Courses

Explore the surprising impact of economists on the internet economy and modern relationships in this engaging TEDx talk. Discover how economic principles have shaped technological advancements and social interactions as Robert Litan, an experienced economist and attorney, shares insights from his decades of research and policy work. Gain a fresh perspective on the role of economics in everyday life, from online dating to digital marketplaces. Learn about Litan's extensive career spanning law, economic research, and executive roles in various sectors, as well as his numerous publications on economic topics. Delve into the unexpected ways economists have influenced the development of the digital age and potentially even your own love life in this thought-provoking 16-minute presentation.

Mastering the Art of Economic Decision-Making: A Journey Through Economics Thinking and Real-World Applications What you'll learn: The Economist's Perspective: Understand how economists function as scientists & policy advisors, applying systematic and methodical thinking to economic issues.Scientific Approach in Economics: Explore how economists use the scientific method for research and analysis, similar to disciplines like physics and biology.Assumptions & Models: The importance of assumptions & models in simplifying complex economic phenomena, & learn to apply these concepts to real-world situationsMicroeconomics vs. Macroeconomics: Gain an understanding of the differences and interconnections between microeconomics & macroeconomics.Economists as Policy Makers: Learn how to make informed decisions and analyze economic policies using principles of economics.Economic Policy in Action: Examine real-life case studies showing the interaction of economics and politics, & the challenges in implementing economic policies.Positive vs. Normative Analysis: Understand the difference between positive statements (descriptive) and normative statements (prescriptive) in economics.Graphing and Data Interpretation: Master the art of using graphs to represent economic data & relationships, & learn to avoid common pitfalls in interpretation.Exploring Economic Growth and Trade-offs: Study key concepts like the Production Possibilities Frontier to understand economic trade-offs, efficiency, & growth. Ever wondered how the mind of an economist ticks? Intrigued by how they dissect complex markets, forecast trends, and navigate the corporate world with ease? 'Thinking Like an Economist' is a cornerstone in the vast structure of economics and business.Who Should Take This Course?This course is a treasure trove for everyone - whether you're just starting in economics, a business professional craving deeper insights into the minds of economists, an aspiring student, or simply curious about the way economists think. It's crafted to add value to everyone's learning path. Meet Your Instructor: EvrimHi, I'm Evrim! With my journey spanning from auditing at Deloitte to shaping business strategies at Riot Games, and nurturing entrepreneurs in China, I bring a diverse blend of real-world experience and academic insight. I've had the joy of teaching over 100,000 students, and now, I can't wait to embark on this learning adventure with you.Course HighlightsDelve into the world where economists are the detectives of our economy - testing theories and analyzing data. We'll unravel how economists serve as both scientists and policy advisors, and why their views sometimes converge and other times diverge. By the end, you'll be thinking like an economist.Affordable and Impactful LearningWe believe in democratizing knowledge. This course offers you a premium learning experience at an accessible price, empowering you to make informed and strategic decisions in the corporate world.What Will You Gain?By the end of 'Thinking Like an Economist', you'll have a transformed perspective on business and economics. You'll not just understand but also apply economic principles to analyze situations, predict outcomes, and make data-driven decisions.Q&A Forum and Interactive LearningGot questions? Dive into our interactive Q&A Forum. It's your space to engage, discuss, and learn from a community of peers and experts. Your learning journey is supported every step of the way.No Economics Background? No Problem!Don't worry if you're new to economics. This course is designed to be intuitive and engaging, regardless of your prior experience. It's about building knowledge and skills from the ground up.Join Us!Ready to think like an economist and reshape how you view the business world? Enroll in 'Thinking Like an Economist' today and unlock the economist in you. I'll see you inside!

Look at your everyday life through the lens of an economist. In this audiobook summary, get an overview of economic systems and how they impact the decisions we make.

