Everyday Economics
See the invisible forces guiding daily life. Learn how trade-offs shape choices, how prices coordinate millions of strangers, and why well-meaning plans often backfire.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Economics. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 8 levels across 2 sections, about 16 minutes end to end, roughly 3 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Logic of Everyday Choices and How Markets Coordinate Us. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Economics
- In economics, the real cost of a choice (opportunity cost) is the value of the single best alternative given up
- Cost is not limited to money spent; it includes forgone earnings or missed experiences
- Only the next-best alternative counts as the cost, not the sum of every option you rejected
- Money already spent and unrecoverable is a sunk cost that cannot be changed by future decisions
- Economic decisions should weigh only upcoming costs against upcoming benefits
- Staying in an unprofitable venture just to justify past spending leads to greater total losses
- Economic decisions focus on the margin: comparing the extra cost of one more unit against the extra benefit it brings
- If marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost, producing or consuming that additional unit is worthwhile
- Total or average past numbers do not determine whether the next single step makes sense
- People respond predictably when the costs or benefits of an action change
- Raising penalties or monetary costs (like taxes and parking fees) discourages the penalized behavior
- Subsidies or lowered costs encourage an action, while appeals without payoffs or penalties rarely shift behavior on their own
- A sudden drop in available goods makes buyers compete for less supply, driving prices up
- Higher prices silently signal scarcity to consumers, prompting them to economize without needing a central authority
- Buyers only purchase if the price is below or equal to the maximum value they place on the good
- Producers only sell if the price covers their costs of making and delivering the item
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 Everyday Economics 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.
You spend Saturday helping a friend paint their kitchen for free instead of working a shift that pays $80. What did that afternoon really cost you?
Get it right to open this lesson and 7 more in the app.
How to learn Everyday Economics, step by step
Go in order. 8 short levels across 2 sections, about 16 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Logic of Everyday Choices
- Trade-offs and the Cost of Choosing
- 2
How Markets Coordinate Us
- Prices as Silent Signals
- Unintended Outcomes and the Big Picture
2 sections · 3 units · 8 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Everyday Economics
How do I learn Everyday Economics?
Go in order: start with The Logic of Everyday Choices, then How Markets Coordinate Us. On Tomo that's 8 short levels, about 16 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 Everyday Economics?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Everyday Economics is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Everyday Economics course free?
Yes. Everyday Economics 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 Everyday Economics?
8 levels across 2 sections, about 16 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 Everyday Economics?
No. It's pitched at a beginner 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
Everyday Economics is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. 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.
More Business on Tomo
Economics for the Real World
Understand the hidden forces that shape your choices, the prices you pay, and how the world actually works beyond the headlines.
The Economics of Everyday Choices
Stop looking at economics as a series of graphs and start seeing it as the hidden logic behind every decision you make, from buying coffee to choosing a career.
How the Economy Actually Works
Stop viewing the economy as a confusing machine and start seeing it as the sum of human choices. Learn the hidden logic behind prices, trade, and why the world looks the way it does.
How Money Grows: The Logic of Investing
Transform from a saver into an investor by understanding how capital works. This course covers everything from your first dollar to building a resilient, professional-grade portfolio.
Product Strategy: Deciding What to Build
Stop building random features and start making deliberate product choices. Learn how to define a clear target audience, make tough trade-offs, and build an advantage competitors cannot easily copy.
Classical Liberal Economics
Examine how prices communicate information, why policies trigger unseen secondary effects, and how private property and spontaneous order coordinate complex human societies. Contrast free-market mechanisms with state interventions across trade, money, and regulation.
Start Everyday Economics today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Economics, and play your first lesson in under a minute.