That $160 HP printer? HP would rather rent it to you for $8 a month, but after a two-year subscription you will have spent $192, paid 20% more than buying it outright, and still won't own the printer. How did "ownership" become a luxury?

In Business Insider’s Why Owning Nothing is So Expensive activity, students explore how a payment model that started with newspapers and HBO has spread to printers, mattresses, gaming PCs, and even features inside cars they "buy."

In this activity, students will:

• watch a video from Business Insider's So Expensive series
• identify the specific factors of production that impact a product or service's price
• answer a few thought-provoking questions

Note:

• Around 5:50 there is some mild swearing
• Between 10:58-13:35, the video touches on FTC rule making under the Biden and Trump administrations. Preview before showing if that is a sensitive topic in your classroom.

Learn More

• How to implement the So Expensive activities with your students
• Looking for more ways to introduce economics into your personal finance classroom? Check out NGPF's Econ Collection!

Use this resource with NGPF’s lesson, Online Shopping Pitfalls, found in the Full-Year Course. Explore the Consumer Skills Unit for more resources!

About the Author

Sonia Dalal

Sonia has always been passionate about instruction and improving students' learning experiences. She's come a long way since her days as a first grader, when she would "teach" music and read to her very attentive stuffed animals after school. Since then, she has taught students as a K-12 tutor, worked in several EdTech startups in the Bay Area, and completed her Ed.M in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is passionate about bringing the high quality personal finance content and instruction she wished she'd received in school to the next generation of students and educators. When she isn't crafting lesson guides or working with teachers, Sonia loves to spend her time singing, being outdoors, and adventuring with family and friends!

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