Economist Fact-Checks Johnny Harris
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SOURCES:
I've linked my sources in the blog that goes along with this video. Links are in the text.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - introduction
2:43 - grading rubric
8:31 - sponsor
9:40 - inflation video
14:22 - recession video
18:19 - unemployment video
21:44 - banking video
25:54 - discussion
Attribution:
I used quite a few clips from Johnny Harris to make this review.
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Narrated and produced by Dr. Joeri Schasfoort
Animations by Hugo (Into Europe)
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I can’t sit until Johnny Harris responds saying your correct…but does nothing to get better.
Yo should note the difference between short term inflation and long term inflation. Short term inflation is caused by the factors that you mentioned, but long term inflation is always caused by the central bank and it's policies.
Just take a look at Argentina
Brthat dude is literally whitewash CIA'S And America Eromg deeds as if it is nothing..but will Create Fake scrnarios and such when it comes to China bro is Xenophobic and Anti china dude
Jhonny should just focus on his Spreading Propaganda Smearing on China and Other Countries that CIA and America Feels threatened by Dude Is wanna be Everything from creating history to completely rejecting some history for the sake of his Propaganda
He has an editorial team that may have fact checkers. But even if they are acting in good faith, they are not subject matter experts, so they might be working on false presumptions or miss the point entirely without even knowing it. I think this is why Tom Scott is a good counterexample. He always defers to experts and doesn't simply pass his own internet research as fact.
Clout doesn't care for the facts
@@Cotif11 you are right!
I doubt it. If he does, his team is all graphics... Plus he knows the that factuality and slow boring analysis doesn't get him views. Short outlandish stuff does, unfortunately. Plus I feel he has a bit of an inflated ego due to his popularity, meaning he doesn't take [genuine] criticism well.
He's been outed as being a mouthpiece for sale repeatedly. He's a mouth with a price tag hanging out of it.
hes just not very smart and kind of airheaded core
Given that there is an entire genre of videos dedicated to debunking Johnny Harris, I would say too lenient.
It's always a fun game to try and figure out who is paying him to say whatever he's touting in in his videos.
I had issues with him since his video on blue state politics and completely doesn't understand why Democrats in blue states still struggle to get things done is mainly because of there is a lot more political variance within the party in these states that range from moderate to far left. Not to mention their is a lot of disagreements on dealing with issues like homelessness and climate among democratic politicians.
I had to stop watching him, as he clearly approaches a lot of his subjects with a presupposed viewpoint he wants to push. He loves to tell the story that _feels_ right, even if the facts don't support it.
@@theprecipiceofreasonthat exercise also applies amazingly well to kurgzgezat
It doesn't surprise me. It isn't the fact that he gives the wrong information but the way he frames it and most importantly what he leaves out. European white male bad. Messed up the world. Other countries good but are apparently helpless and stupid. Basically a woke politic journalist. Even as someone who is mixed race I can absolutely see people getting irritated when he does such politically charged topics while painting complicated subjects in broad and sometimes narrow minded strokes.
This is the pinnacle of Johnny Harris debunking. Not mean spirited, and actually marvelously interesting and informative. It takes what I’ve learned from the Johnny Harris videos, corrects it and educates me about the economic topics in a concise and entertaining way. This deserves more views.
@MoneyMacro this video is spewed bullshit. Keynesian economic theory is wrong, as the Federal reserve is a private bank with the primary objective of enriching its shareholders (the commercial banks.) Every economic crisis (suppressed asset prices) since the 1913 establishment of the Federal reserve has profited its commercial bank constituents. Central banks do not operate like commercial banks, they issue new currency (buying government debt without collateral backing their loans.) Commercial banks utilize rehypothecation - which is not "investing deposits" - it is a reissuance of additional unbacked currency. The "moral hazard" "problem" is accurate, aka plain fraud. Most of Jonny's points are accurate, interest rates are the primary driver of economic cycles and therefore inflation, because interest rates drive investment decisions therefore employment and retail pricing. The only difference between the failure of third world central banks and the Federal reserve is that the US has continued to coup governments to force global trade in USD; the reserve currency status (temporarily) ensures the world subsidizes USD quantitative easing. If you wanted actionable advice on markets you'd speak to a buy side investor or trader, not an economist.
It's just sad that more or less every Johnny Harris video needs a debunking. He does seem wellmeaning, but he often uses to few sources and commonly only read up on topics without consulting experts in the field. It's easy to misunderstand text books and you can't ask them clearifying questions so that is where a teacher, mentor, or expert is very helpful. The funny thing is if you reach out to a few experts one or more of them are likely to want to talk about their field because they're just really passionate about their field. So getting an expert on board isn't as difficult as some might think.
Money&Macro always does really great, balanced critiques. I liked his review of Economics Explained's videos.
It was interesting if you have interest in getting the details but if you are that concerned, just go to a university to get a degree. I feel like the purpose of Johnny Harris videos is not to teach people in detail about the topic. This guy needed 28 minutes to debunk a video. If Harris wanted, he could have made a video that long or even double that but that is not the point. People do not watch his videos so that they can get a degree in economics. I hate the fact that these kinds of videos is become a thing. He might have generalized a lot but that is the point of his videos.
