Hayek vs. Keynes, The Rap Throwdown

Move over, Biggie and Tupac. Russ Roberts, of George Mason University and the Mercatus Center, has helped script a rap that explains the boom-and-bust cycle inherent in Keynesian economics.

Comments

[anon]

please, no

[Paul Krugman]

I only liked half of this video.

[CTHORM@IBIS]

Drown in your beer, you dishonest slob.

[heller]

ummm. no.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Put it in a JibJab and let me paste my head on one of their bodies, and maybe I'll buy what you're selling.

[tkwelge]

I liked it. Are all libertarians supposed to be stuck up? I thought it was pretty funny. I mean, it beats the hell out of the other side doing it.

[CTHORM@IBIS]

I've been passing this around at work today. Hayek FTW.

[hmm]

That's 8 different kinds of fucking awesome. Not just regular awesome, fucking awesome.

[Keynes]

Hair of the dog, bitches. We needz it.

[Brian Defferding]

That was awesome!!!

[Keynes]

Prime the pump baby!

[Ron L]

I *hate* rap, but this was goooood.
Amazing how many actual econ arguments made it into the thing.
"Animal spirits" indeed....

[Hayek]

Gay guys always get the chicks!

[nj]

that was indeed awesome

[dhex]

clever, but they need a flow doctor.

like, right now.

[Tacos mmm...]

Ben and Tim tending bar lol

[BlueBook]

Pretty fly for a couple of dead white guys.

[Warty]

That was incredibly not painful.

[toddb]

I heard a story about this on NPR earlier today. They seemed to think it was a balanced discussion between the two points of view...I don't think they have any idea what a beat down of Keynes this thing is. It really cracked me up to see it after hearing that story...

[yonemoto]

Well Keynes is not wrong. If you want a system that requires infinite exponential growth to maintain a feel-good system and has chaotic booms and busts and eventually wrecks the environment by encouraging hyperconsumption over saving, then, yes, you should adopt the keynesian model.

Of course, this is completely consistent with NPR - feel good all the time, get bailed out, keep destroying the environment to feed the one thing to complain about.

[Joshua]

Actually Keynes hasn't been proven wrong. He calls for the cooling down of the economy in upswings. The problem is that no government in history has had the temerity to actually follow through on Keynes' advice in this regard. I'm no Keynesian, but his theory is sound - it's just that this is one theory that is impractical to implement in reality.

[Brandybuck]

The problem with Keynes is that he is all macro and no micro. He's like a physicist who can't do math. His theories look good in the abstract, but they have absolutely no bearing on reality.

His theories on spending is why he's popular with politicians, but his idea that you don't have to deal with the messy real world is why he's popular with economists.

[Hugh Akston]

Win

[Schempf]

It's Friday night, the economy is whacked - I am partying with Keynes!

[Kevin]

That's pretty fucking awesome!

[Pantera]

I'm in High school AP econ class. I'm tempted to send this to my teacher, but then we'd watch it in class and all my friends would make fun of me for suggesting we watch it.

[CTHORM@IBIS]

Peer pressure is overrated, and the ones making fun of you will end up jobless tools in just a few short years. Go for it mate.

[Ska]

+1

[alan]

Remember that episode of Cheers where Sam Malone raps, and it makes him look like a lame ass doofus because rap was old hat by then? Well, that episode was from a quarter of a century ago.

[Brandybuck]

A groin inujury!

[Russ R.]

Way better rap battle:

Al Gore vs. Lord Monckton on Climate Change & Copenhagen

It's a bit slanted in content, but they get big points for style.

[Voros McCracken]

Rap was over when this gem hit the airwaves:

The King of Rap!

[robc]

Not this?

[yonemoto]

that video was great. Did you notice Hayek had better flows?

[Greg]

Waaay better than I was expecting, I must say

[han]

Amen. I've been working my way through the entire backlog of EconTalk podcasts.