« Department of hmm.... | Main | Prediction markets at Google »
Museo Interactivo de Economia
Located at Tacuba 17 in Mexico City, here is their website. The building is splendid, the exhibits are insipid. There is lots on how money is coined (the museum is an initiative of the Bank of Mexico), the circular flow of economic activity, gdp, and social indicators. There are many buttons to press, although to what end is not clear. Opportunity cost gets one computer display and division of labor is mentioned. Taxonomy and description are favored above all. Overhead videos hang from the ceiling and a pulley system drags plastic copies of Mexican products through the room above your head.
Occasionally there is a propagandistic tinge: "Of all the services our government doles out to you, which do you value the most?"
The shop sells lovely 19th century ex votos for excellent prices.
The interesting question is what museums can teach well. Paintings and sculptures, for sure, and perhaps history. But can museums teach abstract concepts, modes of reasoning, and ways of thinking? Here is a science, economics, and technology museum in Milwaukee, is it any good?
At the Museo the bathrooms are clean, lavish, and architecturally superb, the nicest I have seen in downtown Mexico City.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on January 7, 2008 at 07:19 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
Re: Discovery World, they have a nice little aquarium, but overall I don't think it is as nice as say the Museum of Science in Boston. I had no idea they were supposed to be about economics. The best permanent exhibit would have to be the view of the Milwaukee Museum of Art Calatrava Building, and that is no small thing.
Posted by: tof at Jan 7, 2008 9:19:11 AM
It sounds like they did a good job of teaching public choice, even if they didn't intend to.
Posted by: Daniel Lurker at Jan 7, 2008 10:11:48 AM
I once went to the Yubari Robot Museum. As best I could tell, its inspiration was derived mainly from Johnny 5.
Posted by: alexa blue at Jan 7, 2008 10:37:42 AM
Tyler, did you catch the torture exhibit next door at the Palacio de Minerías? I went last week. Although the exhibit was historical, the accompanying text frequently admonished us to remember that torture continues around the world today. Conspicuously absent was the Mexican practice of forcing carbonated bottled water (brand Tehuacán) up the nose.
Posted by: Mexico Lover at Jan 7, 2008 11:10:26 AM
Tyler, did you visit the market simulator exhibit in the museum? It is a market simulation where a group of students (20-30) get to virtually trade goods and services using PDAs. Half of the visitors are "buyers" and half "sellers". The current "price" of every good is graphed in real time on computer displays. At the end of a round the trend in prices is graphed, and it intended to serve as a demonstration of supply and demand.
Posted by: Linkt at Jan 7, 2008 11:28:52 AM
The museum at the Philadelphia branch of the Fed is excellent. It manages to explain basic macro, macro/banking in U.S. history, and a bit of world macro while avoiding dominance of "taxonomy and description."
Posted by: Sean at Jan 7, 2008 1:16:43 PM
The Museum of Science in Boston has an exhibit on Mathematics that is very good at conveying abstract concepts. (It is a copy of one no longer appearing at the California Science Center in LA. Another copy is being restored in Atlanta's Science and Technology Museum.)
Posted by: John Kunze at Jan 7, 2008 3:06:24 PM
There's a (very good) little antiquities museum in Puebla that has some serious historical materialism going on its captions.
Posted by: Colin Danby at Jan 7, 2008 9:57:48 PM
Hello from Milwaukee!! The link in your article gives viewers an obsolete street address for the Discovery World museum in Milwaukee. Discover World now has a breath-taking lakefront site near the world-famous Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum. It has been fabulously successful and is the generous gift from local-boy-made-good Michael Cudahy, a true genius. Come visit Milwaukee!! You will love it.
Posted by: Stephen Thiel at Jan 8, 2008 7:48:49 AM
The Exploratorium in San Francisco is one of the best places to learn about science, with many hands-on exhibits.
Posted by: David Zetland at Jan 8, 2008 4:36:06 PM
You can buy or gain these which my company provides very cheap ragnarok zeny for you.
Posted by: ragnarok zeny at Jan 1, 2009 10:27:47 PM
EVE ISK
EVE Online ISK
Buy EVE ISK
Cheap EVE Online ISK
Posted by: aion kina at Mar 18, 2009 1:54:16 AM
thaks for the information
Posted by: batter at May 14, 2009 4:54:45 AM
It is enlightening!
Posted by: sophia at May 14, 2009 4:55:30 AM
Is it realistic?
Posted by: nacy at May 14, 2009 4:56:25 AM