@@maxrockatansky3710 I think if you watched this video, you'd know he's only pointing out details that Johnny Harris misinformed his audience on. Explaining economics briefly is not the problem, he just got a few things wrong. This video corrects and thankfully (because it's interesting) expands on those concepts. If you watch the video you'll see it's not more symbiotic with Johnny Harris' video than parasitic.
Thank you. This is exactly what KZhead educational type videos need: peer-reviews.
Now we need creators to get the peer-review done BEFORE the video gets published, like academic articles are. Peer review is great after the fact, but that means that people can still learn, and spread, the wrong information before any corrections are made.
@@Unova39 Totally agreed. In the meantime, stay sober people, use your brain, think critically, not everything out there on YT is true.
I was thinking just that, thank you
The thing that confuses me the most about regular errors is that Johnny has a somewhat sizeable editorial team. Surely there has been enough time to figure out the issue and hire a fact checker if nothing else?
Clout doesn't like facts
Or, the man that tried to hype up ducks as UFOs might just not care and wants to push whatever agenda will get those sweet clicks
You’re assuming his priority is facts rather than entertainment
1. He's sponsored to be a propaganda mouth piece. 2. He and his team either lack the ability of critical thinking / or they just don't care £££
@@tommygogetter5992 You’re assuming his priority is entertainment rather than money
I am an ex-Mormon, just like Johnny. When you leave the Mormon church like we did, you get an unshakable suspicion that authority is corrupting and institutions exist to control people. And certainly some of that is true. But it's insufficient as a worldview. Since I share this background with Johnny, that's how I interpret the conclusions he jumps to.
This was very insightful. I hate his videos that are titled “how the US stole ” He always makes some government or overarching power the villain in his videos and does not explain any nuance
Very informative perspective. Thank you for sharing.
Way I always thought this was the reason he is not just liberal, but a strong version of corporation obsessed neo liberal with heavy amount of white man savior complex and Europe hatred. Johnny Harris is a strange form of neo liberalism that gets basic facts wrong and deliberately ignores facts to support his agenda. He makes agenda focused videos instead of fact based essays. Like in a recent people he talks about how Greenland should be become independent and how evil Denmark is. He made this video while ignored Greenland voted to stay with Denmark’s. That Greenland has a right to vote to leave Greenland at any time. He somehow even forgot to mention that held or Greenlands economy is free money that Denmark gives them, which is why Greenlands stays. Their welfare based society would fall apart without denmarks money. He has such a white man savior complex he is telling Greenlanders what they should think, which if they actually did, would literally destroy their society. And the worst part is, Johnny Harris is not a stupid person. He is extremely educated at some top colleges and worked as a successful analyst and journalist for a long time now. This means he, and his team, are deliberately disingenuously mis informing his audience to promote his strange neoliberal ideology.
@@AL-lh2ht the definition of neoliberal is someone who likes free market, deregulation, and reduced government spending, and I'd say johnny harris is the opposite of that lol, he's pretty progressive
CIA
The problem with all the most famous KZhead explainers is, in my opinion, that they are that good at story telling, that it is extremely difficult for a non-expert to see through the flaws in their stories. There is not necessarily bad intent behind the content, but oftentimes it becomes "accidental propaganda" this way. I realize this every time one of them touches a topic I actually know a thing or two about. Most get already the basics wrong, which is concerning. They chose a profession that forces them to crank out content regularly, and if the realm of their own expertise is covered, they need to leave that realm and cover topics which they were only able to do a couple of weeks of research on, but through their great story telling, it all seems to be factual, if one doesn't know better.
Personally, I enjoy many videos. Even if they are incorrect, you said it yourself - they're good storytellers. They know how to make a video, how to script it, and make all of it work. Those that are exposing these things should work in duos, consisting of a field expert and a someone who knows their way around content creation, and reach out to experts in other fields if necessary.
I think people like Johnny Harris get addicted to what “sells”. His videos often only tell one side of the story - the story that his audience wants to hear - which is often, but not always, the contrarian story. This makes the ignorant feel enlightened, or worse: validated.
Correct. And they also obviously get interested in certain topics. What they 'should' be doing is bringing in experts at this stage. Not trying to figure out these complex topics in two weeks. (Good example is PJ Voght, podcaster..)
His video on Swiss vs American gun culture is one of the biggest pieces of “accidental propaganda”, I have ever seen. Dude obviously grew up in an old money family, most likely in a gated community; I mean, just look at those narrow shoulders.
That's true, but you can get an idea of their intention by the way and consistency of error. Johnny is without question a propagandist. Johnny specifically follows a pattern. He starts with general disucssions that are generally reasonable and sounds non biaded. Then the consersation always turns to his biased manipulation of data to support his political bias. He's a good enough story teller (or at least his team is) that he can manipulate the facts in the early parts to set up his later propagandizing. He will make minor shifts of emphasis, provide conjecture as fact, leave out critical context, etc. It's pretty obvious what Johnny's inentions are once you start to recognize his pattern.
