-
It’s Not About Abortion—Except It Is
April 15, 2013 | 148 comments
-
A Think Tank With Action
April 6, 2013 | 0 comments
-
I Know Victoria’s Secrets
March 29, 2013 | 17 comments
-
The New Feminism
March 25, 2013 | 49 comments
-
Rand’s Band of Brothers
March 8, 2013 | 41 comments
The Tax and Spend Spectator
That’s Another Rap
Rap and economics meet again for round two.
Remember back in grade school when your mother encouraged you to put memorization lessons to music? Turns out, she might have been on to something. In the spirit of instruction meets entertainment, George Mason University economist Russ Roberts and former executive producer at Spike TV John Papola have joined forces again to create a video blending the study of economics with the sound of hip-hop.
Roberts and Papola produced a similar video last year — “Fear the Boom and Bust” — which they released on their site, Econstories.com and YouTube. A philosophical tribute to the opposing economic positions of renowned economists F.A. Hayek and John Maynard Keynes, the video received upwards of 3 million hits worldwide and high school and college professors nationwide show the video and distribute the lyrics to students.
This new video — “Fight of the Century: Keynes v. Hayek Round Two” — is a literal and figurative one: Hayek and Keynes square off in a congressional hearing that morphs into a prize fight complete with economists pulling punches — this all wrapped up in hip-hop even Kanye West might like and lyrics Adam Smith could have penned. As it stands, the video, released a week ago, has garnered about half a million hits on YouTube; thousands of people “like” it on Facebook.
While the lyrics remain as instructive, the music likeable, and the video as visually imaginative as last year’s, the story itself differs considerably. In fact, this video actually tells a story, whereas the first one was more of a tutorial in differing economic positions. During the congressional hearing, both men give their explanation and solution to the kind of economic downturn we are currently experiencing. To wit:
HAYEK: We brought out the shovels and we’re still in a ditch…
And still digging. don’t you think that it’s time for a switch…
From that hair of the dog. Friend, the party is over.
The long run is here. It’s time to get sober!
KEYNES: Are you kidding? my cure works perfectly fine…
have a look, the great recession ended back in ‘09.
I deserve credit. Things would have been worse
All the estimates prove it — I’ll quote chapter and verse
Roberts, who collaborated with Papola on the lyrics and the visual aspect of the movie (not the production — that was solely Papola’s undertaking), says he wanted to answer specific questions this time around: “Did the stimulus spending help or make things worst? That fundamental debate is important and still going on.”
Indeed, in the debate, Keynes reminds Hayek how his economic theories aided the United States during World War II:
You can carp all you want about stats and regression
Do you deny World War II cut short the Depression?
Hayek is hardly amused and responds:
Pretty perverse to call that prosperity
Rationed meat, Rationed butter… a life of austerity
When that war spending ended your friends cried disaster
yet the economy thrived and grew faster.
Throughout the “fight” Keynes maintains spending is what fuels a growing economy. Keynes on the other hand argues the economy is “organic” and government shouldn’t try to steer it.
While on one hand, Roberts believes Hayek’s “views don’t get the hearing that Keynes’ do,” and professionally he sides with Hayek, he still wanted to give Keynes equal time. “We’re trying to improve the quality of discussion. We think that’s intellectually honest.” Though, he remarks, “Keynes has better lines and a better body.”
Appealing physique aside, it will be interesting to see if this video catches on like the first one did, especially with students. In today’s age of multimedia, demonstrating a complicated subject like economics in story form complete with a polished set, charismatic actors, and inimitable lines is surely a deed worthy of a second look.
In the midst of a floundering economy, perhaps of our own doing, perhaps not, depending on your view, “Fight of the Century” offers a glimmer of light in the darkness of the downturn. It might not change the views of current legislators meddling in budget proposals and bickering over what caused the recession and what they should have done about it, but it just might help inform the minds of would-be economists, politicians, and parents. As Hayek says in the video:
The lesson I’ve learned? It’s how little we know,
The world is complex, not some circular flow
The economy’s not a class you can master in college
To think otherwise is the pretense of knowledge.
About the Author
Nicole Russell writes from Northern Virginia.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (14) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Nicole Russell
More Articles From The Tax and Spend Spectator
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/05/06/thats-another-rap
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
old man| 5.6.11 @ 9:06AM
Just a correction on the article. It was Hayek that made the 'organic' comment.
