The Current Financial Crisis: 16 Learning Resources

Trying to make sense of the current economic crisis? Well, one silver lining is that there is a wealth of resources out there for helping with that task – and that might also providing some good remedial learning for those who got us into it. Here are a few good ones:

(Note: The title was originally “12 Learning Resources.” I have updated it to 16.)

Definitions and Explanations

Naturally, Wikipedia is always a good jumping off point:

• Subprime Mortgage Crisis
• Proposed Financial System Bailout

The New York Times offers a good overview of the proposed bailout in The Wall Street Bailout, Explained.

Moving on, there are a number of good videos and podcasts out there. The video below features  Yale economist Robert Schiller, author of Irrational Exuberance, talking to Business Week.

You might also want to check out a three part series from InformedTrades.com on You Tube:

• Subprime US Banking Financial Crisis Explained Part 1
• Subprime US Banking Financial Crisis Explained Part 2
• Subprime US Banking Financial Crisis Explained Part 3

Finally, NPR has a couple of great audio offerings. The first is an episode of This American Life that aired back in the midst of the subprime lending crisis – you know, when it was hard to imagine things were going to get much worse:

• The Giant Pool of Money (Transcript)

More recently, Terry Gross interviewed New York Times financial editor Gretchen Morgenson on Fresh Air:

• The Wall Street Bailout: A Conflict of Interests?

Non-Financial Consequences

Wondering what the psychological consequences of the crisis might be? Check our what LiveScience has to say:

• Financial Crisis: Can Americans Stay Happy?

Courses

If you are looking for something a bit more formal to help you bone up on financial markets in general, here are a couple of OpenCourseWare choices:

• The Law of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets (MIT OpenCourseWare)
  
• The Financial Markets Context (Open University LearningSpace)

Blogs

The blogosphere is, of course, buzzing with information and opinions about the crisis. Here are a few blogs that I think are worth noting, however.

• First, the patron saint of economic doom and gloom, James Howard Kunstler, has been predicting economic collapse since way before it was cool.
• Second, Tyler Cowen always has insightful economic things to say over at Marginal Revolution.
• Finally, the New York Times recently announced a new blog, Economix, aimed at demystifying economics – something I think Americans, in general, could use a good dose of.

Some updates since my original post:

• ReadWriteWeb highlights a Google “knol” dedicated to the financial crisis
• The International Debate Education Association features “Daily Debate” on the $700 Billion U.S. Economic Bailout
• See my post on The Financial Crisis: A Visual Explanation
• Open Culture Highlights Joseph Stiglitz on Managing the Global Credit Crunch

Got any great learning resources you’d like to share? Please post them in the comments. In the meantime…

Hang in there,

Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn

Related posts:

1. The Financial Crisis: A Visual Explanation
2. Skype: A Visual Explanation

posted on September 30, 2008