Da Hayek-Keynes Rap, Part II

Back in early 2010, Russ Roberts and producer John Papola introduced to the world of free education a fantastic economics video-clip. The video employed rap music to explain in simple yet profound terms the economics debate that F.A. Hayek and J.M. Keynes started some 80 years ago and its relevance to our days. The video’s 2 million-plus views cried out for a second part. Opportunely, the Roberts-Papola duo has delivered once again with another superb educational video that brings back Hayek and Keynes to shed light on current economics debates. Running at 10 minutes and 10 seconds, it turns downtime into priceless free learning.

The Khan Academy (Or How Free Constant Education is Miraculous)

Once upon a time there were some kids that needed to improve their algebra skills. They asked their cousin, an MIT major in math and computer science, for help. Their cousin, one Salman Khan from New Orleans, decided to post a few videos on youtube explaining algebra’s basics. Mr. Khan’s phenomenal ability to explain and illustrate algebra problems coupled with the right technology turned into what is now the Khan Academy, an amazing resource of over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises covering a wide range of educational subjects from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history. Needless to say, the Khan Academy is completely free. You can see Mr. Khan explaining the beginnings of the academy here. His story is a remarkable indication of how in the 21^st century any person in the world can access a vast wealth of educational resources for free.

Human Capital

Gary Becker, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize in 1992 thanks to his work on human capital. The idea behind the concept of “human capital” is that education and experience are key contributors to economic value. In fact, human capital is increasingly the single most important driver of high growth companies. Luckily, we live in a time when gaining and improving our human capital is extremely easy; Internet serves a daily dose of amazing free knowledge and insights. Perhaps the best example I can provide is that we can watch Gary Becker’s lectures on “human capital” as if we were sitting in a classroom at the University of Chicago. 

What I Call Progress

Hans Rosling, the creator of "Gapminder", has given us another superb stats-based presentation. This time, Mr. Rosling shows us how life expectancy and income per person have improved steadily, albeit unevenly, across the entire world in the last 200 years. The presentation is a wonderful reminder that we, the people of the 21st century, are an extremely lucky lot. What's more, Rosling's presentation is a hopeful stand against gloomy forecasts that see only misery ahead for the human race. Quite the opposite, if the last 200 years of history tell us something is that human ingenuity will give us a bright future.  

The Economist's Global Debt Clock

For those of us that sport a healthy dose of masochism in our everyday life The Economist magazine brings us the Global Debt Clock. The interactive clock is a handy tool to assess your country of residence’s debt levels and its prospects and compare them to other countries. It also lets you know how much public debt per person there is in each country. Of course, this number is just an average but is frightening enough if you live in one of the map’s bright red countries. At any rate, The Global Debt Clock is a debt-free tool that will give you a free lunch before your government forces you to pay back some more public debt.

FiveBooks

This post is a sort of follow up to the previous one. Just like with BigThink, the idea behind FiveBooks is to have experts/specialists talk about (you know it!) books that for whatever reason they think are relevant and worth reading. All the different recommendations are neatly organized in two broad categories, "sections" and "regions" that include nine and ten subjects, respectively. The beauty of FiveBooks is its unique capacity to bring together past and present, using timely book recommendations to shed light on current affairs. Although most of FiveBooks’ content is fairly wonkish, it aims to please a wide range of tastes (“From Einstein to Keynes, Iraq to the Andes, Communism to Empire”).

Big Think

Experts are a bit chastised these days, particularly those in the economics profession. However, who does not want to learn what experts have to say about any subject every now and then? It does not matter whether you want so score points at a cocktail party, impress your boss or simply suffer from a persistent need for knowledge, it is good to have expert advice. Even better, it is great to have free expert advice.  Although I am not an expert on expert advice, I can appreciate sheer magnitude. And loads of expert advice is what Big Think delivers. With justified confidence Big Think pledges to put us, “in contact with the ideas of very smart people.” Big Think has conducted more than 1,000 interviews with experts who have their say on sixteen categories, ranging from “Politics and Policy” to “Love, Sex, and Happiness.” On average, Bit Think’s expert interviews last five minutes, a big plus if you are not ready to put up with lengthy lectures by stuffy intellectuals.

Money @ PBS

Money remains a complex subject, that is the least we can say. After more than 5,000 years of usage, money continues to drive humans crazy. Alas, we are a decade into the 21^st century, and we are still trying to figure out a way to control it, optimize it, manage it, manipulate it, distribute it, you mention it. Paradoxically, we can learn about money’s modern complexity for free. To start understanding why we cannot understand money, the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has made available on-line an informative documentary that tells the history of money. “The Ascent of Money” was written and hosted by renowned Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and consists of four enlightening episodes. Mr. Ferguson’s thick British accent brings further gravity to money’s ascent. Do not waste this opportunity to bring in profitable knowledge.

