Modern Economic Issues

By: Robert Whaples, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Whaples

Gross domestic product. Health insurance. Soaring energy prices. Major economic issues dominate today's news, but how do these issues impact the average citizen? This primer in 21st-century economics for the non-economist surveys today's most urgent economic issues that affect both global events and our everyday lives.

You'll learn what economics has to say about making the decisions - big or small - that affect our daily lives: What factors come into play when you're deciding whether to buy this car or that one, or even commute by bus? Mow the lawn or take a nap? Grill a burger with a bubbling slice of cheese or eat a simple salad? And you'll see how this same kind of analysis applies to the major issues of public policy, where the needs and wants of a nation and its people - whether financial security, safety from terrorism, or even an available kidney for someone desperately waiting on a transplant list - involve tradeoffs, which are sometimes obvious and sometimes not.

Whether dealing with the traditional sorts of topics most of us are used to seeing in an economics course - Social Security, inflation, unemployment, immigration, taxation, and the like - or issues perhaps surprising, such as gambling, major sports franchises, and even overeating, these 36 lectures offer a steady flow of insights about public policy and the American economy.

By showing the full range of economic factors at work, this course can help you become an even more insightful judge of policy recommendations and of the leaders and policy makers who advocate them. And you may well learn to supplement your own analyses as you make the real-life economic choices each of us faces every day, becoming an even wiser consumer and manager of your own economic future.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2007 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2007 The Great Courses

Statistics are from 2005

While I enjoyed the lectures it would have been improved by more updated statistics.

Great book about US economics

The book was great! Good narrator, and important issues. I miss the international perspective though, and important questions about the validity of capitalism was quickly breezed through. I was expecting a bit more on 0% growth, environment, politics, and ethics.

economics

would like to see same lectures updated a little, to reflect current events but otherwise excellent.

Outstanding book

I’ve read a lot of books on economics and finance. This is one of the absolute best I’ve read. It starts out a little slow, but Professor Whaples does an absolutely masterful job investigating most major contemporary economic concerns in an objective, dispassionate manner. I finished the book wondering why someone (from either party) in Washington D. C. doesn’t hire him away from academia to be an advisor. Extremely well done. Only buy this book if you prefer to understand the world we live in.

An excellent course

Professor Whaples is one of those rare teachers who rattle off facts and figures in such an interesting way you figure it's just conversation!

I would heartily recommend this course. Keep in mind that it came out before the crash, so it appears too optimistic. The teaching company really ought to add a lesson on this huge fact!

In light of our country's economic woes, it's helpful to see where we were before it, and what was done to make the situation worse.