Paul Solman, the Nationally Known Economic Correspondent for the Lehrer News Hour on PBS

Solman Video Descriptions

CHAPTER 1 The Nature and Method of Economics

The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker (6:45) Two key assumptions of economics: people act in their own self-interest to maximize what they get, and they do so rationally.

Rational Is as Rational Does (7:54) How often are we really “rational maximizers”? There are two sides of the story, with economists taking both sides.  Stanley Brue, Pacific Lutheran University  Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst  Robert Frank, Cornell University

A Thousand Words (7:18) How graphs can turn data into useful pictures worth a thousand words or more.

CHAPTER 2 The Economizing Problem

Capitalism vs. Socialism: The Cuban Quandary (10:01) Once a symbol of the Cold War between the US and the USSR, Cuba is no struggling with free-market capitalism, and the tensions it creates with government-controlled socialism. Can these rival economic systems coexist? In the same country?  Antonio Morales-Pita, DePaul university

Opportunity Lost (9:05) The Nature and Importance of Opportunity Cost The cost of a product or service is not only what you paid for it in money, but what it cost you in other resources – your time, energy and so on – that you could have put to use another way. When you use your resources in one way, you give up the opportunity to use them in another. Considering the value of what you give up can help you make more rational economic decisions.  Mary Stevenson, University of Massachusetts, Boston  Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Paul Samuelson, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

On the Possibilities Frontier, Part One (7:47) The Production Possibilities Curve, Scarcity, and Increasing Opportunity Costs The production possibilities “curve” or “frontier” illustrates the idea of scarcity (you can’t have it all, so you have to make tradeoffs) and the idea of increasing opportunity costs—the more you want of one thing, the more you’ll have to give up of other things. The reason is that you use your cheapest resources before any others.  Cecilia Conrad, Pomona College  James Clark, Wichita State University

On the Possibilities Curve, Part Two (4:09) The Production Possibilities Curve, the Efficient Use of Resources, and Growth The production possibilities “curve” or “frontier” also illustrates two other ideas: (1) an economy is always trying to produce ON the curve, instead of inside it, because that means it’s using its resources the best way it can, and (2) economic growth means pushing the curve OUTWARD, and that push is the goal of all economies: to get bigger and richer.

CHAPTER 3 Individual Markets: Demand and Supply

Onward and Upward (5:05) How the supply curve goes up as unit costs rise – because suppliers use their cheapest resources first.

Get Down (4:46) How and why the DEmand curve DEcends.  Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Meeting in the Middle (8:31) How supply and demand interact to drive the market to equilibrium.  Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Changes (10:05) How changes in supply and demand shift the supply and demand curves: MoRe to the Right; Less to the Left.  Michael Salemi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Deadweight Loss of Christmas (4:11) Put the blame on Santa for “market inefficiency” during the gift-giving season, since whenever the giver pays more than the givee would have, it send a signal above the equilibrium price that shrinks economic surplus and creates a “deadweight loss.” But this sort of “inefficiency” may actually be quite beneficial.  Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

CHAPTER 4 The Market System Specialization: Special is As Special Does (7:53) “Human Specialization,” also known as the division of labor, increases productivity as workers divide their labor into specialized tasks. In “geographic specialization,” each place specializes in what it does better. This is a key way that a free-market system creates wealth.  Kathryn Nantz, Fairfield University  Daniel Hamermesh, University of Texas, Austin  Michael Salemi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  Robert Gwynne, University of Birmingham, England

Private Property (and Pilgrims, Too) (9:39) Property Rights, an Essential Part of the Market System Why the Pilgrims and their investors abandoned collective action in favor of private property rights 400 years ago. As the Pilgrims learned the hard way, when their very survival was at stake, private property and private enterprise increase productivity and provide incentives for investment and development.

