Keynes vs. Hayek rap video

If 60yrs of Keynesian government hasen't proved that it doesn't work then you're blind. 60yrs of Keynesian economics and the only thing that's happening is that the recessions are getting worse & worse and they're getting closer & closer together. At the rate we are going the next one will start before this ones even over.

So its Keynes, and his theory which was trashed by free market reformers which has caused Boom and Bush eh. Hayek, beloved by Thacher and vaguely understood by Reagan and his desire to free markets at all and any time is left innocent.

2 years ago Conservatives were happy to bail out the banks which had been under regulated. Credit had flowed in to the economy via a monetary policy which had become dominated (as it always would) by politics. Hayek was in a ruin.

But now that the neo-liberals have their bonuses back its time to rework the continual mythology of economics. If only we had done the one thing no one, not even hard right hard free market Bush could have imagined do at the time, followed free market insanity to the point of vast death....then the theory of free markets would have worked.

Here is a General Theory, any efforts to deregulate markets will cost the state more in bail outs. Any failure of the state to bail out an industry only will lead to larger future bailouts until the industries are so large as to constitute a threat to the nation defense.

Lord Keynes seems to be missing a British accent...

Russ... you´re usually great but this was too much! Congratulations!

I love it. Very innovative delivery of a classic subject. I eagerly await your next production.

Dedicado a los keynesianos....

Una clase de economia en Rap. Dedicado a los keynesianos

Keynesian theory has a roll when properly used. That means there must be a surplus first that can be used for stimulus. You never just let the printing presses run free. Hayek is the better way to go. Implicit in his theory is the fact that politicians are never responsible when it comes to the economy.

Love it!

Haha!!! I LOVE that Keynes is hungover after his drinking/spending binge : ) Very clever.

I would love to show this to students.

Except that it's so unbalanced and dishonest...

(sigh...)

Care to explain how?

If one knows Keynes, and one knows what's wrong with Austrian theories, then one can see all that is left out. And the moralistic overtones of the drinking binge really detract from any substantive positive discussion of what underlies business cycles. It's like making fun of Newtonian physics by playing up intuition underlying Biblical or Aristotelian notions of physics.

I appreciate substantive debate, especially if made fun. But I see no substance here. Only an attempt to put down one's intellectual superior with ridicule rather than substance. (Ridicule with substance--that's what I'd like to see, but it's really hard to do here.)

It's professional looking. It entertains. But it misleads without apology.

What don't you understand about Newtonian physics? Just let me know and I'll reproduce the literature right here.

Hmm, I find it interesting that a comment complaining about a lack of substantive debate is itself completely devoid of substance. What relevant aspect of Keynesianism was left out?

That's genius. Congratulations and thank you.

Awesomely funny! My favorite moments: Hotel Lobby ("thats with an H"), Gideon bible reference, Munger cameo and Bernie/Tim nametags. But I agree, where was your cameo? Hitchcock did it. Stan Lee does it. We needed that Roberts shot! You could have been a door man at the hotel.

Yeah Russ, where was your cameo? The Munger cameo was awesome but you would have rounded it out nicely!

The editing was terrific, as was the whole production.

Excellent.

we are all keynesians now, no way out until the final bust

Professor Roberts and Mr. Papola, you deserve a major award for this. Outstanding. This is going on the syllabus in my Intermediate Macro class. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!

I thought this was going to be lame. You proved me wrong. Awesome, fantastic, brilliant! Already forwarding it around.

This video is excellent. Great job.

Excellent!

There's a small difference between the lyrics and the video, though.

Instead of "Make sure the total’s growing...", Keynes says "Keep that total growing...".

Fabulous! Award winning. Should be required viewing for undergrads

The single best thing that's ever been on YouTube.

Took my 3rd view at 2:45am to catch the bartenders' names/

This is the first rap music I've ever liked, certainly the first I've ever thought of recommending to my kids!

Awesome, Russ.

I do hope, however, that all the scenes of Keynes partying with the babes like a rock star don't end up sending the wrong message. It's a good analogy, but it could backfire if the video goes viral among 17 year old males...

Enjoyed it thoroughly, and enjoyed the comments despite Daniel's hairsplitting act.

What is truly remarkable is the number of modern-macro/keynesian blogs that have posted or linked to this video(Greg Mankiw and Scott Sumner to name just two). Is it possible that Russ and John have just done more to reintroduce Austrian economics back into mainstream Econ than anyone else has for a very long time?

Regardless, great work guys!

Wait...

Maybe Russ Roberts did not make a cameo, but I think that the limo driver is Mike Munger!

Now, who will be the first Econ Dep. to do a "lib dub" on those lyrics?

