Witness mad macroeconomic skillz in “Fear the Boom and Bust” — wherein John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. But before the conference begins, at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it. Check it out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk]

More info here.

UPDATE:  I was so impressed by the feat of distilling 80 years worth of economics into a rap video, I think I missed what Alan Harvey notes in his comment: that the video is, bottom-line, pro-Hayek. (See this verse-by-verse breakdown, which I think supports Alan’s assertion.)

It is also true the video has some high production values, and was created with support from the folks at the Mercatus Center, who based on their published research are definitely not subscribers to Keynes’ theories

That said, at the end of the day, I think both economists have something important to teach us:

1) In a recession/depression, it’s a good thing when the government primes the economic pump with monetary and fiscal policies designed to get the economy moving again.

2) There is such thing as too much of a good thing. If an economic bubble builds as a result of poor market regulation or lax credit, when it bursts it’s going to cause a world of economic hurt.