Educational Media Reviews Online

This extensive series provides emblematic historical stories illustrating a host of 28 economics phenomena and principles. Each of the 28 programs consists of a discussion of the phenomenon, a brief survey of terminology, an account of an historical event that directly illustrates the subject of the program, and an analysis portion, featuring an economist’s dissection and elaboration on the subject, usually using a tight selection of graphs. The menus in the DVDs are hierarchically organized to allow for quick referral and navigation.

This series is well researched and the content is well presented. The strengths of this work reside in its clever use of both widely known historical examples (such as the Great Depression) to demonstrate the phenomenon or principle of a program, and some rather peculiar events of the past (such as the soft drink industry shifting from sugar to corn syrup in 1979 after a price spike in sugar). The work also strikes a delicate balance between terminology and plain language to drive home a point. The series is replete with historic footage and stills, and includes interviews with economists including the prodigious John Kenneth Galbraith. The brilliantly presented subjects include stagflation, supply shock inflation, a unique market side analysis of Henry Ford’s innovations, and 2 programs dealing with international economics. Yet another strength of this series is its willingness to address thorny and complex issues, such as environmental issues, negative externality, and government intervention (as in the case of the Nixon price freezes).

This series comes highly recommended as an all but comprehensive introductory work in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics. This recommendation, however, comes with a caveat. The preface of this series indicates that this is a redesigned edition of Economic USA for the 21st century. This series suffers from a great deal of repackaged content from its previous edition. This can be overlooked in cases when the data and principles are still sound. There are instances, however, when forecasts have been superseded. For example, the work states, “the world population will double by the year 2000.” While a great deal of instructional integrity is found here, some audiences may not tolerate older commentaries [and wardrobes].