As you dip your pita bread in hummus, did it ever occur to you that someone had to climb a 100-foot-tall tree to make that happen?

It would be pretty reasonable to assume that most jobs that involve harvesting use machines to make workers' lives easier. But that's not the case for pine nuts--a sought-after seed used in popular foods like pesto and hummus. An insurance underwriter's nightmare, these seeds are collected almost entirely by hand...only after they're knocked down from trees at enormous heights. What does this mean for prices we pay for products that use them? Discuss this with your students in NGPF's activity series based on Business Insider's web series: So Expensive and other videos. 

Students will watch a video about a specific product or service, identify the specific factors of production that impact its price, and dig deeper by answering a few thought-provoking questions.

So Expensive: Pine Nuts

• So Expensive - Pine Nuts (Nearpod)
• So Expensive - Pine Nuts (No-Tech)

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View answers to frequently asked questions about how to implement the So Expensive series activities with your students.

 
We hope this activity will help you provide your students with engaging topics to help sharpen personal finance and economics skills.

Have questions or comments? Reach out to ryan@ngpf.org

Looking for more ways to introduce economics into your personal finance classroom? Check out NGPF’s Econ Collection!

About the Author

Ryan Wood

Ryan grew up with and maintains a love for learning. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a degree in Business Administration and worked in sports marketing for a number of years. After living in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Minnesota, the call of education eventually brought Ryan back to his home state of Wisconsin where he was a Business and Marketing teacher for three years. In his free time he likes to spend time with his wife and daughter, play basketball, read, and go fishing. Now with NGPF, Ryan is excited to help teachers lead the most important course their students will ever take.

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