Books for Free!

Some time ago, former U.S. senator Ted Stevens described Internet as, "a series of tubes." Mr. Stevens' definition illustrates the generational gap between those that see Internet as a static machine and those that see it as a dynamic and open-ended platform. Significantly, for us run-of-the-mill-consumers, Internet is an unlimited source of free stuff. Take for example YalePressWiki, a Wikipedia-style website that offers free scholarly books to everyone willing to experiment the tubes. The site is a platform to read, comment, write summaries, and share links with scores of strangers. It is also a clear sign that the "series of tubes" continue to evolve, leaving behind archaic characterizations.

Intelligence Square

One of the best ways of learning about any topic is to watch a debate. Nothing like a lively debate to grasp counterintuitive arguments, detect flawed ideas, or simply test long-held beliefs. When it comes to debates, the "Oxford" style offers the most fulfilling experience. These debates consist of one side proposing a claim and the other side opposing it, usually through straight-forward argumentation. In addition, the debates include an audience and a moderator that provide pre and post debate judgments. You can see excellent Oxford-style debates for free thanks to Intelligence Square, a multimedia forum that seeks to “raise the level of public discourse on our most challenging issues.” Intelligence Square’s debates are unique in the sense that they include more than one guest on each opposing side. Moreover, typically Intelligence Square’s guests are not only experts on the day’s topic but also engaging provocative debaters. You can start experiencing Intelligence Square by watching the health care, financial crisis, and foreign policy debates.

Da Hayek-Keynes Rap

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has said that we are witnessing a “dark age” of macroeconomics. His point is that in the last 70 years there has been a lack of new knowledge and insights in the field. In other words, since the methodological debates between economists John Maynard Keynes and Friederich Hayek in the 1930s and 1940s nobody has really advanced what economists knew back then. Gratefully, economist Russ Roberts and producer John Papola got together to create one of the best educative video-clips on economics ever. Using a rap song and professional acting, the authors brilliantly illustrate the Hayek-Keynes debate. The clip’s seven minutes and 32 seconds are jam-packed with both general knowledge and subtle lessons.

Keynes and the crisis

If anything, an economic crisis is a learning experience. Not only do we learn about the things we did wrong but also we have a strong incentive to learn about past crises. If you study economic crises, you will not go far without learning about Lord Maynard Keynes, the British economist that revolutionized the way we approach and try to solve economic problems. Thanks to PBS we can learn about Keynes and his ideas from an informative dialog between one of his biographers, Robert Skidelsky, and Russ Roberts. If the conversation does not illuminate your knowledge of Keynes' economic ideas it will at least teach you that “ropey” is a British informal word for “unsound”.

Megan McArdle

I mentioned Megan McArdle when I recommended a bloggingheads episode. Remarkably, her blog "Asymmetrical Information" at The Atlantic magazine's website is a constant source of powerful insights. She is at her best when pundits make silly assumptions, flawed arguments, or forget about Econ 101 principles. Her arguments are sharp and ruthless, leaving her opponents usually like a spanked child. See examples here, here, and here. She is also helpful when shedding light on the cost of policies such as health care reform. Last but not least, she is a superb writer who can explain complex arguments with clear grammar and logical arguments, though sometimes she employs an unnecessary number of words to make a point.

History of Economic Thought Quiz

The economic science available in textbooks can be pretty dull. In the last fifty years, math has become a core component of modern economics, turning centuries-old concepts into mere excuses for mathematical formulas and models. In fact, a popular t-shirt's message among modern economists reads, "economists like to do it with models." However, economics can be fun and interesting if placed in the context of human stories and real-life experiences. Indeed, economist John Maynard Keynes once said, "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." Two great books that present economic ideas by narrating the lives of famous defunct economists are "The Worldly Philosophers" and "The Making of Modern Economics." However, you can read about prominent economists' lives for free on-line. Just ask Google or Wikipedia. Moreover, after you read everything you want to know about Adam Smith, John M. Keynes or Joseph Schumpeter, you can test your freely-obtained knowledge with this quick quiz.

The Developing Development Dogma

Since the Industrial Revolution emerged in the 1800s, human beings have become steadily prosperous. However, not every human being in the world enjoys the same level of prosperity. Furthermore, millions remain living in conditions resembling that of most humanity circa 1800. In turn, for the past 50 years particularly, social scientists have looked for and tested a wide array of theories aimed at ending poverty. All these ideas became part of a new multidisciplinary discipline called “development.” Thanks to developed countries’ tax money together with charitable organizations and philanthropists from all over the world, billions have poured into developing countries. However, the results have been rather poor. For one, poverty still remains a modern calamity in many countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. What is to be done? The answer to this question is the beginning of one of today’s most exciting intellectual pursuits. Although nobody has a definitive answer, there are many good ideas and successful experiences. The challenge is to apply them in a way that has lasting effects and does not make things worse for those that they intend to help. Auspiciously, Internet gives free access to all the development ideas, debates, projects, and trends necessary to make us all a potential Nobel Prize winner. A small sample of development’s great resources available on-line include William Easterly’s blog, Dani Rodrik’s blog, the World Bank’s website, the Center for International Private Enterprise development blog*, and the Center for Global Development’s website. Also, check out this Cato Unbound debate on “foreign aid” and this Boston Review forum on development.

