Often, when we think about economics (and I know this was the case for me), money is the first thing that comes to mind. Unfortunately, that perspective keeps us from perceiving economics as a way of making decisions. When we learn to expand our concept of economics to that definition, it's not difficult to find especially its most simple concepts in the most unexpected places.
Like in the movie My Fair Lady.
In My Fair Lady, an impoverished girl named Eliza who sells flowers on the street corner for a living is brought in by phonetics professor Henry Higgins under the auspices of a bet he takes up from his friend Colonel Pickering; Higgins fancies himself such an accomplished teacher that he bets that he can train Eliza to the point where she's mistaken for a duchess at a royal ball.
While economics might seem absent from the film (except for maybe the commentary on class divisions), economics’ most basic principles (opportunity cost, trade-offs, and incentives) can be found within it.
Firstly, the most significant example of opportunity cost in the film begins with Higgins’ bet. His specific opportunity cost in taking up the bet turns out to be the sleep, rest, and much-valued alone time he could have gotten without training Eliza, as he must take her through intense, almost 24/7 training to fix her broken, improper way of speaking. However, he has a great incentive to deal with that opportunity cost; Pickering is willing to pay for all the lessons and resources Eliza needs for her training (which means decreased monetary cost and increased personal benefit for Higgins), and Higgins has his pride to defend (of which he has plenty). Lastly, there are several trade-offs present in the movie, namely Eliza having to give up the independence she enjoyed before taking Higgins’ training in favor of bettering herself, Higgins giving up his time to train Eliza, and even Colonel Pickering giving up some of his time and money to oversee his and Higgins’ bet.
With all that being said, economics can truly be found anywhere and everywhere, even in a musical from 1964.
One of my favorite musicals based on the book by Shaw called Pygmalion and if you know that story some of the finer points make more sense but yes the incentives are strong but they are not monetary, the best between them is for a trivial sum, it is all about ego and accomplishment not winning the money which was just a pretense.