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Series

Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition

Introductory micro- and macroeconomics using news-style case studies paired with analysis segments that tie the stories to fundamental economic principles.

A video instructional series on micro- and macroeconomics for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 28 half-hour video programs; 28 audio programs; and website.

Explore economic history, theory, and practice through case studies and interviews with Nobel-prize winning and major economists. The series covering macro, micro, and international economics features Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, John Kenneth Galbraith, Alice Rivlin, and Ben Bernanke, among others. Major economic events, including the 2008 banking crisis and technology’s influence on the economy, connect economic theory to the headlines. The full complement of material includes audio interviews and a coordinated website.

Series Overview

From the first decade of the 20th century through the early portion of the 21st century, America has been on an economic roller-coaster ride from boom to bust and back again. Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition is a 28-part multimedia distance learning course in micro- and macroeconomics for college and high school classrooms that features many of America’s leading businesspeople, politicians, and economists as they expose the inside story behind these turbulent times.

This website for Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition integrates elements from the Annenberg Learner telecourse in an easy-to-navigate interactive environment, helping to advance knowledge of micro and macro economic principles for college students and high school students, teachers and administrators.

Long before economics became such a highly-valued topic of interest on every local and cable network broadcast—as well as radio, newspaper, magazine, internet, and blog sites—there was Economics U$A, an Annenberg/CPB telecourse, premiering in 1985 over the Public Broadcasting System. This 28-part series, accompanied by a textbook, faculty guide, student guide, and audiocassettes, offered distance learners an opportunity to gain college credit for an introductory course in micro and macro economic principles — via television. Economics U$A quickly became one of the most popular telecourses in the country, and has been so for more than 25 years.

Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition has been reconfigured in keeping with the teaching of modern economic principles, placing microeconomics first, followed by macroeconomics, and ending with two programs on global economics. The half-hour videos explore the history of economics in the United States from the late 1800s to 2011, featuring distinguished economic thinkers, policy makers, bankers, brokers, and large/small-scale business owners.

Former CBS journalist David Schoumacher narrates this investigative series — presenting three stories per episode. Interviews, archival film, and contemporary video capture operations in business, finance, government, and politics. Economic principles are explained by economists Nariman Behravesh and Richard Gill, who focus on a particular aspect of micro, macro, or global economics in each episode — from markets, to fiscal policy, to exchange rates.

This 21st Century Edition, released in 2011, highlights major developments in economics, both nationally and globally, showing, for example, how the Great Recession of 2008 has caused experts to consider the need to deconstruct previously ironclad economic concepts to make way for new lines of inquiry.

In addition to updated video content, Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition includes an interactive website that provides video program extensions, including: an economics historical timeline, a “fix the budget” simulation, multiple choice exercises that draw material from both the text and the video series, biographies of the series experts, audio interviews conducted by journalist Frank Stasio, and transcripts of the video and audio programs.

Individual Program Descriptions

1. Markets
The return of U.S. troops from overseas following World War II created a massive demand for cheap housing. Rising labor and energy costs in the United States in the ’60s and ’70s forced domestic steel manufacturer NUCOR to find ways to lower production costs. In 2009, rookie pitcher phenomenon Stephen Strasburg signed the largest rookie contract in baseball history. These stories show how a well-functioning free market pricing system determines how producers manufacture goods, what they will pay, what goods will be manufactured, and for whom the goods will be produced.

2. The Firm
In 1980, Coca Cola replaced sugar with high fructose corn extract in order to alleviate higher production costs. In 1963, Studebaker closed its plant, unable to increase sales and take advantage of assembly line production. In the new century, printing and publishing company Printpod, Inc. avoided increasing domestic labor expenses by tapping into the workforce in India. These stories show how competitive firms minimize their costs of production by utilizing an optimal combination of inputs and scale of operation, while others fall by the wayside.

3. Supply and Demand
A two-year drought in California in the 1970s motivated areas such as Marin County to conserve by reducing their water consumption by as much as 66 percent. Following the Arab oil embargoes of 1973, the Nixon administration latched onto the world price of “new” oil, encouraging domestic oil suppliers to drill again. Jordache designer jeans used creative advertising to create a demand for blue jeans. These stories illuminate factors that determine the quantity of goods demanded by consumers and the factors that determine the quantity of goods supplied.

4. Perfect Competition & Inelastic Demand
Farmers lured into producing massive food surpluses for WWI could no longer profit when the war ended and demand plummeted. After 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to improve the conditions of farmers via policies in his New Deal plan. Government subsidies later allowed for corporate ownership of a majority of farmers. The Freedom to Farm Bill of 1996 gave farmers a little more maneuverability, but for the most part farmers are still held to the fluctuating demand statuses of large competitive firms.

5. Economic Efficiency
In preparation for WWII, the Roosevelt administration instituted wage price and price controls to curb inflation and better focus production on war materials. When the Nixon administration set up price controls for beef, farmers attempted to stifle the supply by withholding animals from the markets. Following WWII, rent controls established to aid returning war veterans cut into landlord profits and consequently led some to abandon properties. These stories examine how the “invisible hand” behind free markets operates, the reasons for interfering with free markets, and the costs of doing so.

6. Monopoly
In 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act broke up the monopoly that John D. Rockefeller and his company, Standard Oil, had on the oil industry. In 1914, the federal government was sold on the concept of universal telephone service provided by Ma Bell, a monopoly that was ended by the development of a new technology. In 1998, the U.S. government filed a suit against the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, for participating in anti-competitive practices. These stories explain what monopolies are, and why government sometimes chooses to intervene.

7. Oligopolies
Competition with General Motors eventually rendered Ford’s single-option Model-T obsolete. In 1959, a reporter for the Knoxville News-Sentinel discovered a price-fixing scandal between three big-name electric companies in each of their closed bids to the Tennessee Valley Authority. In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter ordered Professor Alfred Kahn to deregulate the airline industry, which had been a federally protected oligarchy. These are all examples of oligopolies and the forces that influence them.

8. Pollution & the Environment
In 1977, the federal court system told the Reserve Mining Company to build a $400 million disposal site for carcinogenic materials. After 1970, Los Angeles was looking for a broad-ranging smog-reduction policy to reflect recently amended Clean Air Act standards. In 2009, the House of Representatives introduced the first piece of comprehensive clean energy legislation, known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which both economists and energy providers could support. Pollution is a “negative externality,” which, as these stories show, can have serious consequences for economic efficiency.

9. Labor and Management
The International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) strike in the early 1900s was inspired by poor working conditions and low wages. In 1984, Congress bailed out the Chrysler Auto company after Chairman Lee Iaccoca and Douglas Fraser, chief of the United Auto Workers, came to an agreement. Why does Walmart choose low prices over high wages, and how do they get away with it? These stories show how labor unions and corporate managers battle to affect the supply of labor, wages, and prices.

10. Profits and Interest
In response to rising interest rates in the 1970s, the Maryland legislature raised usury ceilings so that more home loans would be available. In December of 1980 Apple Computers went public, affirming four years of hard work with substantial compensation for its founders. Pharmaceutical companies invest millions in bringing new drugs to market. How much profit do they get in return? These stories exhibit economic reasons for interest payments and how investments in facilities and equipment are related to interest rates and expected profits on investment.

11. Reducing Poverty
After the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt put forth a social security program, using money from employer/employee wages. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act, providing childcare assistance for mothers in the work force. The Perry School for Community Services, a Washington, D.C. poverty-reduction program, offers after-school programs for kids and vocational programs for adults, including recently released convicts. These stories all deal with differences in income and how public policy and private funding is used to reduce poverty.

12. Economic Growth
By 1916 Henry Ford’s assembly line had lowered the price of the Model T to $360, making it affordable and increasing its production exponentially in two years. In 1972 a group of experts known as the Club of Rome issued a report called “The Limits to Growth,” predicting that raw materials could run out and world population growth and pollution could get out of hand. The Internet is a technological innovation that paved the way for other innovations such as smart phones. These stories highlight two important factors for economic growth: capital per worker (a.k.a. productivity) and technological innovation. Go to this unit.

13. Public Goods and Responsibilities
In 1937 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a government-owned utility company, was created to electrify rural communities and control flooding. 1965 marked the first U.S. attempt at national health insurance in the passage of Medicare and Medicaid. In response to 9/11, the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration replaced private security firms with federal employees. A perfectly competitive market does not always provide the right amount of goods, so government fills the gap with public goods. The debate on just how much the government should produce is highlighted in these stories.

14. Resources and Scarcity
Faced with dwindling resources, Congress fiercely debated whether to preserve 100 million acres of Alaskan land as a national park, or open the land for mineral exploration. World War II saw an unprecedented period of economic growth. The need to mobilize resources overseas quickly was palpable. In the 1970s U.S. textile industries risked competitive advantage in increasingly active Asian markets by investing more in the health of their workers. In all investments there are trade-offs and choices. These stories show how the cost of using some resources sometimes comes at the expense of others.

15. GDP/GNP
In 1929 following the stock market bottoming out, Simon Kuznets led an investigative study resulting in the first national data collection of Gross National Product (GNP). Able to assess the overall production to consumption ratio of the U.S., Franklin Roosevelt entered World War II without jeopardizing the basic needs of his citizens. Although GNP was changed to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 1991, it still didn’t account for all aspects of economic growth. Nonetheless, GDP data measurements help us understand the U.S. economy.

