Posts Tagged Video
Keynes vs. Hayek: round 2 “Fight of the Century”
Another brilliant EconTv video from Keynes and Hayek. This time, the stage is as a Congress House Committee to analyse whether or not the US stimulus package was a good thing after all. Predictably, Keynes argues on the basis of ‘managing’ volatile markets with low information, whilst Hayek argues for more humility, saying that the economic system is complex, and so far better to let individual economic agents decide where, when and how to spend, rather than ‘the few’ in the government to do this job. Fascinating stuff:
More BOOM and Bust!
Well, given recent events in global markets, it’s about time that the coolest, hippest rappers of modern economics put their pens back to the page and fired up the beat-box! If you haven’t seen the first installment of Boom and Bust then watch that first. … It will make this update all the more fascinating. … Though, as my good friend and co-author, Dr Ben Waterhouse aptly says, you can’t get much better than the line in the first rap where they manages to rap “invective” and “Austrian perspective”!
Putting the BOOM back into Economics
OK, I know, at times Economics and Economists get some bad press about their image, their character, their long explanations, their poor predictions .. their long sentences … ahem… But one thing that is not disputed is that the world still puts a lot of store in their advice. And particularly so when it comes to very big economic fluctuations. You will no doubt have seen claim and counter-claim on the benefits and costs of following this policy or that when it comes to ‘fixing’ the world economy after the latest recession.
Two names loom large in that debate: Hayek and Keynes. And now, thanks to the superb script and deft direction of the folks over at Econ Stories, Economics eduction now, literally, raps it to the masses. Watch and learn, folks. Watch and learn …
Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip
Posted by sangus in Sustainability on 8 May, 2009
Or .. `How to present non-linear dynamics to a Linear Generation’
Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.
I’m a big supporter of attempts to bring complex issues to the public in a digestable format, and for this Murray has done a superb work of good here. However, I’m also keen to bring some of the emmotion out of climate change and bring real economic solutions to the table, rather than (say) public disobedience (as it seems Murray would have us undertake from this clip).
The problem of Climate Change is Economic in nature: to quote Nicholas Stern, author of the vital ‘Stern Review’ for the UK, climate change is the biggest example of market failure the world has ever seen. I don’t disagree, and thus, surely it is up to us Economists to provide an answer. Here’s where climate change policy is so important. Murray rightly shows that there are some ‘vested interests’ who may not wish to change the direction of their very large corporate ships, but the reality is, this is not a long-term strategy and they know it. Indeed, many of the large miners (for example) have been thinking about a low-intensity climate future for some time. We, the people, need to support these efforts and encourage our governments to get on their skates. As Murray says, we have little time to ‘fiddle’, Rome isn’t burning yet, but it will.
Dambisa Moyo discusses Dead Aid on Norwegian TV
Posted by sangus in Development, Poverty on 4 May, 2009
Once again, a video on Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid perspective. Significantly, here, she begins by outlining her ideas with the TV presenter, and then is able to debate them with a member of the Norwegian Parliament who clearly sees eye to eye with Moyo on some of her criticisms of foreign aid, but doesn’t appear willing to turn off the tap immediately.
I.O.U.S.A.: The Movie
Posted by sangus in Health, Sustainability on 27 April, 2009
Watch a 30min version of the high-impact documentary that aims to reconfigure the way that government fiscal decisions are made in the US. Will it have an impact? Time will tell.
In any case, makes for interesting watching, especially if you consider the ‘balanced budget’ criterion for many developing countries when it comes to developmetn assistance.
Zimbabwe - Left to Die - Foreign Correspondent - ABC
Watch online now
Read the transcript of Andrew Geoghegan’s undercover trip to Zimbabwe from ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, an excerpt is here:
Cholera is a preventable disease, yet there’s an epidemic raging in Zimbabwe. At least 4,000 are dead, and some 90,000 infected. Filming secretly and posing as tourists, reporter Andrew Geoghegan and producer Mary Ann Jolley uncover the true extent of the crisis. President Robert Mugabe denies there’s an epidemic, but in community after community, Foreign Correspondent finds dozens of victims and their families.
Many blame the government but it seems others may also share responsibility for the dire situation. We meet a former United Nations insider who is highly critical of the role the organisation’s Humanitarian Coordinator is playing in Zimbabwe. He says the lives of millions have been compromised because the UN’s highest humanitarian official in Zimbabwe is too close to the Mugabe regime.
Is Aid Killing Africa? - Foreign Correspondent - ABC
Posted by sangus in Development, Interview, Poverty on 24 March, 2009
Watch online
This Foreign Correspondent report brings the work of Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian-born economist who thinks that western Aid is creating long-term dependencies on outside help, stifling internal economic activity and achieving very little of what the aid organisations set out to do.
Via: UK - Is Aid Killing Africa? - Foreign Correspondent - ABC.