Watched the video and loved it.
figusja| 5.6.11 @ 9:22AM
Still the basic arguments that have been had for years. I wonder if stupidity is a disease? Economics is not a science, not in the slightest. But we can still see the effects of socialist laws and regulations. The libs will still hold their stances from positions of how it feels and not what are the consequences. We shall reap what the left wing in this country has sown. God bless you and keep you.
Gordon W.| 5.6.11 @ 12:37PM
A bigger problem is the negative connotation you give to socialism and as a result you revolt against everything that was done by self proclaimed socialists. Technically most things you take for granite are socialist in nature. Basically, the entire infrastructure of the country was built on a socialist model. This of course was endorsed by every modern president we had. In response to your question of whether stupidity is a disease, I will leave you with a question based in economics. Do post hoc fallacies always hold true, often proved wrong, or do they take more than arm-chair philosophy to understand what is happening?
figusja| 5.6.11 @ 12:44PM
Just using your feelings to spout things? Use logic and facts when dealing with us poor dumb fly over country fried boy back hea' in'a boonies!!
fundamentalist| 5.6.11 @ 4:04PM
Just because something exists and some stupid people admire it doesn't mean it's good or that it couldn't have been done better another way.
Our national highway system is a perfect example of the waste caused by socialist central planning. We are highway poor! We have too many roads and bridges to nowhere built to assuage campaign contributors.
Had the government not built the highway system and subsidized car/truck transportation, we would use oil more efficiently by using cars/trucks for short distances, trains from medium and planes for long distances.
axbucxdu| 5.6.11 @ 9:13PM
In the 1920s, my grandfather could walk from his farm in central eastern PA to the trolley station. That would be as much walking as he would need to do on his way to: NYC, Philly, essentially anywhere he wished.
After the war, it was the auto companies that bought up the local rail systems in our region and with the Feds subsidizing the Interstate system, rail never recovered from the government interference.
If one has any doubts about the ill effects of mass government, just drive CA's I-5 at rush hour.
figusja| 5.6.11 @ 12:41PM
Gordon can you explain your comment:
Technically most things you take for granite are socialist in nature. Basically, the entire infrastructure of the country was built on a socialist model.
Can you give examples to what you are referring to, I am confused. The country was based of a Republic or are you referring to programs initiated by socialist presidents?
figusja| 5.6.11 @ 12:42PM
By the way I don't take anything for granted. I only take what I earn. I make too much money to mooch off of Uncle Sam.
fundamentalist| 5.6.11 @ 4:05PM
PS the video is fantastic!
atwoodsux| 5.7.11 @ 3:26PM
"Throughout the "fight" Keynes maintains spending is what fuels a growing economy. Keynes on the other hand argues the economy is "organic" and government shouldn't try to steer it."
That second "Keynes" should be Hayek instead
Jocon307| 5.8.11 @ 4:20AM
Take for "granted" not granite.
But I kind of like that, take for granite, as a rock, unchangeable
A new phrase born.
Walking Horse| 5.9.11 @ 11:19PM
"Take for granite" does expose some of the Statist mind. Granite in ordinary conditions is inert, relatively static. But I do not recall any memorable still-life paintings of rocks -- rotten fruit is another matter. A static world is what our socialist adversaries desire - much easier to control when the objects being manipulated do not dynamically respond to the changing environment. Makes one think of "static scoring" techniques required of the Congressional Budget Office.
Perhaps the Statist folks do take us for granite, and are endlessly shocked that we actually respond to what attempt to do to us.
Dee See| 5.10.11 @ 12:42AM
---Great article.
MEANWHILE, as the Globalist RED China
sellout, set-up and TREASON op doesn't even
rate a glance ---even as the world's greatest
nuclear disaster is unmentioned.
Just yesterday, yet another explosion at
Fukishima. Utterly buried by the yuppie
gigglers of world corporate media.
Remember, as you look at your wife, your
kids ----just months ago David Rockefeller himself
called openly for VAST, MASSIVE and RAPID
depopulation (ie genocide) by 'any and all means'.
WHAT ARE WE NOT UNDERTSTANDING
ABOUT THIS SITUATION?