16. Boom and Bust
The nation’s cycles of economic booms and busts were considered intrinsically capitalistic by Joseph Schumpeter who called them “methodic economic growth,” and by Karl Marx who lambasted capitalism as inherently flawed. John Maynard Keynes held that recessions depended on the balance of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Economist Hyman Minsky provided a promising explanation for the Great Recession of the 21st Century with his theory that the financial system plays a determining role in economic cycles.

17. The Great Depression and the Keynsian Revolution
In 1932 President Herbert Hoover spoke enthusiastically about financial recovery while John Maynard Keynes expressed doubts. Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money in 1936, displaying ideas that later became the basis for public policy in Washington. Franklin D. Roosevelt did not generally trust economists, but his increased government spending during WWII proved Keynes’s theories correct. These stories discuss the ideas of J.M. Keynes and how the theory behind Keynsian economics explained the Great Depression.

18. Fiscal Policy
In 1954 relying on “automatic stabilizers,” President Dwight Eisenhower withheld raising taxes in order to encourage consumer spending. In the 1960s, newly elected John F. Kennedy and economic advisor Walter Heller pushed Congress to approve a $12 billion tax cut stimulus. The Employment Act of 1946 was the first time that government tried to employ fiscal policy. But, by 2010 economists disagreed about whether fiscal policy was dead, as they argued over the success or failure of President Obama’s stimulus plan. These stories are all examples of how government attempts to fine-tune tax and spending policies to reduce the severity of business-cycle fluctuations.

19. Inflation
In the 1960s President Lyndon Baines Johnson continued fueling the domestic agenda of his “Great Society,” keeping a low profile on the Vietnam War. But the U.S. overspent and inflation bubbled over. Anyone living on a marginally fixed income endured harsh consequences under inflation, and workers’ strikes only brought costs up more. After his election in 1972, Richard Nixon ordered a 90-day nationwide price and wage freeze after the Federal Reserve failed to curb inflation. These stories show problems posed by the development of inflation in the post-war U.S. economy.

20. The Banking System
The Knickerbocker Bank’s failure led to the Bank Panic of 1907, and ultimately inspired a need for a central bank. When thousands of banks failed in the 1930s, President Roosevelt declared a National Bank Holiday closing individual banks, and created new regulatory agencies to guard the system. But in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession and the failure of regulators to act, the Dodd/Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act became law. These stories explain the role of banks in the U.S. economy and how government agencies act to prevent individual bank failures from becoming banking crises.

21. The Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve was originally created in 1913 as an emergency lender to banks–a sort of bank of last resort. The Banking Act of 1935 and the Fed Accord of 1951 broadened the powers of the Fed, widening the range of options and tools it could use to manage the economy. Up to about 2010, the Fed did fairly well. But the housing bubble and Great Recession provided it with new and substantial challenges. These stories showcase the Fed’s capabilities while exploring how responsibilities and challenges have expanded over the years.

22. Stagflation
1970s America saw a new kind of inflation, based on supply and not demand: “stagflation,” caused by Arab oil embargoes and worldwide crop failures. In 1973 President Ford and Fed Chairman Arthur Burns tried to control inflation by choking the money supply. They failed. In the 1990s the U.S. had three ways to ease inflation: Technological innovation, market globalization, and expenditure restraint. Demand management policies fight cost-push inflation only by causing extremely high unemployment, and rising inflation and rising unemployment can parallel each other.

23. Productivity
In the 1970s, businesses struggled with rising energy costs, newly imposed environmental regulations, and inflation that contributed to the slowing of productivity. By 1980, a new group of economists called “supply-siders” were calling for government deregulation to spur productivity, amidst great objections from Democrats and some economic experts. Some thought that productivity was at an end, but government-supported technological innovation spurred productivity to new heights. These stories highlight the factors that affect productivity and how government programs have both helped and hindered growth.

24. Federal Deficits
During WWII, our national debt had more than quadrupled, so government encouraged citizens to buy war bonds and federal stamps to pay some of it off. In 1960 President Eisenhower achieved a surplus and reduced the debt, a feat not repeated until the 1990s. But a large tax cut in 2001, three wars, a down market and huge entitlement costs pushed the deficit and the national debt to an alarming new height that forced a fierce confrontation between Congressional Democrats and Republicans. These stories show that deficits can be helpful or harmful, but long-term debt is serious business.

25. Monetary Policy
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker pushed us through two deep recessions using monetary policy and increased interest rates to combat inflation in the 1980s. His successor Alan Greenspan used a different tactic in the early 1990s and 2000s: flood the market with liquidity to prevent freezing. And under Chairman Benjamin Bernanke the Fed has struggled to combat the ravages of the Great Recession in the first decade of the 21st century. These stories discuss the relationship between the money supply, economic growth, and inflation, and explain why choosing correct monetary policy can be so difficult.  

26. Stabilization Policy
Between 1982 and 1985, the Fed tightened the money supply to combat inflation, despite rising unemployment. Also in the 1980s, U.S. citizens began to feel the debilitating effects foreign trade would have on job loss. Paul Volker’s monetary policy in the mid-1980s was designed to quell inflation once and for all. However, in the first decade of the 21st century, when unemployment skyrocketed and the banking system and major corporations needed a bailout to survive, we questioned whether we could still control the economy. These stories highlight arguments for and against active government counter-stabilization policy.

27. International Trade
The U.S. auto industry lost a lot of mileage in 1973 with the rise of the more efficient Japanese imports. In the 1970s, the “trigger/price mechanism” was developed in order to differentiate between fair and unfair trade practices. Debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) included accusations that American jobs would suffer and American firms would relocate south of the border. Others insisted that increased trade would create new American jobs and industries. These stories illustrate the pros and cons of free trade.

28. Exchange Rates
By 1925 Great Britain went off the gold standard, managing to increase exports and lessen imports. The U.S. market was flooded with British goods and U.S. industry suffered. In July, 1944 world economic leaders met in Bretton Woods, NH for a “new world economic order” and soon the dollar became the new standard. In 2002 the Euro became the standard currency for the entire European Union and threatened to compete with the dollar. These stories portray the palpable cycle of effects involving trade, domestic growth, inflation, and flexible exchange rates.

Meet the Series Experts

Richard Gill

Economic Analyst A recognized authority in the field of economics and Professor of Economics at Harvard, where he held teaching and administrative positions over a span of 22 years. His “Economics I” became the largest elective course in the history of Harvard College, where he also served as Assistant Dean. He authored 11 books, many of which have been adopted nationwide as texts for the study of economics. In addition to his Harvard career, he spent fifteen years as an opera singer with the New York Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and other companies. His academic achievements and on-stage talent led to his becoming the economic analyst for Economics U$A in the original and updated versions of the series, currently revised as Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition. Dr. Gill earned his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Nariman Behravesh

Chief Economist Director of economic forecasting and Chief Economist of IHS Global Insight, responsible for developing the economic outlook and risk analysis for the United States, Europe, Japan, China, and other emerging markets. He oversees the work of more than 400 professionals who cover economic, financial, and political developments in 200 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

As IHS’s chief economics spokesperson, he is quoted extensively in the media on the outlook for the U.S. and global economies, oil prices, exchange rates, the budget deficit, the trade deficit, globalization, country risk, and emerging markets crises.  He is also cited frequently in leading business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Business Week, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, and U.S. News and World Report.

Behravesh regularly appears on national radio and television programs, including BBC World Business Report, NBC Nightly News, CNN Headline News, The PBS News Hour, Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Radio, and All Things Considered and Market Place on National Public Radio. His op-ed pieces have appeared in the Financial Times, Newsweek International, and the London Times.

Behravesh is the host of the Annenberg series Inside the Global Economy and shares responsibility with Richard Gill as series analyst on this 21st-Century Edition of Economics U$A. He also serves as content director for the series as well as co-author of the telecourse textbook, Economics U$A. In addition to his recent book, Spin-Free Economics: A No-Nonsense, Nonpartisan Guide to Today’s Global Economic Debates, he has co-authored Microcomputers, Corporate Planning and Decision Support Systems. In addition, he has taught at the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania, and he joined Wharton Econometrics in the mid-1980s. Dr. Behravesh holds a B.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

David Schoumacher

Television Journalist A prominent newspaper and television journalist for CBS and ABC News, where he worked alongside broadcast luminaries Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, covering the Vietnam War, the Watergate trials, the U.S. Space Program, and other key events. Previously, he worked in radio and as a lead anchor at WJLA-TV 7 in Washington, D.C. He now owns and manages a radio station in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Since 1985, he has collaborated with EFC Film and Video as lead journalist on three television series, including the New York Times series Live From the Past; the Annenberg/Learner series Inside the Global Economy; and Economics U$A in the original and revised versions of the series, currently updated as Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition.

View Series Contributing Experts

Unit 1

KENNETH JACKSON

Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the Social Sciences at Columbia University, specializing in urban, social, and military history. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor for the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has also served as President of the Urban History Association, the Society of American Historians, the Organization of American Historians, and the New York Historical Society. His published works include American Vistas, Cities in American History, and Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States.Dr. Jackson received his B.A. from the University of Memphis and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

SCOTT BORAS

Owner and President of the Boras Corporation, a sports agency that represents many of the highest-profile players in professional baseball. He has brokered record-setting contracts since 1982 and many of his clients, including Carlos Beltrán, Matt Holliday, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Magglio Ordóñez, Manny Ramirez, Stephen Strasburg, Mark Teixeira, Jayson Werth, and Barry Zito, are among the highest paid in the game. Mr. Boras received his B.A. from the University of the Pacific and L.L.B. from the McGeorge School of Law.

ROBERT W. CRANDALL

Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program of the Brookings Institution, specializing in telecommunications and cable television regulation, the effects of trade policy, environmental policy, and the changing regional structure of the U.S. economy. He is also Chairman of Criterion Economics. He has taught economics at Northwestern University, MIT, the University of Maryland, and George Washington University, and at the Stanford in Washington program. Prior to assuming his current position at Brookings, he served as Deputy Director for the Council on Wage and Price Stability. Dr. Crandall received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University.

Unit 2

RAYMOND BURNETT, JR.

Retired Studebaker executive and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Studebaker National Museum. Born in 1928, he remembers that his grandfather, father, and brother all worked at Studebaker, and that he worked up through the ranks as a laborer and then salaried personnel, rising to National Sales Manager of the Studebaker Corporation. His recollections express the pride in workmanship of “a family working together” and capture the pathos and grief of the company’s workers as Studebaker failed and closed its doors.

JACKIE FLAMM

Partner/Publisher at PrintPOD, Inc., which develops products for worldwide delivery over the Internet and in print. Formerly, she taught English as a Second Language at the American Language Institute in Washington, D.C.; was Director of English Language Learning at Euroschools of Italy; and was ESL Editorial Director at Regent’s Publishing International and at the American Book Company. She also served as Language Consultant to Children’s Television Workshop, helping to create “Sesame English” for markets in Japan and China. She is the author of The English Advantage. Ms. Flamm received her B.A. from Syracuse University.

MICHAEL ASLETT

Partner/Publisher at PrintPOD Inc., which uses the Internet and print-on-demand distribution to further the development of desktop publishing. Formerly, he was Development Director at the Daily Mirror in London and a partner in Colour Workshop, producing illustrated book content in color. With Kodak, he developed pre-press production methods, which allowed national daily newspapers to print in color. Mr. Aslett is a graduate of the London School of Printing.

Unit 3

James Schlesinger

JAMES SCHLESINGER

Secretary of Defense under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and the first U.S. Secretary of Energy, under President Jimmy Carter. While Secretary of Defense, he opposed amnesty for draft resisters and pressed for the development of more sophisticated nuclear weapon systems. Additionally, his support for the A-10 and the lightweight fighter program (later the F-16) helped ensure that they were carried to completion. Between 1955 and 1963, he taught economics at the University of Virginia and in 1960 published The Political Economy of National Security. He also worked at the Rand Corporation as Director of Strategic Studies. Dr. Schlesinger received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University.

BRENDA GALL

Financial Analyst and First Vice President at Merrill Lynch and Company, specializing in the textiles and the apparel industry. In 1996, she tied for the number one analyst spot in the Textile and Apparel Industry. She has been interviewed and quoted by many fashion and New York magazines regarding her opinions on the fashion trade.

Unit 4

WAYNE RASMUSSEN

Chief Historian at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1980s. Born on a farm in Rygate, Montana, he became a surveyor for the General Land Office and an accountant for the Corps of Engineers. He moved east in search of advanced education and work, finding both in Washington, D.C., where he became the Dean of Agricultural Historians and served eleven Secretaries of Agriculture over a fifty-year period. He was author of A History of the Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program, 1943–47. Dr. Rasmussen received his B.A. from the University of Montana and M.A. and Ph.D. from George Washington University.

BRIAN RIEDL

Budget Analyst and Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, specializing in interpreting, explaining, and reforming federal budget policy. His writings exposed the beginnings of a federal spending spree that was pushing federal spending to dangerous limits; his budget research has been featured in front-page stories and editorials in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He has discussed budget policy on the major networks, and he participates in the bipartisan “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour” of town hall meetings that focuses on the crisis in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Before joining Heritage, he worked for former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, former Representative Mark Green (R-WI), and the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly. Mr. Riedl received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and his M.A. in Public Affairs from Princeton University.

Unit 5

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

Economist known as the leading proponent of 20th-century political liberalism, and a prolific author who produced four dozen books and more than a thousand articles, including the popular trilogy American Capitalism, The Affluent Society, and The New Industrial State. He taught at Harvard University for many years, taking leaves to serve in the presidential administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He also served as United States Ambassador to India under President Kennedy. Due to his prodigious literary output, he was arguably the best-known economist in the world during his lifetime and one of a select few people to be twice awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Galbraith received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and M.A. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

HERBERT STEIN

Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. From 1974 to 1984, he was the A. Willis Robertson Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, where he formulated “Herbert Stein’s Law”; this stated, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop,” meaning that if a trend cannot go on forever, there is no need for action or a program to make it stop; it will stop of its own accord. This notion gave him the reputation of being a pragmatic conservative, jokingly referred to as a “liberal’s conservative and a conservative’s liberal.” He was author of The Fiscal Revolution in America and was on the board of contributors of the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Stein received his B.A. from Williams College and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Unit 6

DAVID BOIES

Prominent attorney involved in many high-profile cases, including United States v. Microsoft, during which Bill Gates said that Boies was “out to destroy Microsoft” but the Washington Monthly called him “a latter-day Clarence Darrow.” He also represented Vice President Al Gore in Bush v. Gore; defended CBS in an action brought by General William Westmoreland; defended Napster when the company was sued for copyright infringement; and is representing filmmaker Michael Moore regarding a Treasury Department investigation into Moore’s trip to Cuba while filming for Sicko. Earlier, he was Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Boies received his B.S. from Northwestern University and L.L.B. from the Yale Law School.

HENRY GELLER

Telecommunications attorney and law professor specializing in United States communications policy-making and regulation. He worked at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at several intervals from 1949 until 1973, serving as General Counsel and then as Assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch. He later served as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration during the Carter presidency. He proposed that funds raised from spectrum auctions be dedicated to the development of public broadcasting services, much like the traditional British model of public support for national programming. His contributions to national telecommunications policy led to the National Civil Service Award in 1970. In retirement, he has served as a telecommunications adviser for nongovernmental organizations, including Duke University’s Washington Center for Public Policy Research, the Rand Corporation, and the Markle Foundation. Mr. Geller received his B.S. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from Northwestern Law School.

Unit 7

ALFRED KAHN

Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board during the period when it ended its regulation of the airline industry, paving the way for low-cost airlines from People Express to Southwest Airlines. Generally considered a liberal Democrat, his strong advocacy of deregulation stemmed from his economist’s understanding of marginal-cost theory. Earlier, he taught economics at Cornell University, where he served as Chairman of the Department of Economics, a member of the Cornell Board of Trustees, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Kahn received his B.A. from New York University and Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

LEO RIBUFO

Distinguished Professor of History at George Washington University and Visiting Professor at Fudan University in China. He also held the Organization of American Historians/American Studies Association residency in Japan and was a specialist abroad for the United States Information Agency in Nigeria and the Republic of Korea. Before moving to George Washington University, he taught at Yale University and Bucknell University. Dr. Ribufo received his B.A. from Rutgers University and Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale University.

Unit 8

WILLIAM RUCKELSHAUS

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first Administrator when the agency was formed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970. Subsequently, he was acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and he served a second term as EPA Administrator, 1983-1985. Previously, he was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division for the U.S. Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General of Indiana, and Counsel to the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board, where he obtained court orders prohibiting industries and municipalities from polluting of the state’s water supply. He also helped draft the 1961 Indiana Air Pollution Control Act, the state’s first attempt to reduce that problem. Mr. Ruckelshaus received his B.A. from Princeton University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

ERIC POOLEY

Award-winning journalist and expert in the area of pollution and the environment. He was a feature writer, political columnist, and Senior Editor for New York magazine, later working at Time as its White House Correspondent, Chief Political Correspondent, and National Editor. In 2008, he studied press coverage of climate change issues at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and has written about climate change politics for Time, Slate, Bloomberg News, and other publications. He is the author of The Climate War and Deputy Editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Mr. Pooley received his B.A. from Brown University.

Unit 9

LEON STEIN

Union advocate, organizer in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU), and author who wrote about that union’s history. He began working at age sixteen as a cloth spreader in a garment shop, where he joined the ILGWU. After graduating from college, he returned to the garment industry as a cutter and in 1941 became a full-time union organizer. He contributed articles to Justice, the newspaper of the ILGWU, and became editor in 1952. Mr. Stein’s books include The Triangle Fire (about the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company that took the lives of 146 people) and Out of the Sweatshop, a documentary history of the ILGWU. He received his B.A. from the City University of New York.

DOUGLAS FRASER

A leader in the U.S. trade union movement, where he rose to the highest ranks of the United Auto Workers (UAW). He began his career as a teenage worker in a machine shop, then became a skilled metal finisher in a Chrysler DeSoto factory where he joined the UAW and was twice fired for his union beliefs and activities. He was elected President of the UAW Local 227, in 1943. After WWII, he climbed through the UAW ranks, as an international representative, a negotiator during a 104-day strike at Chrysler, and Administrative Assistant to UAW President Walter Reuther. Later, he became Co-Director of UAW Region 1A, Member-at-Large of the international UAW Board of Directors, Director of the UAW’s Chrysler, Skilled Trades and Technical Office and Professional Departments, and Vice-President of the UAW.

JACK BARBASH

Educator and an architect of the 1955 merger of a divided trade union movement into the AFL-CIO. He was the John P. Bascom Professor Emeritus of Economics and Industrial Relations at the University of Wisconsin, where he taught for 24 years. A prolific author, he wrote, edited, or contributed to books chronicling the labor movement and the history of economic thought. He held positions in the federal government, labor movement, and academia, serving in the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Labor, and on the National Labor Relations Board. He also served as Research and Education Director for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union and for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) Industrial Union. Mr. Barbash received his B.A. and M.A. from New York University.

PETER VAN DOREN

Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, Editor of the quarterly journal Regulation, and expert in the regulation of housing, land, energy, the environment, transportation, and labor. He has taught at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, the Yale School of Organization and Management, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Journal of Commerce, and the New York Post. He has also appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News Channel, and Voice of America. Dr. Van Doren received his B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Unit 10

LAURENCE LEVITAN

Senator in the Maryland Legislature for nearly twenty years, specializing in fiscal affairs and government operations. He chaired the Budget and Taxation Committee for fifteen years, chaired the Fiscal Affairs and Government Operations Committee, and served on many other committees, including: Pensions, Spending and Affordability, Joint Committee on Income Tax Reform, Rules, Legislative Policy, Joint Budget and Audit, Joint Committee on Management of Public Funds, Special Joint Committee on Legislative Data Systems, and Fiscal Affairs and Oversight. Mr. Levitan received his B.S. from Washington and Lee University and J.D. from George Washington Law School.

IAN SPATZ

Public policy expert and Senior Advisor in the national health care practices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Manatt Health Solutions, where he provides insights into health-reform efforts. He develops strategies affecting health-care providers and insurers, pharmaceuticals, consumers, and U.S. healthcare initiatives, as well as federal and state development and implementation of communication and advocacy efforts. He worked for 15 years at Merck & Co., one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and vaccine companies. As Merck’s Vice President for Global Health Policy, he directed U.S. policy and represented Merck before Congress, the Administration, and the media. Mr. Spatz received his B.A. from Brandeis University, J.D. from New York University, and M.P.P. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

STEVE JOBS

American business magnate, inventor, and Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apple Computer. In the late 1970s, Jobs, in association with Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, he was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Macintosh computer. During high school in Cupertino, California, he frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California, where he was soon hired, and he worked with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. In 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, then dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial activities.

STEPHEN WOZNIAK

Computer engineer and Co-Founder of Apple Computer, Inc., where his inventions and machines contributed significantly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s; he created the Apple I and Apple II computers. Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology in 1985 (along with Steve Jobs), was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and in 2001 was awarded the 7th Annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment. Wozniak has been given honorary degrees by the University of Colorado at Boulder, Kettering University, North Carolina State University, and Nova Southeastern University. Mr. Wozniak studied engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, then dropped out to take a job at Hewlett Packard.

Unit 11

WILBUR COHEN

Social scientist expert on the welfare state and a key player in the creation of New Deal and Great Society programs. He began as a research assistant during the drafting of the Social Security Act and rose to become Director of the Bureau of Research and Statistics in charge of program development and legislative coordination with Congress for the Social Security Board. In 1956, he became Professor of Public Welfare Administration at the University of Michigan, until President John F. Kennedy appointed him Assistant Secretary for Legislation of Health, Education, and Welfare. President Lyndon B. Johnson elevated him to Under Secretary in 1965, then to U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, in 1968. Years later, his name would be synonymous with the creation of Medicare. Mr. Cohen received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.

RON HASKINS

Co-Director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush for Welfare Policy. Previously, he spent 14 years on the staff of the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, as Welfare Counsel and Staff Director. Earlier, he did research at the Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill; taught history and education at UNC, Charlotte; and taught developmental psychology at Duke University. He was editor of the Green Book, a compendium of the nation’s social programs; editor of The Future of Children, a journal on policy issues that affect children and families; and co-editor of several books on welfare and education. Dr. Haskins received his B.A., M.A. in Education, and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at UNC, Chapel Hill.

ALAN WEIL

Executive Director of the National Academy for State Health Policy and former Director of the Urban Institute’s “Assessing the New Federalism” project. He held a cabinet position as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, was health policy adviser to Colorado Governor Roy Romer, and was Assistant General Counsel in the Massachusetts Department of Medical Security. He is co-editor of two books, author of many articles in peer-reviewed journals, and member of the editorial boards of Health Affairs, the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Health Care Services, the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System, and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Mr. Weil received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, M.A. in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and J.D. from Harvard Law School.

PETER WALLISON

Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Co-Director of AEI’s program on financial policy studies, specializing in banking, insurance, and securities regulation. Earlier, as General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, he had a significant role in developing proposals for the deregulation of the financial services industry. He also served as White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. His books include: Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency; Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds; Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks; The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age; and Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies. Mr. Wallison attended the Capitol Page School and received his B.A. from Harvard University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

Unit 12

JAY FORRESTER

Pioneer computer engineer and “systems” scientist, regarded as the founder of “system dynamics.” His engineering focused on studies of organizational policy, using computer simulations to analyze social systems and predict the implications of different models. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he founded the Digital Computer Laboratory, where he invented the magnetic core random-access memory (RAM) used in digital computers. He also developed a system that tracked five fundamental quantities: population, pollution, food production, industrialization, and consumption of resources. In 1956, he became Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He received the National Medal of Technology and was inducted into the Operational Research Hall of Fame. Mr. Forrester received his undergraduate degree from the Engineering College at the University of Nebraska.

HENRY C. WALLICH

Member of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1959–1961, and a Governor of the Federal Reserve System, 1974–1986. Beginning in 1933, he worked at an exporting firm in Argentina, a bank in Chile, and a securities firm on Wall Street. He later became a Professor of Economics at Yale University, an economic columnist for Newsweek magazine, and a Senior Consultant for the U.S. Treasury Department. Dr. Wallich received his B.A. from New York University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

ROB ATKINSON

Founder and President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a policy think tank. He is author of the State New Economy Index series and The Past and Future of America’s Economy: Long Waves of Innovation that Power Cycles of Growth. He has conducted ground-breaking research on technology and innovation, is a valued adviser to state and national policy makers, and is a popular speaker on innovation policy. Before founding ITIF, he was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and Director of its Technology and New Economy Project, writing policy papers on broadband telecommunications, Internet telephony, universal service, e-commerce, e-government, privacy, and off-shoring. Dr. Atkinson received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina.

Unit 13

WILLIAM JENNINGS RANDOLPH

U.S. Congressman from West Virginia, 1933–1947, and U.S. Senator, 1958–1985, where he was Chair of several committees and achieved note for sponsoring an amendment to the Constitution that would grant citizens between 18 and 21 the right to vote. In 1970, after eleven different sponsorships from Randolph, amendments to the Voting Rights Act lowered the voting age to 18 in both local and national elections. Prior to serving in Congress, he was the Associate Editor of the West Virginia Review at Charleston, West Virginia, and head of the department of public speaking and journalism at Davis and Elkins College. Between his House and Senate terms, he served as Dean of the college’s School of Business Administration. Mr. Randolph graduated from Salem Academy in 1920 and Salem College in 1922.

HENRY AARON

Senior Fellow of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and noted health-care expert, focusing on financial reform of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and tax and budget policy. Previously, he taught at the University of Maryland, served as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and chaired the 1979 Advisory Council on Social Security. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Advisory Committee of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Medical School, and he serves on the Board of Directors of Abt Associates and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He has been Vice President of the American Economic Association and President of the Association of Public Policy and Management. Dr. Aaron received his B.A. from U.C.L.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

WILBUR COHEN

Social scientist expert on the welfare state and key player in the creation of New Deal and Great Society programs. He began as a research assistant during the drafting of the Social Security Act and rose to become Director of the Bureau of Research and Statistics in charge of program development and legislative coordination with Congress for the Social Security Board. In 1956, he became Professor of Public Welfare Administration at the University of Michigan, until President John F. Kennedy appointed him Assistant Secretary for Legislation of Health, Education, and Welfare. President Lyndon B. Johnson elevated him to Under Secretary in 1965, then to U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, in 1968. Years later, his name would be synonymous with the creation of Medicare. Mr. Cohen received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.

PETER VAN DOREN

Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, Editor of the quarterly journal Regulation, and expert in the regulation of housing, land, energy, the environment, transportation, and labor. He has taught at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, the Yale School of Organization and Management, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Journal of Commerce, and the New York Post. He has also appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News Channel, and Voice of America. Dr. Van Doren received his B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

PETER WALLISON

Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Co-Director of AEI’s program on financial policy studies, specializing in banking, insurance, and securities regulation. Earlier, as General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, he had a significant role in developing proposals for the deregulation of the financial services industry. He also served as White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. His books include: Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency; Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds; Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks; The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age; and Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies. Mr. Wallison attended the Capitol Page School and received his B.A. from Harvard University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

Unit 14

LEON KEYSERLING

Economist and lawyer who drafted major pieces of New Deal legislation and served as head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Harry S. Truman. From 1933 to 1946, he was an attorney for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, a consultant to the Senate on social, economic, industrial, and financial issues, legislative assistant to Democratic New York Senator Robert F. Wagner, and General Counsel to the U.S. Housing Authority, Federal Public Housing Authority, and National Housing Agency. He helped draft many New Deal initiatives, including the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Social Security Act, and the National Labor Relations Act. Mr. Keyserling received his B.A. from Columbia University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School, and he did graduate work in economics at Columbia University.

DOUGLAS SCOTT

Policy Director for the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, and Conservation Director and Associate Executive Director for the Sierra Club for 17 years. Formerly, he managed a local environmental group in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, worked at The Wilderness Society, and was involved in the enactment of the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act (1975), The Endangered American Wilderness Act (1978), the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (Idaho, 1980), the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (1980), and the California Desert Protection Act.

ERIC FRUMIN

Director of Occupational Safety and Health for UNITE HERE, a union representing garment, textile, laundry, hotel, and restaurant workers. He was also the health and safety coordinator for Change to Win. He is a leading national trade union spokesperson on issues of job safety, health, and disability, including OSHA standard-setting and enforcement and surveillance of occupational disease and injury.

ROBERT NATHAN

Economist and lawyer, renowned for his work during the Depression and World War II and for his ability to explain complex economic theories in plain language. He was among the first economists to apply economic theories directly from within the marketplace rather than from academia. He spent a good part of the Depression gathering unemployment statistics, which gave him a keen insight into the free enterprise system. Heavily involved in U.S. industrial mobilization during World War II, he was appointed Chair of the War Production Board’s planning committee in 1942. After the war, he started a consultancy firm called Robert R. Nathan Associates. Mr. Nathan received his B.A. and M.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and L.L.B. from Georgetown University.

Unit 15

CAROL CARSON

Director of the Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund, 1996–2004, and earlier Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. At Commerce, she had also served as Deputy Director, Chief Economist, and Editor-in-Chief of the Survey of Current Business. She also held positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the National Planning Association, and as expert for the revision of the United Nations System of National Accounts. She has taught economic accounting, most recently at George Washington University. Dr. Carson received her B.A. from the College of Wooster, M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Ph.D. from George Washington University.

JOHN KENDRICK

Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1976–1977. He came to Washington in 1941 to work for the National Resources Planning Board and, in 1946, joined the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. One of his earliest assignments was to study how to “deflate” (find the true inflation-adjusted estimates of) the U.S. Gross National Product (GNP), the nation’s total output of goods and services. He was also the U.S. representative for meetings of the European Economic Community in Geneva and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Dr. Kendrick received his B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina and Ph.D. in Economics from George Washington University.

ROBERT NATHAN

Economist and lawyer, renowned for his work during the Depression and World War II and for his ability to explain complex economic theories in plain language. He was among the first economists to apply economic theories directly from within the marketplace rather than from academia. He spent a good part of the Depression gathering unemployment statistics, which gave him a keen insight into the free enterprise system. Heavily involved in U.S. industrial mobilization during World War II, he was appointed Chair of the War Production Board’s planning committee in 1942. After the war, he started a consultancy firm called Robert R. Nathan Associates. Mr. Nathan received his B.A. and M.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and L.L.B. from Georgetown University.

NIGEL GAULT

Chief U.S. Economist at IHS Global Insight, responsible for overseeing IHS’s macroeconomic forecasts and analyses of the U.S. economy. His expertise includes short-term and long-term economic outlooks, government economic policies, the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, trade, labor, and consumer-market issues. He has more than 20 years of experience in economic analysis and forecasting. Dr. Gault received his M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

GAYLORD NELSON

Wisconsin Governor, 1959–1963, and U.S. Senator, 1963–1981, specializing in the environment and small business. He traveled on the Conservation Tour with President John F. Kennedy and was the principal founder of Earth Day. While chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, he led successful efforts to authorize the first modern White House Conference on Small Business, created the system of Small Business Development Centers at U.S. universities, and improved the way that federal agencies regulate small businesses through the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Before he ran for Governor, he served in World War II, practiced law in Wisconsin, and served three terms in the Wisconsin State Senate. Senator Nelson received his B.A. from San Jose State College and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin.

Unit 16

PAUL SAMUELSON

First American economist to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, cited for doing “more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory.” Economic historian Randall E. Parker called him the “Father of Modern Economics” and the New York Times considered him the “foremost academic economist of the 20th century.” He spent his academic career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was awarded MIT’s highest faculty honor, and where he wrote the largest-selling economics textbook of all time: Economics: An Introductory Analysis. He served as an adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and to the United States Treasury, the Bureau of the Budget, and the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Dr. Samuelson received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

ROBERT HEILBRONER

Economist who regarded himself as a social theorist, integrating disciplines of history, economics, and philosophy. During World War II, he worked at the Office of Price Control under economist John Kenneth Galbraith. After the war, he became a research fellow, then Norman Thomas Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. He authored Worldly Philosophers, as well as Economics, the second-best-selling economics textbook of all time. The seventh edition of Economics, published in 1999, included a new final chapter entitled “The End of Worldly Philosophy?” in which he gave a grim view on the current state of economics as well as a hopeful vision for a “reborn worldly philosophy” that incorporated capitalism. Dr. Heilbroner received his B.A. from Harvard University and Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research.

WILLARD THORP

Economist who served as adviser in domestic and foreign affairs for presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. He helped draft the Marshall Plan and was prominent in business and education. He served as Assistant Secretary of State under Truman for Economic Affairs, 1946–1952. He also served on the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1946, as a participant in the New York meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, and as American representative to the United Nations General Assembly, 1947–1948. Prior to 1946, he worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he compiled centralized data that led to the 1926 publication of Business Annals, a book of economic statistics for 17 countries dating back to 1890. Dr. Thorp received his B.A. from Amherst College, M.A. from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

DOUGLAS ELLIOT

Fellow at the Brookings Institution, specializing in the regulation of financial institutions and markets. A financial institutions investment banker for two decades, principally at J.P. Morgan, he was the founder and principal researcher for the Center on Federal Financial Institutions. He has researched financial institutions or worked directly with them as clients in a range of capacities, including as an equities analyst, credit analyst, mergers and acquisitions specialist, relationship officer, and specialist in securitizations. His work encompasses banks, insurers, funds management firms, and other financial institutions. Mr. Elliott received an A.B. in Sociology from Harvard College and an M.A. in Computer Science from Duke University.

DIMITRI B. PAPADIMITRIOU

Economist and expert on the works of 20th-century economist Hyman P. Minsky, whose alternative theories for why the U.S. economy has periodic booms and busts have gained 21st-century recognition. Papadimitriou has been the Executive Vice President and Provost, Jerome Levy Professor of Economics, and President of the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. His published works include: Financial Conditions and Macroeconomic Performance: Essays in Honor of Hyman P. Minsky; Hyman P. Minsky’s Induced Investment and Business Cycles; Hyman P. Minsky’s Stabilizing an Unstable Economy; and Hyman P. Minsky’s John Maynard Keynes. Dr. Papadimitriou received his B.A. from Columbia University and Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research.

Unit 17

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

Economist known as the leading proponent of 20th-century political liberalism, and a prolific author who produced four dozen books and more than a thousand articles, including the popular trilogy American Capitalism, The Affluent Society, and The New Industrial State. He taught at Harvard University for many years, taking leaves to serve in the presidential administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He also served as United States Ambassador to India under President Kennedy. Due to his prodigious literary output, he was arguably the best-known economist in the world during his lifetime and one of a select few people to be twice awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Galbraith received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and M.A. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

ERIC SEVAREID

Prominent broadcast journalist best known for his work at CBS where he served as Chief of the Washington Bureau, 1946–1954. During World War II, he broadcast the fall of Paris to the Germans, then joined the legendary Edward R. Murrow in London, where he reported on the Battle of Britain throughout the war. He worked extensively for CBS News on television in the years following the war, and he became one of the early critics of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communism tactics. Mr. Sevareid received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota.

LORIE TARSHIS

Canadian economist credited with writing the first introductory textbook on Keynesian thinking, The Elements of Economics, in 1947. Yet, because his text was discredited by Senator Joseph McCarthy as sympathetic to communism, it was Paul Samuelson’s book that brought the Keynesian revolution to the United States. He began his academic career as an instructor at Tufts University. During World War II, he worked for the War Production Board and became a battlefield operations analyst for the Army Air Forces. After the war, he taught at Stanford, where he became Chair of the Department of Economics. Later, he taught at the University of Toronto and remained there until he retired. Dr. Tarshis received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge.

WALTER SALANT

Economist noted for his work on John Maynard Keynes. In 1933, he attended Keynes’ lectures at Cambridge University, two years before Keynes’ publication of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, the treatise that argued that industrialized economies, then mired in depression, were unlikely to recover on their own but could use government spending and tax cuts to do so. Salant later joined the fiscal policy seminar at Harvard that trained economists in the Keynesian foundation. During the Depression he served in the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commerce Department. During World War II, he served with the Office of Price Administration and other agencies that designed strategies for price controls. He was a senior staff member on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1946–1952. Mr. Salant received his B.A. from Harvard University.

Unit 18

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

Economist known as the leading proponent of 20th-century political liberalism, and a prolific author who produced four dozen books and more than a thousand articles, including the popular trilogy American Capitalism, The Affluent Society, and The New Industrial State. He taught at Harvard University for many years, taking leaves to serve in the presidential administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He also served as United States Ambassador to India under President Kennedy. Due to his prodigious literary output, he was arguably the best-known economist in the world during his lifetime and one of a select few people to be twice awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Galbraith received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and M.A. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN

Currently he is the President of the American Action Forum and a Commissioner on the Congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Under President George W. Bush, he was Chief Economist for the Council of Economic Advisers and Director of the Congressional Budget Office. He taught at Princeton and Columbia Universities, then served as a Senior Staff Economist on President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and as a Faculty Research Fellow and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He joined the faculty at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, becoming Chair of the Department of Economics, 1997–2001. He is President of DHE Consulting, LLC, and has served as Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and the Paul A. Volcker Chair in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a senior visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Dr. Holtz-Eakin received his B.A. from Denison University and Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

WALTER HELLER

Influential American economist of the 1960s and Chairman of President John F. Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1961–1964. He was a Keynesian who promoted cuts in the marginal federal income tax rates, which were passed by President Johnson and Congress after Kennedy’s death and credited for boosting the economy. He developed the first “voluntary” wage-price guidelines and was one of the first to emphasize that tax deductions and tax preferences narrowed the income tax base. As an adviser to President Johnson, he convinced the president to adopt a major economic initiative—the “War on Poverty.” But he resigned when Johnson escalated the Vietnam War without raising taxes, thus setting the stage for an inflationary spiral. Before and after government service, he taught at the University of Minnesota where he became Chair of the Department of Economics. Mr. Heller received his B.A. from Oberlin College.

HERBERT STEIN

Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. From 1974 to 1984, he was the A. Willis Robertson Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, where he formulated “Herbert Stein’s Law”; this stated, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop,” meaning that if a trend cannot go on forever, there is no need for action or a program to make it stop; it will stop of its own accord. This notion gave him the reputation of being a pragmatic conservative, jokingly referred to as a “liberal’s conservative and a conservative’s liberal.” He was the author of The Fiscal Revolution in America and was on the board of contributors of the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Stein received his B.A. from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Unit 19

PAUL MCCRACKEN

Chairman of President Richard Nixon’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), now the Edmund Ezra Day Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, Economics, and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He chaired the American Enterprise Institute’s Council of Academic Advisors and served as interim president of the Institute in 1986. As Chairman of the CEA, McCracken pursued economic policies of restraint to curb inflation without increasing unemployment. He opposed a revival of mandatory wage and price controls, favored by some economists. He often appeared in conflict with the Federal Reserve respecting monetary policy, favoring a more liberal policy than the Federal Reserve had been willing to allow. Dr. McCracken received his B.A. from William Penn College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

WALTER HELLER

Influential American economist of the 1960s and Chairman of President John F. Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1961–1964. He was a Keynesian who promoted cuts in the marginal federal income tax rates, which were passed by President Johnson and Congress after Kennedy’s death and credited for boosting the economy. He developed the first “voluntary” wage-price guidelines and was one of the first to emphasize that tax deductions and tax preferences narrowed the income tax base. As adviser to President Johnson, he convinced the president to adopt a major economic initiative—the “War on Poverty.” But he resigned when Johnson escalated the Vietnam War without raising taxes, thus setting the stage for an inflationary spiral. Before and after government service, he taught at the University of Minnesota where he became Chair of the Department of Economics. Mr. Heller received his B.A. from Oberlin College.

VICTOR GOTBAUM

American labor leader who was President of AFSCME District Council 37 (DC37), the largest municipal union in New York City, from 1965 to 1987. Under Gotbaum’s leadership, DC37 successfully organized thousands of municipal hospital workers and helped create New York City’s Office of Collective Bargaining. During the New York City bankruptcy crisis in the mid-1970s, Gotbaum and DC37 agreed to major collective bargaining concessions, which set a pattern that forced other municipal unions to do the same. He fought in World War II, attended Brooklyn College and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and took his first union job as assistant director of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters in Chicago, in 1955.

Unit 20

HENRY KAUFMAN

President of Henry Kaufman & Company Inc., which specializes in financial and economic counseling as well as investment management. For 26 years preceding the creation of his company, he was Managing Director for Salomon Brothers, Inc., where he made a name for himself predicting the rise and fall of bond prices. Before joining Salomon Brothers, he served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In 1995, he joined Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., serving as Chairman of the Finance Committee before the firm went bankrupt in 2008. He has also been a Director of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and Freddie Mac. Dr. Kaufman received his B.A. from New York University, M.S. from Columbia University, and Ph.D. in Banking and Finance from the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.

STEVEN PEARLSTEIN

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and business and economics columnist for the Washington Post, cited for “his insightful columns that explore the nation’s complex economic ills with masterful clarity.” Earlier, he worked for two newspapers in New Hampshire, then joined U.S. Senator John Durkin’s administrative staff, and worked for the Senate and House of Representatives for several years. He held a brief stint as a television reporter before returning to print, founding the critically acclaimed Boston Observer. When the Observer lost its funding, he worked for Inc. magazine before joining the Washington Post. In 2009, he garnered controversy for a column he published lambasting Republican politicians for blocking new health-care legislation. Mr. Pearlstein received his B.A. from Trinity College in 1973.

KAREN PETROU

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Federal Financial Analytics, Inc., a privately held company that provides analytical and advisory services on legislative, regulatory, and public-policy issues affecting financial services companies doing business in the U.S. and abroad. She is a frequent speaker on topics affecting the financial services industry. In addition to presentations to Congress and government agencies, she has spoken before the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the American Bar Association, the Brookings Institution, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Manufacturers, and many other groups. She has also authored many articles in publications such as American Banker, Bankers Magazine, and International Economy, as well as general-interest media like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Petrou received her B.A. from Wellesley and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was also a doctoral candidate.

PETER WALLISON

Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Co-Director of AEI’s program on financial policy studies, specializing in banking, insurance, and securities regulation. Earlier, as General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, he had a significant role in developing proposals for the deregulation of the financial services industry. He also served as White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. His books include: Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency; Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds; Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks; The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age; and Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies. Mr. Wallison attended the Capitol Page School and received his B.A. from Harvard University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

Unit 21

ANDREW BRIMMER

Economist and expert on the world banking system, specializing in foreign debt obligations of Third World countries. He served as Assistant Secretary of Economic Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce, under President John F. Kennedy, and in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to an eight-year year term on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the first African American to serve. Later, he taught at Harvard University, formed his own consulting company, Brimmer & Co., and in 1997 returned to the Federal Reserve as Vice Chairman. He was elected to the Washington Academy of Sciences and has served as Vice President of the American Economic Association, President of the Eastern Economics Association, and President of the North American Economics and Finance Association. Dr. Brimmer received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Delhi School of Economics.

BENJAMIN BERNANKE

Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, since 2006, and Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System’s principal monetary policy-making body. In 2001, he became Editor of the American Economic Review. In 2002, he was appointed as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, where he served until becoming Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, 2005–2006. Before these appointments, he was a Professor of Economics at Princeton University. Presiding during a period of economic turmoil, his Federal Reserve chairmanship has been contentious. While many of his efforts have been extolled, he has also shouldered criticism for the economy’s slow recovery from the Great Recession of 2008. Dr. Bernanke received his B.A. from Harvard University and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

LESTER CHANDLER

Adviser to the federal government during World War II, valued for his expertise in monetary policy. During the war, he was associated with the rubber and chemical branches of the Office of Price Administration. After the war he conducted research for the Congressional Subcommittee on Monetary and Fiscal Policy of the Joint Economic Committee and became Public Director and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He also had a distinguished academic career, beginning at Dartmouth and Amherst Colleges, then at Princeton University where he was twice Chairman of the Department of Economics and served as Acting Director of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Chandler received his B.A. from the University of Missouri and Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

DONALD KOHN

Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2006–2010, and Member of the Board of Governors, 2002–2008. Earlier, he served on the Board staff as Adviser to the Board for Monetary Policy, Secretary of the Federal Open Market Committee, Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs, and Deputy Staff Director for Monetary and Financial Policy. He also held several positions in the Board’s Division of Research and Statistics, including Associate Director and Chief of Capital Markets. He has written extensively on issues related to monetary policy and its implementation by the Federal Reserve, and his work has been published in volumes issued by the Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Brookings Institution. Dr. Kohn received his B.A. from The College of Wooster and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Unit 22

ALAN BLINDER

Member of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1993–1994, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1994–1996. Earlier, he was one of the Congressional Budget Office’s first officials, serving as Deputy Assistant Director in 1975. He teaches at Princeton University as the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs in the Economics Department, and is Vice Chairman of The Observatory Group and Co-Director of Princeton’s Center for Economic Policy Studies. He has authored and co-authored 17 books and is a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal. He has served as President of the Eastern Economic Association, Vice President of the American Economic Association, and on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee, and the Bellagio Group. Dr. Blinder received his B.A. from Princeton University, M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

ALICE RIVLIN

Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Member of President Barack Obama’s 2010 Federal Debt Commission, known for her expertise on fiscal and monetary policy. She was Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, 1996–1999. She also served as Chair of the District of Columbia Financial Management Assistance Authority and Welfare Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. She received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, has taught at Harvard University, George Mason University, and New School University, and has served as President of the American Economic Association. She is a frequent contributor to newspapers, television, and radio and has written many books, including Systematic Thinking for Social Action, Reviving the American Dream, and Beyond the Dot.coms (with Robert Litan). Dr. Rivlin received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and Ph.D. in Economics from Radcliffe College (Harvard University).

PAUL VOLCKER

Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1979–1987, credited with leadership in ending a period of high and rising inflation and restoring a base for sustained growth. Later, he became chairman of the firm of James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., concentrating on investment banking services to domestic and international organizations. He served in the federal government for almost 30 years, in posts that included President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Monetary Affairs, where he developed and implemented Treasury debt management and federal credit policies. In the area of domestic finance, he initiated the auctioning of Treasury bonds, an approach that has become customary in the United States and many other countries. A former chairman of the Trilateral Commission, he serves on many public and private boards, including the Group of Thirty, International House, and the Financial Services Volunteer Corps. He is a member of the Institute for International Economics and an overseer of TIAA-CREF, the leading private retirement system in the United States. He has taught at Princeton University and at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Mr. Volcker received his B.A. from Princeton University and M.A. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University and did postgraduate work at the London School of Economics.

STANLEY FISCHER

Governor of the Bank of Israel and former U.S. adviser to Israel’s economic stabilization program. He was Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist at the World Bank, 1988–1990; First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, 1994–2001; and then served as Vice Chairman of Citigroup, President of Citigroup International, and Head of the Public Sector Client Group. He is co-author of two popular textbooks on macroeconomics. In 2010, he was declared Central Bank Governor of the Year by Euromoney magazine. Dr. Fischer received his B.Sci. and M.Sci. in Economics from the London School of Economics and his Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Unit 23

ARTHUR LAFFER

Economist known as “The Father of Supply-Side Economics” because of his influence in shaping public policy during the 1980s, especially in the realm of tax cuts. He is Founder and Chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research firm that provides global investment services, and was also Founder of the Congressional Policy Advisory Board that helped shape legislative policies for the 105th-107th U.S. Congresses. He served as a consultant to Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of the Treasury George Shultz, and was Chief Economist at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board, 1981–1989. He is famous for inventing the “Laffer Curve,” deemed by Time magazine “one of the few advances that powered this extraordinary century.” He has taught at Pepperdine University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Chicago. Dr. Laffer received his B.A. from Yale University and M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

EDWARD F. DENISON

Pioneer in the development of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts, with an international reputation as the originator of “growth accounting,” the identification and quantification of the sources of growth in real national income/product. He held many public and private sector posts, including Acting Chief of the National Income Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Assistant Director and Chief Economist of the Office of Business Economics, and Member of the Committee for Economic Development (CED). At CED, he produced studies of the sources of economic growth and policies to promote growth, published in the landmark 1962 CED report The Sources of Economic Growth in the United States and the Alternatives Before Us. At the Brookings Institution, he applied his growth-accounting methodology in Why Growth Rates Differ and How Japan’s Economy Grew So Fast. Dr. Denison received his B.A. from Oberlin College and Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University.

MARK DOMS

Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce, since 2010, and former Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He has wide experience with economic and policy analysis on a range of topics, including the effects of technology adoption and innovation on firm productivity and on housing market changes. He also spent time at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and in the early 1990s worked at the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau. Dr. Doms received his B.A. from the University of Maryland and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Unit 24

ALICE RIVLIN

Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Member of President Barack Obama’s 2010 Federal Debt Commission, known for her expertise on fiscal and monetary policy. She was Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, 1996–1999. She also served as Chair of the District of Columbia Financial Management Assistance Authority and Welfare Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. She received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, has taught at Harvard University, George Mason University, and New School University, and has served as President of the American Economic Association. She is a frequent contributor to newspapers, television, and radio and has written many books, including Systematic Thinking for Social Action, Reviving the American Dream, and Beyond the Dot.coms (with Robert Litan). Dr. Rivlin received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and Ph.D. in Economics from Radcliffe College (Harvard University).

ALAN SIMPSON

U.S. Senator from Wyoming, 1979–1997, and Co-Chair of President Barack Obama’s 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. A Republican opponent of government regulation, he has at the same time defended women’s “right to choose,” gay and lesbian rights, and equality for all persons regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. He was Republican whip, 1985–1995, and Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, 1981–1987 and 1995–1997. He also chaired the Immigration and Refugee Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, the Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee, the Social Security Subcommittee, and the Committee on Aging. After retiring from politics, he taught at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, serving two years as Director of the Institute of Politics, then returned to Wyoming to practice law. Senator Simpson received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Wyoming.

CHARLES L. SCHULTZE

Public policy analyst and Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution since 1977. Earlier he served as Associate Director and Director of the United States Bureau of the Budget under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and was Chairman of President Jimmy Carter’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1977–1980. He was also President of the American Economic Association and Member of the Economic Advisory Board at Warburg Pincus LLC. He has taught economics at the University of Maryland and at Indiana University. Dr. Schultze received his B.A. and M.A. from Georgetown University and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland.

RAYMOND SAULNIER

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Earlier, he was the Director of the Financial Research Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he invoked the usage of government-developed “economic indicators” (statistics about the economy). While at the CEA, he co-wrote a brief that led to the termination of the 1959 steel industry strike held by the United Steelworkers of America. From 1944 to 1973, he was also a professor at Columbia University/Barnard College. He wrote three books, including Contemporary Monetary Theory. His articles were published in The Conservative Papers, The Republican Papers, and Fortune magazine, and by several university presses. Dr. Saulnier received his B.A. from Middlebury College, M.A. from Tufts University, and Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

Unit 25

HENRY S. REUSS

U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin, 1955–1983, a staunch Democrat known for his progressive stands on a wide range of issues. He fought for increased transparency in banking, an inquiry into Watergate, and strategies to check President Ronald Reagan’s economic polices. He was the first in Congress to propose what became the Peace Corps. An early proponent of environmental protection, he took action against 149 Wisconsin companies for pollution and authored legislation to establish the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. In his 1999 book, When Government Was Good: Memories of a Life in Politics, he argued that a golden age in politics existed from 1948 to 1968, when the nation proved that it could achieve full employment, secure civil rights, and prevent nuclear war. In World War II, he won a Bronze Star as an infantryman and after the war served as deputy general counsel for the Marshall Plan. Mr. Reuss received his B.A. from Cornell University and L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

MILTON FRIEDMAN

Winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics for “his achievements in the field of consumption analysis, monetary history, and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy.” From his lifetime base at the University of Chicago, he did trailblazing work on price theory—the theory that explains how prices are determined in individual markets—and “monetarism.” He defied Keynes and most of the academic establishment of the time, resurrecting the quantity theory of money—the idea that the price level depends on the money supply. His solution to the problems of inflation and short-run fluctuations in employment and real GNP was a so-called money-supply rule, which stated that if the Federal Reserve Board were required to increase the money supply at the same rate as real GNP increased, inflation would disappear. He also argued that keeping unemployment permanently lower would require a permanently accelerating inflation rate. He wrote many texts, including Income from Independent Professional Practice; A Theory of the Consumption Function; Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money; Capitalism and Freedom; Free to Choose (which accompanied a PBS television series); and A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. After retiring from the University of Chicago in 1977, he became a Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Dr. Friedman received his B.A. from Rutgers University, M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

ROBERT C. HOLLAND

Economist appointed to the Federal Reserve Board by President Richard Nixon in 1973, serving as Secretary to the Board of Governors from 1973 to 1976. Until 1990, he was President of the Committee for Economic Development, a nonprofit Washington organization devoted to the study of public policy. Earlier, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Management at the Wharton School, President, and Senior Economic Consultant at the Committee for Economic Development, and Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank, Chicago. He has spoken and written extensively on banking, finance, and economic development. Dr. Holland attended college in Kansas City and received his Ph.D. in Economics.

DONALD KOHN

Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2006–2010, and Member of the Board of Governors, 2002–2008. Earlier, he served on the Board staff as Adviser to the Board for Monetary Policy, Secretary of the Federal Open Market Committee, Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs, and Deputy Staff Director for Monetary and Financial Policy. He also held several positions in the Board’s Division of Research and Statistics, including Associate Director and Chief of Capital Markets. He has written extensively on issues related to monetary policy and its implementation by the Federal Reserve; his work has been published in volumes issued by the Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Brookings Institution. Dr. Kohn received his B.A. from The College of Wooster and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

FREDERICK H. SCHULTZ

Private Investor, owner of Schultz Investments, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1979–1982, and member of the Florida House of Representatives, 1963–1970. He served in the U.S. Army, 1952–1954, and was employed by the Barnett Bank of Jacksonville, Florida, 1956–1957. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Barnett Investment Services, Inc., and as a Director of a number of private companies and banks, including Transco Energy Company, the American Heritage Life Insurance Co., Riverside Group, Inc., Family Steak Houses of Florida and Southeast Atlantic Corp, Wickes, Inc., and Barnett Banks, Inc. Mr. Schultz received his B.A. from Princeton University. He attended the University of Florida College of Law, graduating with his law degree in 1956.

Unit 26

DOUGLAS ELLIOT

Fellow at the Brookings Institution, specializing in the regulation of financial institutions and markets. A financial institutions investment banker for two decades, principally at J.P. Morgan, he was the founder and principal researcher for the Center on Federal Financial Institutions. He has researched financial institutions or worked directly with them as clients in a range of capacities, including as an equities analyst, credit analyst, mergers and acquisitions specialist, relationship officer, and specialist in securitizations. His work encompasses banks, insurers, funds management firms, and other financial institutions. Mr. Elliott received an A.B. in Sociology from Harvard College and an M.A. in Computer Science from Duke University.

BERYL SPRINKEL

Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan and author or co-author of many articles and books that discuss the effects of monetary policy on financial markets and the economy. He was Executive Vice President at the Harris Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago and a consultant to Congressional committees and government agencies, including four years as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs. He also taught economics and finance at the University of Missouri School of Business and Public Administration and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He has been a member of Time magazine’s board of economists, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a founding member of the Shadow Open Market Committee. Dr. Sprinkel received his B.S. in Public Administration and B.S. in Economics at the University of Missouri and M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

FREDERICK H. SCHULTZ

Private Investor, owner of Schultz Investments, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1979–1982, and member of the Florida House of Representatives, 1963–1970. He served in the U.S. Army, 1952–1954, and was employed by the Barnett Bank of Jacksonville, Florida, 1956–1957. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Barnett Investment Services, Inc., and as a Director of a number of private companies and banks, including Transco Energy Company, the American Heritage Life Insurance Co., Riverside Group, Inc., Family Steak Houses of Florida and Southeast Atlantic Corp, Wickes, Inc., and Barnett Banks, Inc. Mr. Schultz received his B.A. from Princeton University. He attended the University of Florida College of Law, graduating with his law degree in 1956.

MARTIN FELDSTEIN

Professor of Economics at Harvard University, President Emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and President Ronald Reagan’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. President George W. Bush appointed him a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and, in 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him a member of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, and a Fellow of the National Association of Business Economics. He is also a Trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Group of Thirty, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of more than 300 research articles in economics and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Dr. Feldstein received his B.A. from Harvard University and B.Litt. and D.Phil. from the University of Oxford.

KAREN PETROU

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Federal Financial Analytics, Inc., a privately held company that provides analytical and advisory services on legislative, regulatory, and public-policy issues affecting financial services companies doing business in the U.S. and abroad. She is a frequent speaker on topics affecting the financial services industry. In addition to presentations to Congress and government agencies, she has spoken before the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the American Bar Association, the Brookings Institution, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Manufacturers, and many other groups. She has also authored many articles in publications such as American Banker, Bankers Magazine, and International Economy, as well as general-interest media like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Petrou received her B.A. from Wellesley and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was also a doctoral candidate.

Unit 27

JOHN DINGELL, JR.

Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives and currently its longest-serving member, having been a U.S. Congressman from Michigan since 1955. Earlier, he served as a research assistant to United States Circuit Judge Theodore Levin and as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Wayne County, Michigan. He was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fourth Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, Representative John D. Dingell, Sr. In Congress, he has served as Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. He has also served on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, the Subcommittee on Energy and Power, and the Subcommittee on Environment and Economy. He attended Capitol Page School in Washington, D.C., and was a page in the House of Representatives from 1938 to 1943, prior to his service in the U.S. Army during World War II. He received his B.S. from Georgetown University and J.D. from Georgetown University Law School.

LUIS DE LA CALLE

Managing Director and founding partner of De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera, S.C. (CMM), specializing in international trade. He also teaches at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). Prior to joining the private sector, he served as Under Secretary for International Trade Negotiations in Mexico’s Ministry of the Economy, under former presidents Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo, negotiating several of Mexico’s bilateral free trade agreements and regional and multilateral agreements with the World Trade Organization. He also served as Executive Secretary of the National Foreign Investment Commission, Trade and NAFTA Minister at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Country Economist for the Czech and Slovak Republics and Poland. He has many publications and writes a biweekly column for the Mexican daily El Universal. Dr. De la Calle received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

WILLIAM A. BROCK

U.S. Senator from Tennessee, 1971–1977, Congressman from Tennessee, 1963–1971, and U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Labor under Ronald Reagan. He resigned his cabinet post to become Chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1977–1981. In the Senate, Brock was a favorite of the conservative movement, and he continued in Republican politics, after he lost his bid for re-election to the Senate, to become the campaign manager for Senator Bob Dole’s presidential campaign. He then became a consultant in the Washington, D.C., area and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate, from Maryland, in 1994. Mr. Brock received his B.A. from Washington and Lee University.

Unit 28

EDWARD M. BERNSTEIN

Principal Economist for the U.S. Treasury, 1940–1946, during which time he also served as Assistant Director of the Monetary Research Division and Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1944, he was Chief Technical Advisor and Executive Secretary to the U.S. Delegation to the Bretton Woods Conference. From 1946 to 1958, he was Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Research Department. Later, he founded EMB (Ltd.) Research Economists, an international monetary research firm. He retired as president of EMB in 1981 and in 1982 took up the position of Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He also taught economics at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina. Dr. Bernstein received his Ph.B. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

JOAN SPERO

Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Agricultural Affairs, under President Bill Clinton, and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, 1980–1981. She is a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Trustee of Columbia University and the Brookings Institution, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Atlantic Institute, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. She served as president of the Duke Farms Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and became an IBM director in 2004. She has authored several books, many articles in professional journals, and is active in professional associations in foreign affairs and economics. She is also a member of the Academy of American Ambassadors, the Academy of Diplomacy, and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Spero received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and M.A. and Ph.D. in International Affairs from Columbia University.

MARINA VON NEUMAN WHITMAN

Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the University of Michigan since 1992, and Senior Staff Economist to the Council of Economic Advisers, 1970–1971. She has also been a Director at the Council of Foreign Relations, Vice-President and Chief Economist at General Motors Corp., and Group Executive for Public Affairs. She lectured in economics at the University of Pittsburgh, where she became the Distinguished Public Service Professor of Economics. Ms. Von Neuman Whitman received her B.A. from Radcliffe College and M.A. from Columbia University.

Supported Materials

Unit 1
Economics USA: Markets Video Transcript
Economics USA: Markets Audio Transcript

Unit 2 
Economics USA: The Firm Video Transcript
Economics USA: The Firm Audio Transcript

Unit 3
Economics USA: Supply and Demand Video Transcript
Economics USA: Supply and Demand Audio Transcript

Unit 4
Economics USA: Perfect Competition/Inelastic Demand Video Transcript
Economics USA: Perfect Competition/Inelastic Demand Audio Transcript

Unit 5
Economics USA: Economic Efficiency Video Transcript
Economics USA: Economic Efficiency Audio Transcript

Unit 6
Economics USA: Monopoly Video Transcript
Economics USA: Monopoly Audio Transcript

Unit 7
Economics USA: Oligopolies Video Transcript
Economics USA: Oligopolies Audio Transcript

Unit 8
Economics USA: Pollution and the Environment Video Transcript
Economics USA: Pollution and the Environment Audio Transcript

Unit 9
Economics USA: Labor and Management Video Transcript
Economics USA: Labor and Management Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Labor and Management Supplemental Audio Transcript

Unit 10
Economics USA: Profits and Interest Video Transcript
Economics USA: Profits and Interest Audio Transcript

Unit 11
Economics USA: Reducing Poverty Video Transcript
Economics USA: Reducing Poverty Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Reducing Poverty Supplemental Audio Transcript

Unit 12
Economics USA: Economic Growth Video Transcript
Economics USA: Economic Growth Audio Transcript

Unit 13
Economics USA: Public Goods and Responsibility Video Transcript
Economics USA: Public Goods and Responsibility Audio Transcript

Unit 14
Economics USA: Resources and Scarcity Video Transcript
Economics USA: Resources and Scarcity Audio Transcript

Unit 15
Economics USA: GNP/GDP Video Transcript
Economics USA: GNP/GDP Audio Transcript

Unit 16
Economics USA: Boom and Bust Video Transcript
Economics USA: Boom and Bust Audio Transcript

Unit 17
Economics USA: The Great Depression and the Keynesian Revolution Video Transcript
Economics USA: The Great Depression and the Keynesian Revolution Audio Transcript

Unit 18
Economics USA: Fiscal Policy Video Transcript
Economics USA: Fiscal Policy Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Fiscal Policy Supplemental Audio Transcript

Unit 19
Economics USA: Inflation Video Transcript
Economics USA: Inflation Audio Transcript

Unit 20
Economics USA: The Banking System Video Transcript
Economics USA: The Banking System Audio Transcript
Economics USA: The Banking System Supplemental Audio Transcript

Unit 21
Economics USA: The Federal Reserve Video Transcript
Economics USA: The Federal Reserve Audio Transcript

Unit 22
Economics USA: Stagflation Video Transcript
Economics USA: Stagflation Audio Transcript

Unit 23
Economics USA: Productivity Video Transcript
Economics USA: Productivity Audio Transcript

Unit 24
Economics USA: Federal Deficits Video Transcript
Economics USA: Federal Deficits Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Federal Deficits Supplemental Audio Transcript

Unit 25
Economics USA: Monetary Policy Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Monetary Policy Supplemental Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Monetary Policy Video Transcript

Unit 26
Economics USA: Stabilization Policy Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Stabilization Policy Video Transcript

Unit 27
Economics USA: International Trade Audio Transcript
Economics USA: International Trade Supplemental Audio Transcript
Economics USA: International Trade Video Transcript

Unit 28
Economics USA: Exchange Rates Audio Transcript
Economics USA: Exchange Rates Video Transcript

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Southern California Consortium

Reviews and Awards

Reviews


Florida Council on Economic Education
October 1987
“For the past year the Florida Council on Economic Education network has been using the Economics U$A series in its teaching training offerings. Teacher response to the series has been overwhelmingly positive.”

“We have been delighted with the success we have achieved with the series, and I commend the Annenberg/CPB Project for developing and offering such a high quality, educationally sound film series.”


Marlboro Herald-Advocate, Bennetsville, SC
April 1990

“Marlboro County High School students use Economics U$A to study college-level economics, via Satellite Educational Resources Consortium. ‘We know names and voices,’ said one student. ‘If the teacher goes too fast, we normally ask each other questions.’

‘It’s interesting to see how college courses are going to be’ said another student.”


Reston Times, Reston, VA
February 1989

Economics U$A examines major historic and contemporary events that have shaped 20th century American economics. Through the use of interviews, commentary and analysis, this series established a clear relationship between abstract economic principles and concrete human experiences.”


Skaneateles-Marcellus Pennysaver, Skaneateles, NY
August 1986

Economics U$A takes an investigative look at the causes and effects of the central economic events of the twentieth century while delineating major economic concepts and principles. The engaging television programs give students a broad outlook on economic issues.”

Awards


Columbus International Film and Video Festival
1986 Chris Plaque Award for “America’s Embattled Economy”International Film and TV Festival of New York
1986 Finalist Award for “America’s Embattled Economy”

National Educational Film and Video Festival
1986 Silver Award for “Resources and Scarcity”

Series Directory

Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition

Credits

Produced by the Educational Film Center. 2012.
  • Closed Captioning
  • ISBN: 1-57680-895-5