Why Economies Rise or Fall

By: Peter Rodriguez, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Peter Rodriguez

How can a nation create the conditions for economic growth and prosperity? And what, once these conditions are achieved, can it do to sustain this progress? Discover the answers (which may surprise you) in these 24 lectures that guide you through a stimulating and, above all, accessible examination of what economists know and don't know about the elusive search for economic prosperity.

Here, you'll learn how countries as widely different as the United States and Vietnam have grown their economies; how countries like China and India were able to recover from economic reverses; and, most important, why the critical test of any economic policy is its ability to productively alter human behavior for everyone's ultimate benefit. By looking at economic growth as the result of incentivizing such productive behavior - "making productivity more profitable than all the alternatives" - Professor Rodriguez clears up an often-shrouded economic landscape. The result is a lecture series that brings the economic strategies chosen by nations down to street level by adding a newfound clarity to key issues: Why economies succeed or fail; how economic bubbles are created, why they burst, and how nations recover from them; the challenges posed by globalization; and more.

By the end of the last lecture, you'll understand as never before both the benefits granted and the costs extracted by the "instant economy" that technology and globalization have brought us. You'll grasp what China's expected economic dominance may soon mean. And you'll have a new appreciation of the juggling act policymakers perform as they try to heed history's latest lesson in achieving national growth and maximum human happiness.

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

©2010 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2010 The Great Courses

Great for Investors

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This lecture will help you to understand what to look for when considering local or global investments. You will understand what really drives an economy up or down.

Learned a lot

Learned a lot, great content. A bit repetitive at times but I learn something new in each chapter.

Enjoyable and Interesting.

What made the experience of listening to Why Economies Rise or Fall the most enjoyable?

For the most part I listen to audiobooks to obtain information. Some books are easy to listen to while others just have useful information. This audiobook has a bit of both.

Great appetizer for macroeconomics field.

I liked: Clarity, Simplicity, Worldwide coverage.
I hated: "western"-oriented, slow (I used 2x speed, solved).

Too many words, not so many ideas

Overall the book is interesting but it can easily be cut 50-70% without loosing anything.

Just a few interesting ideas/concepts and examples and covered with obvious and unoriginal thoughts.

this course really opened my eyes

this course really opened my eyes and inclined me to be less doctrinaire. I would recommend it to anyone for that reason.

Quite interesting!

A very well assembled book.

In the chapter about corruption, I would have liked to see more numbers that may help the listener get a better idea of the size of that "dead load". The research/insights on that difficult and extremely important topic should be deeper.

Insightful, thoughtful, easy to enjoy

I thought the course was excellent and had a lot of open-minded and open-hearted ideas. Free of the usual dogma and backed by data and examples. Loved it!

Wonderful book.

Amazing lectures. Easy to understand, and overall will add so much knowledge to how different systems of Economy work and the advantages and disadvantages of each system.

Worth a listen or two

Worth a listen or two. I learned a lot from this TGC course/audio. Very apt to learn in this current economy. Even novice can learn a lot. Put me to sleep a couple of times too.