange function of money, but can also lead to a deeper discussion of externalities.
See more: capitalism, exchange, medium of exchange, money, transactions
The Reasonablists are having an end-of-life party, but haven’t paid for the park reservation fee. The leader offers to pay with a check since he believes they won’t be around the next day to make it worth anything. Ann happily accepts because the group has been wrong for decades before.
See more: expectations, M2, medium of exchange, money, store of value, transactions, unit of account
Ron describes a gentleman’s agreement he made with a man to build a dining table in exchange for a 60 feet of copper pipe and a half pig. The barter system is inefficient because of how hard it is to properly measure the trades.
See more: barter system, gains from trade, medium of exchange, store of value, transactions
The Reasonablists are having their end-of-life party in the local park and Ron sees an opportunity to sell his high quality wooden flutes. Because the party springs up without notice, Ron sees a sudden spike in demand for his flutes. The leader of the Reasonabilists offers Ron a check because they don’t believe it will have any value the next day, but Ron has been selling them flutes for each of their previous going away parties.
See more: demand, demand shifts, elasticity, expectations, inelastic, M2, markets, medium of exchange, money, normal goods, preferences, store of value, transactions, unit of account
Economics of Parks & Recreation 