The Ascent of Money part 5

avantra

On TV (c4) tomorrow: 15/12/08 @ 8pm - 9pm


The Ascent of money.

Episode 5: Safe as houses

With bricks and mortar the favourite form of investment across the English-speaking world, Niall Ferguson examines the role of the property-owning masses in the global economy. He explores how the sub-prime mortgage crisis that began in 2007 heralded the current downturn, when for the first time in years the price of property began to fall and lenders realised their security was a house of cards SUB HD
Documentary

I must admit I don't watch much TV now days, but this is one excellent series.:snow_laug

PasturesNew

I've seen them all. It's an interesting programme even if you've no interest in the whole hpc/credit crunch thing. Just an interesting historical programme.

leftieM

It's a quality show. I missed last week. I'll make sure I see this one.
It really makes you think though - all of the economic events we're living through - the stock market crash, the housing bubble etc have all happened before. Will we never learn??
I'm training to be a teacher at the moment. Do you think that, if this stuff was taught at school (as part of what all kids learn as opposed to in A-level economics or whatever) people would be more wary of economic bubbles or do you think the herd mentality transcends all rational thought?

baby_boomer

Ferguson is brilliant at explaining complex financial history to the layman.

His camara pan around a Memphis Tennessee square to show just how much the modern US economy was based on debt was a revelation.

I never knew you could use a car as collateral in the US. Nor that you could just walk away from your debts.

But then,, neither did our idiot banks who bought all those securitised sub-prime mortgages

Last week showed the origins and limitations of the welfare state around the world, and how monetarism was tested out first in Chile.

avantra

its on 4od if u need to catchup and i think there is dvd

SGE1

leftieM wrote: »

It's a quality show. I missed last week. I'll make sure I see this one.
It really makes you think though - all of the economic events we're living through - the stock market crash, the housing bubble etc have all happened before. Will we never learn??
I'm training to be a teacher at the moment. Do you think that, if this stuff was taught at school (as part of what all kids learn as opposed to in A-level economics or whatever) people would be more wary of economic bubbles or do you think the herd mentality transcends all rational thought?

I think A level economics does quite a good job of explaining things - the problem is, not enough pupils take it! Maybe there should be a more 'hands-on' class that teaches applied maths an economics, a class that every pupil should take.

The problem is, even if we were to start that tomorrow, it would take 20 years for the effects to be felt. So the heard mentality would go on for at least as long...

PasturesNew

I left school at 16, so no economics and no A levels.
And economics, politics, etc weren't subjects when/where I was at school.

caveman38

avantra wrote: »

its on 4od if u need to catchup and i think there is dvd

What is 4od please?

neverdespairgirl

It's the online Channel 4 archive programme.

epz_2

We were made to study a few semesters of economics and cost accounting at uni as part of my engineering degree and that was nowhere near as informative or usefull as this series.

Have to admit we all took the classes as a bit of a skive, it was daft when you had a class between matrix algebra for strain calculations and thermo and they were spending hours on very simple stuff like economies of scale.