Brilliant. My favourite touch was Hayek pulling out the subway card.

Simply amazing....please do a sequel featuring a totally pimped out Mises vs. the socialist posse.

Great work and good luck! Keep it up!

Awesome! I love that they picked up the front desk receptionist.

Fabulous!

The Keynes book in the hotel room was a great touch! I laughed out loud!

Overall very well done.

What a fabulous rap video! Entertaining and informative at the same time. It should win some kind of music video award.

Nice. I suppose I can't be on both #TeamKeynes and #TeamHayek, huh? I'll try anyway.

After reading The Road to Serfdom, Keynes wrote to Hayek; "...morally and philosophically I find myself in agreement with virtually the whole of it; and not only in agreement with it; but in a deeply moved agreement." But... "You admit here and there that it is a question of knowing where to draw the line. You agree that the line has to be drawn somewhere, and that the logical extreme is not possible. But you give us no guidance whatsoever as to where to draw it."

I think Hayek makes the point clearly;

"Planning and Competition can be combined only by planning for competition, but not by planning against competition. It is of the utmost importance to the argument of this book for the reader to keep in mind that the planning against which all our criticism is directed is solely for planning against competition - the planning which is to be substituted for competition. This is the more important, as we cannot, within the scope of this book, enter into a discussion of the very necessary planning which is required to make competition as effective and beneficial as possible."

Congratulations! It is fun to watch and even better to share. Great job.

Favorite line is "schooled by my Austrian perspective."

I did not expect this to be nearly this good.

Great work.

Has anyone who uses Fire Fox noticed that if you type "Keynes" everything is cool but if you type "Hayek" it is underlined in red, as if you misspelled a real word?

I believe that's actually the spell checker or dictionary on your computer which is accessed by Firefox. You can add Hayek to your dictionary by right clicking.

Regardless, I was just making the point that Keynes is recognized and Hayek isn't. I never directed my spell check to recognize the word Keynes.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E !!!

My only critic ?

No Russ Robert cameo ;-)

Off da hook

Fun! Since YouTube is blocked in China, would you mind uploading the video to a Chinese video site like youku.com so it can be shared with people in China?

Read Keynes "Employment" last trip. Reading Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" this trip. Both are worth a few rereads. Personally, I find Hayek's arguments absolutely compelling and I find Keynes to be a blatant propagandist. I know, big surprise :)

Best line I've read yet, from either;

"It is not difficult to see what must be the consequences when democracy embarks upon a course of planning which in its execution requires more agreement than in fact exists.... The effect of the people's agreeing that there must be central planning, without agreeing on the ends, will be rather as if a group of people were to commit themselves to take a journey together without agreeing where they want to go; with the result that they may all have to make a journey which most of them do want at all.

You did a great job. I love the subtle references throughout. If only my high school econ teacher had been this informative or entertaining... Keep it up and perhaps everyone will eventually be able to have an informed discussion of basic econ. It only runs everything in our lives!

Excellent video. Hayek rips it up in the 4th verse.

I have to admit, when I first heard about this, I thought it would be really lame. But, I just laughed my Ace off. That was awesome Russ! You just made my day. Very informative, too.

Ha ha this is awesome, all econ geeks need to watch this!

Keynes can't hold his liquor.

Count me on #TeamHayek

Your lyrics need some endnotes. That would be so geeky it'd be cool.

OUTSTANDING!!! And I love the limo driver! ;-)

Actually much better than I expected.
And, it made sense, too.
Kudos

That's pretty dope. That video alone could bring back the fake gangsta stache.

The line Keynes ignored human action can also be read Keynes ignored Human Action. There are many subtleties in the video.

I don't know about that. Human Action wasn't published in English until 1949. I think the earliest version, in German, wasn't published until 1940. Even if Keynes read German, his General Theory was published in 1936. I guess he could be said to have "ignored" the German version, but having died in 1946, he never got the chance to ignore the English one.

As for Keynes commenting on Mises, he did review Mises' Theory of Money and Credit (in German). I found a nice account of it here on Cafe Hayek.

http://cafehayek.com/2009/11/keynes-on-mises-an...

When introducing himself, Hayek often said "Hayek -- as in High Explosives".

And this would fit with the theme -- Hayek believed he'd detonated Keynes work not once, but twice.

Excellent video Russ!

I hope they offer a place on the site to download the video and not just the song.

Get the FireFox add-on "Download helper" to capture the video.

I must be getting old...

Anything in rap format quickly gets on my last working nerve...

I'm afraid you're getting old.

It was over 10 years ago that we decided that RAP was officially America's new national music.

We're now in the midst of a national dialogue over whether to outsources National Anthem 2.0 to Snoop Dogg or Slick Rick.

