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.

Reviews

I think Prof. Rodriguez has done a very good job with this course. The Teaching Company, however, has not.

Prof. Rodriguez takes a case study approach to discussing economic growth, rather than a theoretical approach. In the early lectures, he discusses various countries or groups of countries and discusses why they did well economically. The first group of countries he discusses is Western Europe and why it became so much richer than the rest of the world for so long. Then he discusses America’s economic growth. He follows them in succession with Japan, the Asian Tigers, China, India, and Vietnam.

At this point, in lectures 14-15, he summarizes the key things that promote growth: investment (e.g. infrastructure, training & education), productivity, competition, stability, trade openness, the rule of law, and stable property rights. While lecture 14 summarizes the causes of economic growth, lecture 15 takes this summary and asks “How could you fail?” He uses the Soviet Union as an example of how to do the opposite of these growth-promotion recommendations. In lectures 17 & 18 he looks at how corruption and informal markets prevent economic growth.

Since Prof. Rodriguez uses a case study approach, he does not give much mention to theory. The Solow Growth Model was only mentioned in passing. He does not mention Paul Romer or Endogenous Growth Theory. In lecture 16, however, he does discuss Daron Acemoglu’s research. Also, in lectures 19 & 20 he discusses the classic theories of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Robert Malthus.

Prof. Rodriguez has an overly ponderous speaking style, with lots (and I mean LOTS) of rhetorical questions. Personally, I prefer it when professors get straight to the point. That said, he is very clear and easy to follow.

Now I get to my complaint about The Teaching Company. On the DVD version of the course, The Teaching Company presents a few graphics that are downright wrong. In lecture 10, at the 5:25 mark, Prof. Rodriguez mentions that India and China made up about “80% of total world output” during most of their history. The Teaching Company then presents a graphic that incorrectly states “80% Growth”. That’s just wrong! Output is an absolute amount. Growth is a RATE OF CHANGE. The percentage of output and the percentage of growth are as different as night and day. In lecture 16 at the 12:45 mark, The Teaching Company again uses the word growth incorrectly. Prof. Rodriguez states that Dell only had 4% of Brazil’s market share for computers. The Teaching Company then displays a graphic that says “4% growth instead of expected 25% growth.” Again, the graphic is as wrong as wrong can be. Market share is again a percentage of an absolute amount. Growth is a RATE OF CHANGE. The Teaching Company really should have the professor verify all graphics that are to become part of the course.

About the Author

Dr. Peter Rodriguez is Associate Dean for International Affairs and Associate Professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, where he teaches global macroeconomics and international business. The holder of a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, Professor Rodriguez has also taught at both that university and at Texas A&M, as well as at universities around the world, including on the water as a faculty member of Semester at Sea. His broad experience as a teacher-which has produced awards for teaching excellence wherever he has taught-goes hand-in-hand with significant real-world experience in the realm of business, which has drawn on his skills as both an educator and a practitioner. Professor Rodriguez’s private teaching engagements include work with the AES Corporation, Harris Corporation, Rolls Royce, and Visa, among other companies. He also worked for several years in the Global Energy Group at JPMorgan Chase, where his assignments centered on work for multinationals such as Royal Dutch Shell, Pennzoil, Apache Corporation, and Santa Fe Energy Resources. His current research interests include the interaction of globalization, economic development, and social institutions; the consequences of corruption for multinationals; and seed-stage finance in emerging markets.

Product details

• Full Audiobook MP3 Program
• Full PDF Guidebook Included
• Listening Length: 12 hours and 11 minutes
• Author: Peter Rodriguez, The Great Courses
• Narrator: Peter Rodriguez
• Release Date: July 08, 2013
• Publisher: The Great Courses
• Version: Original recording
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00DTNWIEQ

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