Chapter 6 The United States in the Global Economy

Trade (14:08)  Robert Gordon, Northwestern University

CHAPTER 8 Introduction to Economic Growth and Instability

More for Less (7:14) The concept of productivity – getting more output per hour of work – and how it’s the key to economic growth.  Robert Gordon, Northwestern University  Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Michael Boskin, Stanford University The Roller Coaster Ride (11:03) How any business – and the economy as a whole – goes through cycles of boom and bust.  John Sterman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Steering the Course (8:32) How the Federal Reserve Bank navigates between the two great dangers of the “macro” economy: inflation and recession.  Franco Modigliani, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Dark Side of Productivity (10:15) As we showed in an earlier video, increased productivity creates more of the things we want, faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. But it isn't the key to progress and a better life for everyone. Not at all.  Robert Freeman, Harvard University  Robert Gordon, Northwestern University  Paul Romer, Stanford University

CHAPTER 12 Fiscal Policy

Macroeconomics: Fiscal Policy (9:27) Created to rescue the market system from the Great Depression, macroeconomics promotes the use of two key government tools: monetary policy and fiscal policy. In this video, we’ll see how and why government spending (fiscal policy) can be used to jump start the economy.  Scott Simkins, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University  Robert J. Gordon, Northwestern University

CHAPTER 13 Money and Banking

Steering the Course (repeated) (8:32)

Chapter 15 Monetary Policy

Macroeconomics: Monetary Policy (13:07)  Andrew Brimmer

CHAPTER 18 Deficits, Surpluses, and the Public Debt

From Deficit to Debt (9:45) The deficit is what we overspend in a year and have to borrow, while the debt is the accumulated amount of money we owe, from the founding of our country to today. About 9% of the federal budget now goes to pay interest on that debt, leaving less for everything else. Are we mortgaging your future?  Robert Reischauer, President, The Urban Institute  Glen Hubbard, Columbia University CHAPTER 20 Elasticity of Demand and Supply

Elasticity (and the Case of the Jumping Prices) (14:54) How the degree of elasticity (or inelasticity) helps to explain the real world -- in this case, jumping natural gas prices.  Stanley Brue, Pacific Lutheran University

The Oprah Curve (6:19) When the supply curve is perfectly inelastic (for unique people like Oprah Winfrey, say, or for unique products like Rembrandt paintings), then price will vary entirely on the basis of shifts in demand. Or will it?  Robert Gordon, Northwestern University  Daniel Hamermesh, University of Texas, Austin

Chapter 21 Consumer Behavior and Utility Maximization

When Do You Stop Picking Berries (6:37)  Paul Samuelson, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Mary Stevenson, University of Massachusetts, Boston

CHAPTER 22 The Costs of Production

What Does "Profit" Mean? (7:14) Economics defines profit in very specific and very different ways A top-ranked business school's annual entrepreneurship contest: which student business has the best chance of making a profit? But profit, it turns out, has many definitions. Watching this piece is a way to remember them all.  Daniel Hamermesh, University of Texas at Austin

CHAPTER 23 Pure Competition

In Search of "Pure Competition" (10:15) Pure competition is the textbook definition of markets. In search of an example, however, we found that "pure competition" is an abstraction. On the other hand, it's a useful one.  Daniel Hamermesh, University of Texas at Austin  Zaki Eusufzai, Loyola Marymount University

Pareto Optimality and Pecan Pie (6:54) To an economist, efficiency is that wonderful state in which the most voluntary trades that can be made are made. But just because a market at equilibrium is efficient—that is, produces the maximum economic surplus, is “Pareto Optimal” – doesn’t mean it’s fair.  Cecilia Conrad, Pomona College

CHAPTER 27 The Demand for Resources

Street Smarts and Marginal Productivity (6:19) Why the marginal productivity curve can sometimes be misleading in the harsh light of real life, and how the process of challenging the graphs of economics can itself be a good way to learn.  Samuel Myers, University of Minnesota

Chapter 37 International Trade

Trade (14:08)  Robert Gordon, Northwestern University

IMF/Jamaica (10:16)

Chapter 39W The Economics of Developing Countries

IMF/Jamaica (10:16)  Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University  Michael Witter, University of the West Indies