The Economic Way of Thinking
Move beyond basic supply and demand to understand the hidden forces shaping your choices, the global market, and the logic of human behavior.
Like Duolingo, but for The Economic Way of Thinking. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
26 levels across 4 sections, about 52 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Logic of Choice, How Markets Breathe, The Machinery of Nations, and The Limits of Markets. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Economic Way of Thinking
- Marginal cost is the additional expense of producing one more unit or hour
- Sunk costs are past outlays that cannot be recovered by any current choice
- Marginal revenue is the specific income gained from that final increment
- Efficient decisions focus only on future costs and future benefits
- Rational actors proceed only if marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost
- The 'sunk cost fallacy' leads to throwing good money after bad
- Applying marginal analysis to business production decisions
- Identifying and ignoring sunk costs in future-facing decisions
- Scarcity forces a tradeoff where choosing one path excludes another
- Opportunity cost is the value of the single best alternative foregone
- Cost is not just money spent, but the utility of the next best option
- Marginal utility is the satisfaction gained from one additional unit
- The progression of diminishing marginal utility
- Comparative advantage is based on relative efficiency, not raw speed
- Calculating opportunity cost in a resource-constrained scenario
- Mutually beneficial trade occurs even if one party is 'better' at everything
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Economic Way of Thinking the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Imagine you run a late-night bakery. If you decide to stay open for just one more hour, what term describes the extra electricity and wages you'll pay for that specific hour?
Get it right to open this lesson and 25 more in the app.
How to learn The Economic Way of Thinking, step by step
Go in order. 26 short levels across 4 sections, about 52 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Logic of Choice
- Thinking at the Margin
- Incentives and Their Consequences
- 2
How Markets Breathe
- The Power of Information
- Strategic Interactions
- 3
The Machinery of Nations
- Money, Interest, and Central Banks
- Fiscal Policy and Growth
- 4
The Limits of Markets
- Market Failures and Externalities
- The Human Element
4 sections · 8 units · 26 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about The Economic Way of Thinking
How do I learn The Economic Way of Thinking?
Go in order: start with The Logic of Choice, then How Markets Breathe, then The Machinery of Nations, then The Limits of Markets. On Tomo that's 26 short levels, about 52 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for The Economic Way of Thinking?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. The Economic Way of Thinking is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is The Economic Way of Thinking free?
Yes. The Economic Way of Thinking is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn The Economic Way of Thinking?
26 levels across 4 sections, about 52 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start The Economic Way of Thinking?
No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
The Economic Way of Thinking is taught in the Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start The Economic Way of Thinking today.
Download Tomo, search The Economic Way of Thinking, and play your first lesson in under a minute.