Thirty-six lectures by Professor Timothy Taylor of Macalester College, accompanied by a course guide book, begins with an overview of the development of the global economy. It continues with a tour of the global economy, focussing on one country or region at a time, and ends with lectures on a number of global economic issues.Look back at the global economy in 1950 and you'll find these conditions:•The shock of a great depression, two world wars, and restrictions on immigration had led to little economic interconnectedness between countries.•The United States was the world's greatest economic power, producing 27% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).•The world's poorest economies were China and India, each making up only 4% of the world's GDP.

We are all economists—when we work, buy, save, invest, pay taxes, and vote. It repays us many times over to be good economists. Economic issues are active in our lives every day. However, when the subject of economics comes up in conversation or on the news, we can find ourselves longing for a more sophisticated understanding of the fundamentals of economics.
How can I get an overview of the entire U.S. economy?
Why do budget deficits matter?
What exactly does the Federal Reserve do?
Why do most economists favor international trade so strongly?

How can a nation create the conditions for economic growth and prosperity, improving people's lives on both the individual and national levels? And what, once these conditions are achieved, can it do to sustain this progress? Do any of the many "isms" under which we organize our economic philosophies hold the answer?
While an insightful understanding of different economic approaches has always been essential for policymakers, it is equally important for those of us who might not steer the economy but must still live and function within it.
Such an understanding is the key to making sense of not only economic events but of "noneconomic" news as well, allowing us to anticipate the economic consequences that can impact both the nation's economy and one's personal economy. And, of course, it sharpens the judgment you already bring to your own discussions of the issues.

Making smart eating choices is essential to living a healthy, happy, and successful life. Yet all too often, we're exposed to information and techniques that promise quick and easy results but can be harmful to your overall health: crash diets, experimental medications, ever-changing studies on what you should eat more or less of, and more. It can be confusing to dig through the mass of hype, myth, and misconceptions about good nutrition habits. So in the face of potentially misleading information and aids, where can you find the key to nutritional success?

All our lives, we've been taught the importance of the ancient Greeks to so much of the world that came after them, and particularly to our own way of living in and seeing that world. Mention politics, philosophy, law, medicine, history, even the visual arts, and we barely scratch the surface of what we owe this extraordinary culture. How can we best learn about these people who have given us so much; who have deepened and enriched our understanding of ourselves?

You definitely know how to read. But do you know how to read artfully? Unlike everyday reading, artful reading—the way we read novels and short stories—is less about reading for specific information and more about reading to revel in the literary experience.It involves recognizing how a story's particular narrative style affects your connection with its characters,why authors choose to hint at meanings instead of just writing them out for you, how the organization of a novel into distinct chapters can affect your engagement with its plot, and much more.

The Teaching Company
Taught By Professor J. Rufus Fears, Ph.D., Harvard University,
University of Oklahoma
36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture
Course No. 3890

January 10, 49 B.C.: Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon River into Rome, igniting a civil war that leads to the birth of the world’s greatest ancient civilization.

October 12, 1492: The Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, weary after months at sea, finally drops anchor at the island of San Salvador and takes Europe’s first steps into the New World.

"The message of Existentialism, unlike that of many more obscure and academic philosophical movements, is about as simple as can be. It is that every one of us, as an individual, is responsible—responsible for what we do, responsible for who we are, responsible for the way we face and deal with the world, responsible, ultimately, for the way the world is.