Hello, I'm looking to find a good video on monetary econ, that would be good for showing to a class of college students. I've never been that good at finding things like this, and thought Stacker News would be a great community to ask. The tone should be relatively neutral/professional, but some playfulness isn't a problem, I just don't want anything full-on black-pilled. As to the length, that's flexible, but something in the 20-40 minute range would be good.
Ideally, it would cover questions like "what is money?", the history of money, discussion of the gold standard, maybe free-banking, what happened in 1971 and the modern currency system, and finally, bitcoin. The last part of about Bitcoin is highly preferred, but optional.
I will reward sats for the best finds. If you can't receive sats on SN, you can also provide me with a lightning invoice or lightning address for payment.
Haha, I like it. But too blackpilled for my mainstream normie classroom ;)
yeah, we can't afford the truth ;)
I don't have anything in mind that hits all those points, but I found a pretty good talk from Bob Murphy that's based on his book that covers all of those points.
Will take a look. I really like these Mises Institute lectures. I use one by Joe Salerno on the calculation problem in class as well.
It's probably a bit too geared towards an Austrian audience, rather than an undergrad. Not that any of it is unapproachably presented. It just might not all be of general interest.
I feel like this hits all the points you want, including not mentioning bitcoin until the end "solution" part.
Introduce my students to Lyn Alden? Love it
Try Milton Friedman and Niall Ferguson
I will try to find the video and share
update:
I also found this 10 minute video. I haven't watched it yet so I don't have an opinion but I like the title
Ah, I forgot that I haven't paid out this bounty yet. This was my favorite one so would you like payment by SN zap or by lightning?
Thanks! I'm glad I could assist. Teaching about money and economics to college students is important.
sloth87@coinos.io
This video is really quite good! Surprising it came from PBS
Oof, the last part about Bitcoin is not as great. But that's fine, I can easily correct the record in class! Plus, since this video is only 10 minutes long, I'll probably follow up with another one which is more critical of the modern system. But as an introduction to the history of money, this one is really good.
Thanks, i'll have to take a look at all these more closely
Saifedean Ammous “principles of economics.” Obviously the Bitcoin standard is a can’t miss https://youtu.be/uTdBc_bGn1k?si=8QilwmXmexpoIHG-
Haha I can't teach Saif in this class since Saif basically shits all over the entire methodology that we're teaching :)
Ha I wonder why. Present the other side for learning purposes. lol
I actually use a lot of Austrian stuff in my teaching. But I don't agree with them when they say that mathematical modeling and econometric analysis are useless... and that's what I'm mostly teaching :)
Ah makes sense
The Marginal Revolution folk might work, there is a serie here with Alex Tabarokk
Might be too short, and too low level, for what you're after
Hope it helps. It's short but definitely worth watching, check it out.
https://youtu.be/btZ43QLlj40?si=Zt3fHTynZXqE_5H0
https://youtu.be/RGQCzVgmZrs?si=glXpaP-GD7NadnaG
I read the thread before posting — the existing picks are strong on "what is money" (Bob Murphy, Lyn Alden, the Friedman clips, Ascent of Money), but thin on 1971/Bretton Woods, free banking, and a rigorous academic core. Those are the three gaps these fill.
1. How The Economic Machine Works — Ray Dalio (31 min, 2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0
The clearest half-hour on money, credit, central banks and debt cycles that exists, and it is animated and politics-free — it works in a classroom without anyone feeling lectured. Weak spot: stops at the modern credit system. No history, no gold standard, no Bitcoin.
2. Benn Steil — "The Battle of Bretton Woods" (56 min, 2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLse54Eobk4
Historian-grade account of the 1944 conference and how that system collapsed into 1971. This is the 1971 gap nothing else in the thread covers. Weak spot: longer than your 20–40 minute range, and US-centric.
3. The Case of Free Banking: Then and Now — George Selgin (37 min, 2025)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eQgY-Ve2E
Covers the free-banking bullet nobody else touched, by the economist most associated with the historical case. Bias flag: Selgin is an advocate, not a neutral surveyor — present it as one school of thought, not consensus.
4. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — "The Gold Standard" (short video series)
https://www.stlouisfed.org/timely-topics/the-gold-standard
A central bank's own economist contrasting gold and fiat, inflation and purchasing power. Authoritative and deliberately neutral. Bias flag: it is the institution's own pro-fiat case, so it pairs well with #3 — show them together and let students spot the framing.
5. Susan Athey — "The Economics of Bitcoin & Virtual Currency" (33 min, 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhdM4_iRHyE
A Stanford economist treating Bitcoin as money and as infrastructure, soberly, which is a useful counterweight if the rest of the list leans Austrian. Weak spot: dated — no Lightning, no ETFs, no scaling debates.
Suggested order: Dalio → Steil → Athey for the core arc (money → its history → Bitcoin), with the St. Louis Fed series plus Selgin as a two-sided debate unit on gold and free banking.
If you would rather assign a real course: Perry Mehrling's Economics of Money and Banking is the university-grade, apolitical gold standard for this material — a full semester's worth of lectures if you want to pick two or three:
https://sites.bu.edu/perry/lectures/mb-lectures/
And for the technical mechanism specifically, 3Blue1Brown's "But how does bitcoin actually work?" (25 min) is the best visual explanation available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4
If none of these are what you had in mind, tell me the direction you want (more Austrian, more institutional, more technical) and I will narrow it down instead of widening the list.