russ roberts

Hayek vs. Keynes, Round Two

by Ryan Young on April 28, 2011

in Economy

Russ Roberts and John Papola are at it again. Last year they made a rap video starring F.A. Hayek and John Maynard Keynes. It garnered over 2 million views, many of them in economics classrooms. Today, they release the sequel. Check it out.

From Poor and Sick to Healthy and Rich

by Ryan Young on December 3, 2010

in Economy, International, Zeitgeist

Via Russ Roberts, this is an amazing video. I’m always impressed with creative, compelling ways to use data to tell a story. And this story is one of the most important in human history: how most of humanity went from being poor and sick to healthy and rich in just 200 years.

There is still a ways to go. But if past is prologue, I’m optimistic about the future.

Job Losses and Productivity Gains

by Fran Smith on October 5, 2010

in Economy, Employment, Trade

I came across this chart tracking U.S. manufacturing jobs and U.S. productivity over the past 38 years (posted yesterday by Mark Perry).

It’s worth considering, especially in today’s climate when free trade — particularly NAFTA — is pointed to as the chief culprit in lost manufacturing jobs.  And when a lot of people have bought into that myth hammered over and over by labor unions and politicians running from their records in raising taxes and costs for businesses — from stimulus packages to new financial constraints to Obamacare.

That’s not to say that free trade doesn’t cause job losses in some sectors, while creating jobs in others. But, contrary to the current rhetoric, an export-centric approach to trade is not the answer. Imports are not just “cheap” consumption goods, stereotyped as a t-shirt from Wal-Mart.  Rather, imports provide consumers with greater choices over a range of prices and quality levels — they also increase competition, which fuels the search for innovation in better value, better quality.

Check out this podcast by Russ Roberts in early 2010 on the economics of trade and specialization.

Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Battle–Fear the Boom and Bust

by Ryan Lynch on January 25, 2010 · 1 comment

in Culture, Odds & Ends, Zeitgeist

Sit back for a moment and read the title of this blog post again. Let it sink in.

A new video just released by Econstories.tv, a project of The Mercatus Center, explores the basis of both Hayek and Keynes economic theories in classic west coast rap style.  Co-written by Russ Roberts, also host of the EconTalk podcast, this video is attempting something difficult: Finding  ways to expose a new audience to the philosophy of free markets.

Fixing TARP: Is Transparency Enough?

by Ryan Young on November 16, 2009

in Bailout Watch, Economy, Features, Regulation, Zeitgeist

The House is voting today on a bill to improve transparency in the TARP bailout program. TARP is, shall we say, rather opaque. 25 different agencies administer TARP funds. Each one uses different accounting standards. Keeping track of everything is almost impossible.

I wrote an article not too long ago saying that transparency is welcome symptomatic relief. But TARP itself is a disease. The only way to cure the disease of bailout programs is to abolish them. Russ Roberts said much the same thing:

[C]apitalism is a profit and loss system. The profits encourage risk-taking. The losses encourage prudence. If the taxpayer almost always eats the losses for the losers, you don’t have capitalism. You have crony capitalism.

Transparency is a good start. But the goal should be to not have government bailing out politically favored companies in the first place.