John Maynard Keynes was the father of modern macroeconomics, and the principle economist to whom liberals turn to justify government growth, spending and intervention to correct a shortage of aggregate demand. Freiderick A. Hayek, Keynes' contemporary, was the father of the Austrian school of economic thought, arguing that government intervention was short-sighted, and that free markets instead provide a much more accurate correction of a shortage of aggregate demand. Keynes was the guiding economist through the Great Depression, and is the grandfather of the policies guiding the government today. Hayek complained that Keynes' policies worsened and prolonged the Depression, and modern economists of the Austrian school of thought point out the shortcomings of the stimulus bills and why they aren't working, but instead could come back to bite us hard.
This video was put together by George Mason University economist Russ Roberts (http://www.cafehayek.com/) along with John Papola. Professor Roberts is a free marketeer and one of my favorite modern economists. It's entertaining, and very educational on the current state of economics, based primarily on the contrarian theories of these 2 economists of the 1930s. Some of it may be a little hard to understand, but you should be able to get most of it.
1 comment:
Ummm, that was fabulous. Why is it that we never hear about Hayek's theories in school? I've taken my fair share of econ classes plus taught American Heritage forever, and we only discussed Keynesian theory, not Hayek's (which is so unfortunate, considering that Keynesian economics actually prolonged the Great Depression, according to UCLA economists - if only we could get PresO to read that study...).
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