A song and a cartoon
explain the basics of the bank as an intermediary--you can
use it to save and earn interest, or you can borrow from the
bank if you need funds now, but in that case you pay
interest. How would we borrow and save if there were no
banks or financial intermediaries?
A catchy tune
from School House Rock that looks at the ever-growing debt
of the United States. However, does this clip get the story
right? Do our tax dollars feed the debt or do they feed
government spending, which in turn feeds the
debt?
This clip
has a clever song about financial instruments and hedge
funds. Can you identify these terms that are mentioned in
the song: put, swap, mortgage-backed CDO, margin call, hedge
fund, hedge, Goldman Sachs, leveraged 10 to 1, Moody's,
S&P? (One quibble--some of the financial institutions that collapsed during 2008 were leveraged 30 to 1. Ten to one would have been conservative for them.)
This simple video
that introduces you to the basics of financial markets is
actually a commercial for a firm that wants you to use their
services to trade in these markets.
Tim Harford, author of The
Logic of Life and
The
Undercover Economist,
explains efficient markets in this clip.
How are the checkout lines in the supermarket like financial
markets? Why should we not trust the expert? Why then do
people trust experts in financial markets? (Is the reason that people are not willing to pay for Harford's advice because they do not think he is an expert, or could it be that the value of his expertise in this case, avoiding a few minutes of waiting, is not worth very much?)
,
explains efficient markets in this 