* Full disclosure: I am used to be a contributor to CIPE’s blog.

The Economics Nobel Prize Winners Are Now Available for Free

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recently awarded a new Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (in plain English, that is the Nobel Prize in Economics). One of the two winners, Elinor Ostrom, is the first woman ever to win the prize. But that is not the most amazing fact; what is really incredible is that anyone can now know [tricky alliteration] about the winners, their life, their accomplishments, and why they matter. There was a time when only few would learn about laureates in economics sciences and then it would be many years after they won the prize, probably in a dusty academic book or through an old professor. Let us all be grateful that today we can know the winners instantly and, more importantly, we can learn about them and their work effortlessly and for free. For instance, consider Ms. Ostrom. She has helped set up a free enormous data base called “Digital Library Of The Commons Repository” that lists all the research that she and her colleagues have done and that earned her the prize. In addition, you can watch her explain her research and why it matters. Also, the Nobel Prize website is superb; it lists all the previous winners, explains their accomplishments, features video interviews, and lets you access winners’ acceptance speeches and other important documents. If you are into trivia, there is data on the oldest and youngest winners. Gå lära sig!   

Causes of the Crisis

That is the name of a new blog that, well, offers top-notch current economics knowledge for free. The blog is the result of a special issue on the economic crisis by the magazine/journal Critical Review. These economists offer enough material to write a couple of books while, at the same time, venting about their current existential crisis. Highly free recommended read, indeed.

Create Your Own Learning Experience

I recently finished reading Tyler Cowen's new book “Create your Own Economy.” The book explores many of the issues covered in this blog. It’s very constanteducationish. Actually, the book’s title can be misleading. It doesn’t refer to the creation of an economy as in “develop a new business” but to our modern capacity to build our own stories from different bits and sources. The author marvels at the mind-boggling amount of information available on Internet by way of studying autistics’ particular cognitive profiles. Cowen informs us that autistic people are extremely good at gathering and organizing information. Because Internet's demands so much from our capacity to gather information, we non-autistics should appreciate and learn from autistics’ cognitive strengths. Moreover, Cowen asserts that society’s neuro-diversity is an asset, not a disability. Certainly, we all have become more efficient at information collection and processing; we classify information faster and more coherently than any time in the history of human beings. In addition, our “daily self-assembly of synthetic experiences” creates a unique cultural stream that enriches our internal mental existence. Consider Constant Education as a partial description of your humble blogger’s internal cultural stream. In the end, Cowen recommends that we cherish the tools available on-line because they will make us both smarter and happier. Amen.

Will Wilkinson

In a previous post on bloggingheads, I mentioned Will Wilkinson. His blog deserves a special recommendation because it is a great free source of everyday knowledge thanks to his admirable ability to make logical well-reasoned arguments. He is superb at bringing together economics and political philosophy analytical tools to make sense of the U.S. policy-making process. For example, check out his unique take on macroeconomics and its impact here, here, and here. He is also extremely insightful on inequality.

Bloggingheads TV

A great benefit of Internet is that it gives everyone access to bright minds. Not only most newspapers, magazines, and academic websites are totally free but extremely smart people have set up high-quality blogs. These blogs are excellent on their own but they also provide links to other equally high-quality blogs. Moreover, Internet's low marginal costs allow creative people to utilize scattered resources, developing innovative experiments. One such an experiment is Bloggingheads, a website that brings together policy wonks of all stripes that share only one thing: they all have a blog. In Bloggingheads case, the innovative individuals were journalists Robert Wright and Mickey Kaus, who in 2005 figured out a way to turn “two not-very-telegenic people into video pundits.” The format is simple, consisting of two bloggers discussing relevant issues on split-screen streaming videos. The result is usually good. Notably, they break up the hour-long debates into shorter segments with a witty descriptive title so you don’t have to watch the whole thing. Also, each debate features relevant links on the side if you want to learn more or follow up the conversation. One of my favorite blogginheads debates is this one between economist Dean Baker and economic journalist Megan McArdle. Their exchange on the "New Deal" (in the video’s second half) is powerful and illuminating. Another great debate is this one between philosopher Peter Singer and economist Tyler Cowen, particularly the segment “Advise for a young utilitarian” in which Cowen shatters Singer’s philosophy. Also, highly recommended are Will Wilkinson's "Free Will" series.