Why Economies Rise and Fall

The rising tide lifts all boats. As such, wouldn't everybody want their economy to rise? If so, why do economies sometimes fall? This teaching company course presents a historical overview of what has caused the rise and fall of various economies and lessons that can be applied today. The approach is much more historical than quantitative.

Countries seek to raise the standard of living of everyone. Through trading, specialization and industrialization, they can seek those results. Many different ideologies and policies have been used to help grow economies. These lectures, however, intentionally dismiss the ideology arguments and focus on what has worked. Some policies from opposite ends of the political spectrum have in their respective times produced impressive economic growth. At other times, each has fallen on their face. There have been numerous "miracles" of outsized economic growth. However, these miracle growths are often followed by a sharp fall. The US has become one of the largest economies by growing only a percentage point more than other economies - but compounding that over many years. Will China be able to sustain its growth rate?

These lectures though short on hard science were fairly interesting in "magazine article" sense. Only in the ending did he drift off into conjecture of the future. (Is the US ceding its place? Will other countries really stop lending so much money to the US, and how will that impact the country? We don't know.)