Explore fundamental economic principles and their real-world applications in this 29-minute interview with MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber, who discusses how classical economics operates on the principle that free markets efficiently allocate resources through supply and demand dynamics. Learn why economics can be considered "fundamentally right-wing" in its theoretical foundations, while understanding the critical limitations that emerge when market participants lack equal access to information and opportunities. Discover how market failures create inefficient resource allocations that disadvantage most people, particularly in sectors like healthcare where ideal market conditions are unattainable or undesirable. Examine the role of government regulation in addressing these imbalances and why "capitalism with gutter guards" is necessary to ensure equitable economic outcomes. Gain insights into the intersection of artificial intelligence, economic trade-offs, and healthcare policy from a leading MIT economist who teaches both microeconomics and public finance.

Explore the global economy's transition from experiencing "episodic shocks" to entering a new era of "persistent disruption" in this 31-minute podcast episode featuring Wayne Best, chief economist at Visa. Gain insights into the World Economic Forum's Chief Economists Outlook, which serves as a regular assessment of global economic conditions and future trajectories. Learn how economic patterns are fundamentally shifting and what this means for businesses, policymakers, and individuals navigating an increasingly complex financial landscape. Discover Best's analysis of current economic indicators, emerging trends, and the structural changes that define this new operating regime. Understand the implications of persistent disruption for global markets, investment strategies, and economic planning. Access additional resources including related podcasts featuring perspectives from historians and tech industry economists, as well as comprehensive economic outlooks that provide context for major global economic forums and discussions.

Dive into the world of magazine cover design with this comprehensive tutorial led by Matt Withers, cover designer at The Economist. Explore the entire creative process, from generating ideas and sketching initial concepts to crafting polished artwork for a finished magazine cover. Learn essential techniques in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign as you create three distinct cover designs inspired by AI and robotics. Gain insights into the importance of magazine covers, effective ideation methods, and professional design practices. By the end of this 71-minute video, master the skills to produce eye-catching magazine covers that captivate readers and convey complex ideas visually.

Explore a unique perspective on software development through the lens of other professions in this engaging GOTO Amsterdam 2023 conference talk. Discover how insights from teaching, economics, and acting can be applied to improve your work as a developer. Learn about powerful concepts such as the sunk cost fallacy, the importance of consistency over perfection, and prioritizing relationships. Gain fresh perspectives on common software development heuristics and truths, and understand how cross-disciplinary knowledge can enhance your approach to coding and problem-solving. Walk away with valuable takeaways that will help you view your work in a new light and potentially improve your development practices.

Learn how to make smarter economic decisions in your professional and personal life by using the same practical principles and analytical tools employed by top economists.

Explore how insights from teaching, economics, and acting can enhance your software development skills in this engaging 48-minute conference talk from NDC Oslo 2023. Discover powerful heuristics commonly used in software development, such as starting small, iterating frequently, and embracing failure as a learning opportunity. Gain a fresh perspective on your work by examining the wisdom and best practices from other professions. Learn how to apply these cross-disciplinary insights to improve your approach to software development, offering a unique and lighthearted look at the intersection of various industries and their potential impact on your coding practices.

Explore the fundamental concepts of economics in this 33-minute video lecture from NPTEL-NOC IITM. Discover how the circular flow diagram illustrates the movement of money between households and firms through markets. Learn about the production possibility frontier and its role in demonstrating various combinations of goods an economy can produce with available resources. Gain insights into the working of an economy through these essential economic models used to study and analyze economic issues.

Explore groundbreaking research on AI-driven tax policies in this Simons Institute lecture from the Theory of Reinforcement Learning Boot Camp. Delve into the concept of the AI Economist, examining how artificial intelligence can be leveraged to improve equality and productivity through innovative tax strategies. Learn about economic inequality, the history of tax theory, and the application of reinforcement learning in economic simulations. Discover the intricacies of a spatial world model, including agent behavior, specialization, and communication. Investigate the role of deep learning in optimizing government policies, mechanism design, and income taxes. Compare various tax models, explore measures of equality, and understand how AI economists respond to economic shocks. Gain insights into the potential of AI to reshape economic policy and address real-world challenges in wealth distribution and productivity.

