Economics teacher Steve Ziliak uses Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” to teach the human side of microeconomics.
Tag Archives: Economics
Is America Selling Its Soul?
The 1941 film “The Devil and Daniel Webster” is unsettling by how relevant to our current day economic crisis is its story of America selling its soul.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged class inequality, Depression, Devil and Daniel Webster, Film, poverty Comments closed
Lighten Up, Germany, and Save the Euro
The German film “Mostly Martha” may help explain why the German Parliament has just extended the bailout to Greece and other indebted southern European nations.
Vote for My Budget or I’ll Shoot Myself
Threats by Congressional Republicans to vote against raising the debt ceiling limit—which would result in the United States defaulting on what it owes–reminds me of the scene in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles where the black sheriff (Cleavon Little) threatens to shoot himself.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Blazing Saddles, debt ceiling, Film, Mel Brooks, politics Comments closed
Watching Theater as Shakespeare Did
This past Saturday I got a front row view of what it would have been like watching Shakespeare in the early 17th century. Julia and I journeyed to the replica of the Blackfriars Theater in Staunton, Virginia to watch Comedy of Errors and also John Marston’s 1603 revenge drama The Malcontent. Some of drama’s greatest […]
Poems That Help Us See the Economy
Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish has alerted me to a fascinating article in the January issue of Poetry entitled “Haiku Economics: Money, Metaphor, and the Invisible Hand.” In it, Professor of Economics Stephen Ziliak talks about how poetry can help illuminate the dismal science (as economics has been described). The problem with economic models, Ziliak says, is […]
Dostoevsky’s Support for Troubled Homes
In debates about whether or not to help out troubled homeowners, Fyodor Dostoevsky would probably be in favor. I am currently reading The Brothers Karamazov and am struck by how applicable it seems to the debate over foreclosures. The mortgage crisis, of course, pushed the world economy into recession, and foreclosures on homes are still […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Brothers Karamazov, foreclosures, Fyodor Dostoevsky, love, politics Comments closed
Crusoe, A Parable for Our Time
I have been teaching Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in an Introduction to Literature class and am struck once more by how important a book it is. I say this even though it is not read or taught as much as it once was. Robinson Crusoe continues to be relevant because it goes right to the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Capitalism, Daniel Defoe, Religion, Robinson Crusoe Comments closed