;-)

Too late, someone already did a National Anthem 2.0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNVl8Zh5_Jw

My sentiments exactly.

Excellent. This WILL be posted on my Facebook feed.

Two thumbs up! And other reviews are starting to pour in:

"Dazzling" - Rex Reed

"I laughed, I cried" - Richard Roeper

"It's uniquely and singularly original" - Gene Shalit

"5 stars" - Leonard Maltin

"I'm not sure what I just saw, but I think I liked it" - Bertie Wooster

Wait, no cameo? You wrote the song! Come on, Mike Munger was the limo driver! You should have been in there somewhere.

That was amazing.

Keynes "ignores human action and motivation" (around 3:30)? That's an unusual critique of Keynes. Usually Keynes is praised for his concern with human motivation.

The "I want to steer markets/I want them set free" contrast is a little odd to hear too, but I suppose that's your prerogative :)

Great job!

Von Mises?

Keynes' concern for human motivation boils down to a very easily toppled pop psychology; this is how he ignores human action and motivation, by positing a very simplistic notion of human psychology.

I think you missed part of the subtlety here. There is "human action" the concept and "Human Action" the book by von Mises. I think this might have been a slight jab at Keynes who admitted that his German wasn't really good enough to understand some of the critiques of his General Theory from people on The Continent.

Interesting point, Daniel. That line is more of an expansion in criticizing the level of aggregation then of Keynes and his entire approach. He clearly was concerned about a wide range of human actions and motivations. His aggregates ignore them though.

Thanks for the praise!

it's just "odd" and "unusual" in your universe Daniel. the rest of us get it.

Or, rather than suggest there are different realities or levels of competency in play, one might argue that we simply disagree on the question.

As for "unusual" specifically - that is genuinely unusual. Keynes is very broadly recognized (ie - much broader than among Keynesians alone) for delving into the motivation for human action. To say that Hayek disagrees with Keynes on a question of motivation of human action is one thing. To say that Keynes IGNORES the issue is simply disingenuous... or, it's just artistic license, which I've chalked it up to.

So to repeat, reemphasize, and not to detract from my main point: "Great job guys!"

Austrians, most notably, Ludwig von Mises, are the authority regarding human action. Hence, Mises's, Magnum Opus, Human Action.

Keynes was into animal spirits rather than human action.

What do you think that humans are? Someone just decided to give us the title of human beings to make us sound more civil, when in reality we're all animals on this planet, we are just are the most intelligent animal on the planet, but sometimes I question that!!!

The authority? You need to broaden your horizons. They certainly wrote about it and were very thoughtful in their consideration of human action and motivation. I would never deny that. I'm not sure about "the authority" on it.

Hi Daniel,

Context is important:

"I’ll begin in broad strokes, just like my friend Keynes
His theory conceals the mechanics of change,
That simple equation, too much aggregation
Ignores human action and motivation"

OK - and I'm sure if you take a few simple sentences from Hayek many of them would ignore human action and motivation. Why in the world would you boil it down to "that simple equation". That simple equation has context too - and as you say, context is important.

OK - and I'm sure if you take a few simple sentences from Hayek many of them would ignore

Yes, they do take a few simple sentences from Hayek to demonstrate that Hayek was a fool.

From what I heard earlier on the blog, these folks consulted Skidelsky to keep it as fair to Keynes as possible.

Right - it was pretty fair to Keynes. I only mentioned two strange lines, sandre. However - I'm not sure why Skidelsky speaks for Keynesians. He's his biographer, after all.

I think they also consulted him on the lyrics - I'm not sure if he saw the video itself when he said that. The whole "Keynesianism is basically drinking away your problems" metaphor wasn't really objective, subtle, or convincing either and I'm not sure if Skidelsky even saw that.

As the Cafe's most prolific Keynesian, I appreciate your insight that the video was fair to Keynes. I wasn't sure it was because it made Keynes' ideas look STOOOOPID!!!

Of course, I'm biased - I thought the drinking metaphor was spot-on. But I didn't pick up on a "Keynesianism is drinking away your problems" metaphor, rather a "Keynesianism is partying it up while ignoring the consequences of your actions, but it's OK because when the crash comes, the solution is MORE PARTYING" metaphor.

This song won't be leaving my iPod for weeks! My hat is off to everyone involved with this project. NathanS is right- genius.

Hahahahaha - I love the General Theory in the hotel room. The Gideons need to get on that.

I had to pause the video twice because I lost it laughing so hard.

The first time was the "Gideon" General Theory.

The second was the Ben/Tim bar tender name tags.


Russ - this was most excellently done!

Genius.