Explore a groundbreaking 35-minute video analysis of "The AI Economist" paper, which investigates the use of AI-driven tax policies to improve equality and productivity. Delve into a unique framework where reinforcement learning agents maximize wealth in a simulated economy while an AI government optimizes social welfare through taxation. Examine the paper's methodology, including the two-level deep reinforcement learning approach and the economic simulation environment. Discover how AI-derived tax policies outperform baseline systems, including the Saez tax framework, by 16% in balancing equality and productivity. Learn about emergent features such as higher top tax rates and increased subsidies for low incomes, as well as the AI's effectiveness against tax-gaming strategies. Finally, understand the implications of applying these AI-driven policies in experiments with human participants on Amazon Mechanical Turk.

Explore the groundbreaking AI Economist framework in this 39-minute conference talk by Stephan Zheng, Lead Research Scientist at Salesforce. Dive into the innovative use of deep reinforcement learning and AI simulations for designing economic policies. Learn how this approach addresses real-world socio-economic challenges, particularly in taxation, by overcoming limitations in traditional economics methodology. Discover key research findings, including AI tax policies that significantly improve equality-productivity trade-offs, and AI-driven strategies for balancing public health and economic outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gain insights into WarpDrive, an open-source GPU framework for multi-agent reinforcement learning, and explore recent developments in modeling general equilibrium economies and creating RL agents that mimic human economic behavior. This talk, part of the Toronto Machine Learning Series, offers a comprehensive look at the intersection of AI and economic policy design.

Learn the lessons of history’s greatest financial scams and disasters. An award-winning economist shows that forewarned is forearmed.

Explore the multifaceted legacy of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman through this academic lecture delivered by Stanford University historian Jennifer Burns as part of Duke University's prestigious Hayek Lecture Series. Examine Friedman's influence through three distinct perspectives: his philosophical foundations as a classical liberal, his groundbreaking contributions to economic theory including the development of monetarism and reinterpretation of the Great Depression, and his active political engagement as a critic and analyst of Federal Reserve policies. Gain insights into how Friedman developed innovative policy design methods that aligned with classical liberal principles while fundamentally reshaping modern economic thought. Learn from Burns' comprehensive research as the author of the first full biography of this influential 20th-century figure, understanding how his ideas about markets, capitalism, and the role of government continue to shape contemporary political and economic discourse.

Learn how to cope with economic uncertainty and risk in these 24 advice-filled lectures from a master economist.

Trace the impact of international institutions on the global economy in this fascinating course taught by a noted economist.

Explore a 34-minute podcast featuring World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill's assessment of the current global economic landscape. Gain insights into the complex picture of an economy performing better than recent expectations but lagging behind its status from six years ago. Delve into the latest Chief Economists Outlook as presented by Aengus Collins, the World Economic Forum's Head of Economic Growth, Revival and Transformation. Access related podcasts covering topics such as equitable green transitions, globalization trends, and understanding China's global role. Discover additional World Economic Forum podcast series including Radio Davos, Meet the Leader, and Agenda Dialogues, with links provided for easy subscription and further exploration of global economic issues.

Environmental issues require trade-offs, primarily in how we use energy. A former White House economist offers answers. A Faculty Project Course - Best Professors Teaching the World Energy use and its impact on the environment will be two of the most important issues of the 21st century. The large role of energy in geo-political relationships combined with the fact that most of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with global climate change come from energy production means the energy sector is poised for dramatic change, and thus great opportunity. This course is designed to be a primer for potential entrepreneurs, investors, managers and policy makers on energy and environmental issues. Topics will include environmental economics, energy economics, environmental ethics, oil sector, the electricity sector, alternative energy, sustainability, climate change and climate policy.

Explore the intersection of geophysics and global sustainability in this thought-provoking Frontiers of Geophysics Lecture presented by renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs. Delve into the critical role of Earth sciences in addressing pressing global challenges, including climate change, resource management, and sustainable development. Gain insights into how geophysical research and technologies can contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and shaping a more resilient future for our planet.