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.
