Masters of Money: Economics series from the BBC

BBC economics journalist Stephanie Flanders recently produced a great three part series on three major thinkers in economics (Keynes, Hayek, Marx). In three hours you would have learned how the ideas of economists from different parts of the ideological spectrum shaped the world, and have shaped debate ever since. It's an important series because economics doesn't normally get this kind of coverage and it was an overall success in driving home several key messages.

I do have a few gripes though:

• What's with the title, Masters of Money? It sounds like it's about money managers, not economists. 
• Much of the footage was really poorly edited with respect to visuals. The excessive and completely inappropriate use of the blurry tilt-shift effect was just uneccessary. See the image of Jeffrey Sachs below for what I am talking about.

• The series expires on iPlayer tomorrow. Finally, we have something of use for GCSE economics students and for people who want to learn a bit more about the subject and it's vanishing into the ether. 

On the upside, a good bunch of prominent people in the economics arena were interviewed for the series, including Mervyn King who makes some really good points. Also, the focus on Hayek instead of Milton Friedman was refreshing, as he is a better contrast to Keynes and less well known than Friedman.

Here's a 60 second video from the Open University, narrated by David Mitchell (follow Youtube through to see more in the series)