Keynes v. Hayek

You really have to check out this very clever and well-done video, The Fight of the Century .

I’m not a fan of rap music, but it’s a supremely verbal musical idiom that works well with the substance of this music video, which is the difference between F. A. Hayek’s free market approach and the use of government intervention endorsed by John Maynard Keynes. What I found especially engaging is that John Papola and Russ Roberts, the producers of this video, begin with the classic debate about how and why we eventually pulled out of the Great Depression, but then turn to more fundamental questions. Economics and politics (in the deep, Aristotelian sense) are linked, and they draw out the moral dimension of the great economic debate. Keynes: unemployment is not a statistic; it’s real people, and waiting for markets to correct themselves reflects a very cold and remote attitude. Hayek: “I want plans by the many, not by the few.”

The fight ends with Keynes declared the victor, which has been in fact the case in government policy over the last couple of years, though this marvelous video suggests that Papola and Roberts think Hayek has the best arguments. As I said, very clever and well-done.