60-Second Adventures in Economics: An Animated Intro to The Invisible Hand and Other Economic Ideas

The Invis­i­ble Hand:

Back in 2011 The Open Uni­ver­si­ty released an engag­ing series of ani­mat­ed intel­lec­tu­al puz­zles called 60-Sec­ond Adven­tures in Thought, nar­rat­ed by the British come­di­an and writer David Mitchell. The series offered a wit­ty and fast-paced trip through some of the most famous para­dox­es and thought exper­i­ments in the his­to­ry of ideas. This week the same team is back with six new adven­tures, this time focused on eco­nom­ics. As the intro­duc­tion on the OU chan­nel at YouTube says:

Ever shak­en an invis­i­ble hand? Been flat­tened by a falling mar­ket? Or won­dered what took the bend out of Phillips’ curve? David Mitchell helps reveal some of the great dilem­mas faced by gov­ern­ments try­ing to run an economy–whether to save or spend, con­trol infla­tion, reg­u­late trade, fix exchange rates, or just leave every­one to get on with it and not inter­vene. You’ll learn why Adam Smith put such a high price on free mar­kets, how Keynes found a bold new way to reduce unem­ploy­ment, and what econ­o­mists went on to dis­cov­er about the impact of pol­i­cy on peo­ple’s and busi­ness­es’ behavior–which may not always be entire­ly ratio­nal.

60-Sec­ond Adven­tures in Eco­nom­ics is a fast and fun way to acquaint your­self with a few of the fun­da­men­tal ideas in eco­nom­ics. All six episodes are here, begin­ning with “The Invis­i­ble Hand,” above, and con­tin­u­ing below.

The Para­dox of Thrift:

The Phillips Curve:

The Prin­ci­ple of Com­par­a­tive Advan­tage:

The Impos­si­ble Trin­i­ty:

Ratio­nal Choice The­o­ry: