Introduction to Economics, LSE Kick Off Day 2011

Professor Amos Witztum provides an introduction to economics at the LSE Kick Off Day for students studying by distance learning through the University of Lon…

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 0: Monopolies as an Introduction to Economics  Saul Levmore, William B. Graham Distinguished Professor of Law at The Unive…

45 thoughts on “Introduction to Economics, LSE Kick Off Day 2011

  1. Summary of the lecture: Part 1 – Aristotle’s Politics Book 1 and his
    concise explanation of the way in which political states arise out of
    households and how money, trade or wealth is used within each stage
    (unclear why he did not start with this as he all but quoted Plato for 10
    mins). Part 2 – Heidegger’s Intro to MP’s 2-3 pages about knowledge,
    summarized in his simple statement that knowledge is not the possession of
    information or facts but the ability to learn.

  2. May i ask, if you have the time to answer – would you recommend doing a
    economics degree – what does it entail and why did you do it? Thank you.

  3. “To achieve success you must be depressed. If you’re happy, something is
    wrong.” – Prof. Amos Witztum great quote!

  4. Intro into economics or typical condescending prof. who thinks his students
    need constant direction in life and can only learn through useless
    metaphors?

  5. Great lecture! The only slip he made was to say ‘education will change the
    way you speak to your wife’. When half the class are female, that struck me
    as rather alienating.

  6. first of all, if a guy talks about solving problems bigger than just making
    bucks or doesn’t really like rich bankers it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s
    left wing. Secondly, when we say that not everybody has the chance to
    achieve well-being we should know that free market actually works towards
    equality of opportunity to achieve one’s best ideal as per our
    capabilities.

  7. He’s only like this for the introduction lecture trust me, after that he
    just becomes a condescending asshole who thinks berating his students is
    the only way we will learn. Not to mention he isn’t a practical lecturer
    cause he spends half of the revision lecture focusing on a question worth
    8/100 marks in the final paper. Oh and did i mention the study guide he
    wrote? Those who have read it will know. Smart economist, poor lecturer.

  8. But, the cost of the inputs do not change and why should a baker change the
    price of his product? It really does not work that way. Starbucks is not
    any more or less busier, because you drop the price of a cookie. They may
    sell a few more than they usually would. But, it not a huge motivator that
    sales more cookies and it does not signal to starbuck to bake more or less
    cookies.

  9. So why is it I can’t buy a house for $300,000 anywhere I want? In
    Manhattan, that house would cost £30,000,000.

    Location is a Government protected monopoly privilege. Funny how this dumb
    ass glosses over the biggest one there is

    Economists are clueless/brainwashed/idealogical. 

  10. Two interesting things: – Competitive markets (perfect markets) as
    described hardly ever exist, every market has some things that makes them
    imperfect. There are always some barriers to entry (e.g. capital
    requirements) or maybe geographic reasons, etc. Monopolies are completely
    imperfect markets. – Monopolies also exist without the government, because
    of ‘normal’ barriers to entry. For instance Facebook, which is almost
    impossible to compete with due to their network effects.

  11. Youtube will not allow me to post links or videos but google china’s ghost
    cities and you will find a whole bunch of sources. You can even find
    sources from the BBC and the Huffingtonpost. Although we know the sources
    will have a conservative bias. LOL

  12. No, there is no magic involved. First of all, corporations do not exist
    without states. Businesses of course do, but the status of corporation is
    granted by and dependent on a state. It’s the power of the state that they
    use to secure that position. Second, monopolies are formed when a
    corporations is insulated from open competition on the market. This is
    achieved by creating barriers to entry into that market. Again, without a
    state, this is impossible.

  13. You are pretty thick, aren’t you? The state has a monopoly on law and its
    enforcement. It is that power from which corporations are created and it is
    that power by which they are protected from open competition on the market.

  14. i use thepiratebay, but whenever i have ran into something that i really
    liked, i bought it, because the quality of the product when bought was
    higher than the quality of the free analog.

  15. At about 14 minutes, this guy totally dodges the housing bubble influence
    of the government offering protected and inflated loans as the cause of the
    housing bubble.

Leave a Reply to Alex Haussmann Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.