I’ll try to hit highlights that other people haven’t mentioned (much) on the latest video by John Papola and Russ Roberts. Big picture, though: I think it’s even better than the first one, both in content and in “production values.” [For the transcript, go here.]
0:42: 1066. That warmed the cockles of my former Canadian, British-history-taking heart.
1:20: Keynes’ mention of The Road to Serfdom. I know John Papola and Russ Roberts must know, but I wonder how many other viewers know that this is what Keynes wrote in his blurb for Hayek’s Road to Serfdom:
In my opinion it is a grand book…. Morally and philosophically I find myself in agreement with virtually the whole of it: and not only in agreement with it, but in deeply moved agreement.
I was shocked that the University of Chicago Press chose not to keep that blurb in its 50th anniversary re-issue.
1:54: John Papola’s father playing Bernanke. Very nice, even the slight smile.
2:50: Jason Robard’s kind-of lookalike on the Congressional panel.
3:45: Great line about the draft during WWII accounting for full employment.
4:24: Jobs are a means, not an end. For a great reading on this, see Dwight Lee’s modern classic, “Creating Jobs vs. Creating Wealth.”
4:35: Bernanke rears his bearded head again.
4:50: Keynes: “Where it goes doesn’t matter, just get spending flowing.”
5:56: Hayek: “I want plans by the many and not by the few.”
7:18: Bernanke again.
7:28: One of Hayek’s best lines, one that the Keynesians have never contended with: “With political incentives, discretion’s a joke.”
8:15: Ed Stringham does a great job as the handsome, credulous cub reporter.
Final thing: Some of the videos of Hayek in front of war scenes reminded me that during the German government’s bombing of England during WWII, Keynes and Hayek sometimes patrolled the campus of Cambridge University together. LSE, where Hayek taught, had decamped to Cambridge to avoid the bombs. I can’t remember where I read that though.
My bottom line: Two opposable-things-one-on-each-hand-that-Roger-Ebert’s-absurd-claim-to-intellectual-property-won’t-let-me-specify up.
READER COMMENTS
Marcus
Apr 29 2011 at 9:15pm
The first episode of the 3-part series ‘Command Heights’. That’s where I first heard that Keynes and Hayek patrolled the campus together.
Scott Miller
Apr 29 2011 at 10:10pm
I think Mike Munger steals the show with his gleeful security guard portrayal.
David R. Henderson
Apr 29 2011 at 10:36pm
@Marcus,
Thanks.
Marcus
Apr 29 2011 at 11:18pm
“The first episode of the 3-part series ‘Command Heights’.”
Oops. Obviously that was suppose to be ‘Commanding Heights’.
@Scott,
I agree, Munger did a fantastic job and the symbolisms were perfect.
Levi
Apr 29 2011 at 11:41pm
Economic theory via rap is much more entertaining imo.
Properal
Apr 30 2011 at 1:41am
Link to Commanding Heights.
Douglass Holmes
Apr 30 2011 at 8:44am
I thought Mike Munger was having way too much fun.
Mark Brady
Apr 30 2011 at 7:05pm
“1:20: Keynes’ mention of The Road to Serfdom. I know John Papola and Russ Roberts must know, but I wonder how many other viewers know that this is what Keynes wrote in his blurb for Hayek’s Road to Serfdom:
“‘In my opinion it is a grand book…. Morally and philosophically I find myself in agreement with virtually the whole of it: and not only in agreement with it, but in deeply moved agreement.'”
Perhaps Keynes isn’t quite the demon that he’s painted?
Keynes wrote that in a letter to Hayek. Are you saying that he allowed Hayek and/or his publishers to use it as an advertising blurb?
David R. Henderson
May 1 2011 at 10:06am
@Mark Brady,
No, I’m not saying Keynes or his estate allowed it. I’m saying that the University of Chicago Press used it. It was on my autographed copy that, sadly, was destroyed in my fire.
Comments are closed.