The boom gets started with an expansion of credit
The Fed sets rates low, are you starting to get it?
That new money is confused for real loanable funds
But it’s just inflation that’s driving the onesFear the Boom and Bust, John Papola & Russell Roberts
I am not a math person. I don’t understand numbers. My eyes glaze over and little birds start tweeting between my ears. Same with economics. Glazing, birds tweeting, not getting it.
But I tell you this. Â I almost understand the difference between bust and boom economics because of this rap song. I’m getting bear and bull. I’m almost understanding the issues with the American economy and why things happened the way they did. Â And I think, if I listened to it a few more times, I WOULD understand it.
Is it the best rap of all time? Of course not. It was written by two white guys (John Papola & Russell Roberts) about two dead economists (John Maynard Keynes & Friedrich von Hayek)
But it is an excellent example of how using one form  (such as art, music, drama) to explain another (say…. economics) can be an valuable teaching tool. A valuable learning tool – if students have to write a play based on a historical moment, or create math art, or a song about the periodic table of the elements, how could anyone say that whatever the student had to learn wouldn’t be totally burned into their mind?
The rap comes from the NPR broadcast Planet Money. Â If you listen to the whole story, you’ll find out what pop singer Kesha thought of the rap…..
Can’t see the video? Click here.
