Credit where it's due, and other notes

Not relevant, but zombies = funny.

This morning I noticed that Youtube videos embedded on my blog seem to be working again.  I was really annoyed when they wouldn't work in my Chrome browser and I had to use Internet Explorer to see them on my own website.

Credit where it's due, Blogger, where my domain  is hosted, seems to have done something to fix it after I sent them a complaint.

Saturday Learning Series - Braudel's Bell Jar

The “bell jar” metaphor comes from French historian Fernand Braudel. It was referenced by de Soto in The Mystery of Capital. The metaphor addresses the question of "why at its inception Western capitalism served only a privileged elite much the way it does in developing countries today."

Yale, professor Douglas W. Rae, continues his exploration of capitalism, a system of which he describes himself as a guarded supporter, although it seems he pretty strongly supports it:

Professor Rae explores Hernando de Soto's theories of dead and live capital and the power of property rights. According to de Soto, informal property must carefully be integrated into the formal property system. Professor Rae presents the example of Baltimore's row house vacancy problem, and the difficulties in designing and implementing innovative property policies when existing interests of local stakeholders are firmly entrenched.

There's an interesting exchange of ideas between students later in the video from about 37:30 to about 41 minutes.  There's some irony and sadness in the two differing positions arguing investing in government versus the private sector.  One student gets it, the other doesn't.

Saturday Learning Series - Mass Affluence Comes to the West

The Yale course on capitalism continues,

Professor Rae discusses the rise of mass affluence, the joint stock corporation, and advertising/consumer culture in America. Gregory Clark's theory of the causes of the Industrial Revolution, including England's "downward social mobility" in the medieval and early modern periods, are explored. According to this theory, the upper classes produced children in greater numbers than in other countries, and there were fewer jobs of high social status. This led to upper class children working in "lower class" jobs, infusing lower economic strata with upper class outlooks toward work. Clark also touches on a genetic, Darwinian explanation for England's Industrial Revolution. Professor Rae also discusses other causal explanations for the Industrial revolution, including exogenous and endogenous growth theories, institutions, and Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction. The wealth-generating power of the joint stock corporation is also presented.

Saturday Learning Series - The Political and Judicial Elements of American Capitalism

More in the series from the Yale course by professor Douglas W. Rae.  In this lecture, he discusses the implications and circumstances of Obamacare as well as tort reform and the medical profession.

Saturday Learning Series - Mechanics of the mortgage meltdown

Yale professor Douglas W. Rae takes a look at the system behind sub-prime mortgages and goes through how the mechanics allowed the whole thing to happen.  There is only a cursory mention of government involvement and a mere hint at the government mandate (related to the CRA).  Nor does the conclusion offered by a student that more regulation is the answer, address the government's role in the whole mess.  But the rest of the mechanics provide a valuable lesson in what happened.

Saturday Learning Series - Accountability & Greed in Investment Banking

Saturday Learning Series returns tp Yale Professor Douglas W. Rae who explores the creation of incentives and disincentives for individual action.

UPDATE:  I've added this explainer of the Edgeworth Box, which Rae references and uses in his lecture.

Saturday Learning Series - The roots of the financial crisis

The Yale course by Douglas W. Rae continues, with guest lecturer Will Goetzmann, Director of the Yale International Center for Finance and professor at the Yale School of Management, who takes a look at the history of debt and financial crises.

Saturday Learning Series - Enron: Business and Morality

In the continuing series from Yale professor Douglas W. Rae, behind the Enron story from an insider's point of view.  The focus is on business and morality.  As a conservative, business is critical in my view of American success, but that success needs to be real and solid.  Fictitious profits and success that isn't real isn't helpful, it's the moral equivalent of a ponzi scheme.

Saturday Learning Series - Death of a Technology

Continuing with the Yale course from professor Douglas W. Rae, moves away from some of the economic discussion and moves towards a more real-world analysis of a corporate situation but looks at it in relation to capitalism in general.

Saturday Learning Series - The Rise of The Joint Stock Corporation

Yale's continuing course from professor Douglas W. Rae on Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform.

Professor Rae explains how the growing scale and complexity of railroads in the US were foundational to the development of modern capitalism. Operating the railroad system required professional managers and new management techniques, and the scale of railroad financing gave rise to the formation of the joint stock corporation. Professor Rae then discusses how different forms of company ownership differ along liability, liquidity, financial scalability, accountability, and role of ownership dimensions. Joint stock corporations are shown to be extremely efficient ways to raise large amounts of money, even if they suffer principal-agent problems.

Now, with improved play window size...

Saturday Learning Series - Freedom is a common good

Yale professor Douglas W. Rae lectures on Hayek and others, about the common good derived from freedom.

This is a continuation of the previous lecture series by Rae from Saturday Learning Series posts.

Saturday Learning Series - Marxism and Equilibrium

Don't worry, I haven't suddenly been converted to Marxism.  If you are familiar with the expression 'know your enemy' and you don't really understand the drivers behind Marxism, the Yale course on economics that I've been featuring is worth a watch.  This lecture continues with a look at what the impetus was behind Karl Marx and his conclusions about capitalism.

The lecture also points out some of the flaws inherent with Marxism.

Saturday Learning Series - The Invisible Hand

Back to economics this week, the philosophy thread will continue again next week. Two weeks ago I came across this lecture series by Yale professor Douglas W. Rae who talks about the brilliant concept of The Invisible Hand by Adam Smith. The lecture is part of a course on capitalism. It's a terrific lecture if you give it a chance to soak in and watch more than the first few minutes.

Saturday Learning Series - Malthus Explained and Debunked

Is it?  Really? Oh, the despair.

Some work on economics, the philisophical learning previously started will continue soon. But for now, I recently stumbled across this 50 minute lecture by Yale professor Douglas W. Rae who talks about, among other things how economic theorist Malthus got it wrong on capital, labor and the 'inevitability' of poverty .  The lecture is part of a course on capitalism. It's a terrific lecture if you give it a chance to soak in and watch more than the first few minutes and get to the point where he starts applying the introductory graphs to Malthus.