Economic theory and babysitting co-ops

For your inner-geeky-economist's reading pleasure.... A snippet:

The co-op is well known due to its use as an allegory for a demand-oriented model for an economy. The allegory illustrates several economic concepts, including the paradox of thrift and the importance of the money supply to an economy's well being.
Former members Joan Sweeney and Richard James Sweeney first presented the co-op in a 1977 article, (Sweeney & Sweeney 1977), but it was little-known until popularized by Paul Krugman in his book Peddling Prosperity, (Krugman 1994), and further popularized in his subsequent writings such as the article (Krugman 1998). He describes it as "a favorite parable"^[1] and "life-changing",^[2] and has revisited it many times; see Krugman references below. The allegory has received continuing attention, particularly in the wake of the late-2000s recession.