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Rapping with Keynes

Party, free-flowing alcohol, Team Hayek points out, symbolise Keynesian money-printing gone wild

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Ashish Sharma
Last Updated : Jan 14 2017 | 12:49 AM IST
On YouTube, two guys walk up to a conspicuously well-dressed receptionist at the front desk of a hotel, and get greeted differently. “Lord Keynes! Welcome, sir. It’s a pleasure,” the girl exclaims, dispenses a smile, and nods her head, knowingly. After taking in the view of John Maynard Keynes, who looks magnificent in his evening dress, to say nothing of his well-parted moustache and glistening hair, the girl asks, dotingly, “Your agenda?” “That won’t be necessary,” replies Keynes, “I am the agenda.” The woman laughs and tosses her hair and pushes a curl behind her ear, swiftly, to show she is impressed, possibly interested. To the other gentleman — bespectacled, boring, balding — she turns and presents an unknowing face: “And your name is?” “Hayek F A Hayek. With an ‘H’,” stresses the guy, pursing his lips in underdog anxiety, and throwing his gaze around to reassure himself that no one is laughing at his ingloriousness, especially not Keynes. 


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The check-in captures the relative hotness of two prominent economists of the 1930s, which saw the Great Depression: the world-famous Keynes and the comparatively-unknown Hayek. Although both are dead now, Keynes’ idea of more government spending in any and all weathers continues to thrive, especially after 2008 financial crisis; his dissenter and Nobel Prize winner Hayek continues to suffer neglect. His supporters, who tend to be libertarian in outlook, have been working hard to make him popular, at least in the comments section of this YouTube video titled Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs Hayek Rap Battle. Yup, a rap battle between two economics gangstas sets off when Keynes, jolly at the hotel bar, rings up Friedrich Hayek in his hotel room: “Hey, Freddy. Keynes. Hey, listen, party at the Fed (US central bank).” Soon, they meet in the lobby and head out, humble Hayek with his metro-rail ticket in hand, just when a big limousine pulls up, fluorescent lights glowing inside; the Austrian School economist shakes his head in disgust, before popping into the limo with flamboyant Keynes. Once piled in, the two square off in a rap battle: the girls groove to Keynes, only, and set aside Hayek for teasing and taunting and tapping on his bald spots. Music, please:
 
Both: We’ve been going back and forth for a century.

Keynes: I want to steer markets.

Hayek: I want them set free.

Both: There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it.

Hayek: Blame low interest rates.

Keynes: No… it’s the animal spirits.  

Fast-forward to the Fed party: Keynes is seen wisecracking with women, promoting a high lifestyle, and living it up — the future be damned (“In the long run we are all dead,” Keynes famously said). Meanwhile, Hayek stays off the drinks and revelry and women and sets his monk-like focus firmly on reality and long-term good. 

The rap battle of “the party animal versus the sober economist” continues in the video, and, not too far below, in the comments section, a lesser battle looms between economics nerds who fall into two buckets: Team Keynes and Team Hayek. “Good drinking, mate,” goes Jeremy Pike from Team Hayek, “Let's see how prosperous you will be.” His side swipe is aimed, obviously, at the party spinning out of control: Keynes, girls and everyone dancing on the table, just because the Fed bartender  left the tap running.

The wild party, the free-flowing alcohol, Team Hayek points out, symbolise Keynesian money-printing gone wild in response to 2008 financial crisis. As a result, everyone feels happier and richer but, in fact, the productivity of the economy stays the same, most money seeps into malinvestments, and, before you even know it, it’s bust time all over again, thus proving Hayek that state planning and intervention in the economy, over time, negatively affect individual liberties. The lesson, as rapped by Hayek and cheer-led by his fans in the comments section, is: “You must save to invest, don't use the (money) printing press.” The swashbuckler, Keynes, is shown the morning after, trying to sleep off a hangover and then hurrying to the bathroom to throw up — clearly, the after-effects of a Fed (money-printing) party gone wild. 

ashish.sharma@bsmail.in
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