Some economists have projected that both the U.S. and parts of Europe could slip into a recession for a portion of 2023. A global recession, defined as a contraction in annual global per capita income, is more rare because China and emerging markets often grow faster than more developed economies. Essentially the world economy is considered to be in recession if economic growth falls behind population growth.
Emotionally-charged decisions to sell off large quantities of stocks or other investments now lock in your losses, removing any chance for future growth.
@@veronica.baker1 A 2022 Northwestern Mutual study found that 75% of U.S. adults admit their financial planning needs improvement. However, only 29% of Americans work with a financial advisor.
@@andrew.alonzo Very correct; the bear market has contributed significantly to the growth of my investment. I was able to quickly increase my portfolio from $180K to $572K. Essentially, I was just doing as my financial advisor instructed. You're good to go as long as you get competent assistance.
@@edward.abraham Would it be okay if I asked you to recommend this specific advisor or company that you used their services? Seems you've figured it all out.
@@rebecca_burns14 I won't pretend to know everything, though. Her name is "Julia Ann Finnicum" but I won't say anything more. Most likely, you can find her basic information online; you are welcome to do further study.
As someone who used to be a statistics teacher, I'm very interested in the balance between explaining something complicated and still being true. This is going to be a very interesting video
There will always be a accurate way to simplify complicated things as long as the general message is correct. But that cannot be done by illinformed people like Harris.
I remember once saying, "this is basically a lie, that's not how it works, but for the purpose of explaining the next bit without spending a week on this, that explanation will work". There are a number of topics where the background explanation is far more involved that subject. I think as long as you explain to people this isn't a perfect explanation and where they can go to find out the detail, it's fine. For 100 series classes this is fine and pointing people to the 2-300's that delve into it more, gives people a path if it sparks their interest.
Your verdict?
As a data scientist who does a lot of statistics work, this is where I'm coming from too. If someone is going to make a spherical cow how accurate is it and to some extent what's its precision? And, are they making it obvious it's a simplified model? Because dealing with large datasets is complex, every report I make has to be a simplification. It's a stereotype that data scientists overly data dump minute details onto everyone because of this situation. I admit I am guilty of this. It's hard to say X customer will do Y with a 68% probability without talking about a handful of edge cases to let everyone know, but management just wants the overly simplified version. What I think would be cool is if Johnny Harris did a 102 video of his 101 video for anyone interested, a sort of debunking the over simplification from the get go. Most people don't want that level of detail, but for the people that do, it's there and it helps people new to the topic be able to learn the information without information overload.
@@rutvikrs My verdict is overall he has somewhat low accuracy, but high precision. That is, he's over simplifying information. By leaving out 102 details it leaves incorrect implications to the viewer. (That's the low accuracy.) However, his overly simplified information is often correct as you can reasonably get given the lack of detail. (Called precision.) Keep in mind I'm referring to overall information. You can find outliers that counter this average pretty easily. Macro also highlights a good point in his video, that Johnny's newer videos are improving. Johnny is growing which is great to see.
I LOVE the idea of “peer reviewed videos”. I hope more KZhead channels do it and in such a serious way as you do. It’s also more content without thinking on new ideas. Hard to do, but doable on a creative wasteland
Johnny's videos have helped, I always learn a lot from watching them getting debunked.
The sad part is that you never took the time to fact check either Johnny's videos nor the videos debunking them. You just swallow it all as true and go on your way. Which is why we're here at this moment in time
@@choosetolivefree What's sad is your sweeping assumptions, stop projecting.
@@hayzed9491 tbh not as much an assumption so much as an educated guess based on statistical probability, so really, nothing person toward you at all
@@choosetolivefree2 days for that? Well done you.
@@hayzed9491he has life unlike u who dont lol.
I believe the reason why people are drawn to layman who offer simple explanations is because often the actual experts have forgotten what it’s like to know absolutely nothing and are incapable of explaining complex abstract subjects in a way which can be understood by people who aren’t experts. In my expert opinion as someone who has thousands of hours behind a podium teach abstract concepts (not economics though) the key is having the ability to craft meaningful analogies that people can relate to, which is sadly not a skill that most subject matter experts have.
Thank You! This!
That can be lack of intelligence in itself. Einstein was brilliant at turning the most complex problems in human history into something 90% of the population could easily understand. Its like those that grossly overengineer a problem vs someone who has a very simple yet highly effective solution. The latter is much more difficult to do so just because someone can mentally handle a complex situation doesn't mean they're smarter. Thus when people say "they are too stupid to understand this complex situation" .. well know, maybe its that you havent found a simple way of doing it because perhaps you arent as smart as you think you are. And thats the counter to all of this is that the plebs wouldnt understand if you gave them the full story in a brief segment. So the only way is to remove so much that it's barely even truth.
Could you please explain to me what is time. Is it 12:44? Why is it? Where is it? And what is art?
If that is true, then it's a really sad fact of reality that most people cannot comprehend concepts on it's own unless helped by analogy... Analogy often leads you astray, making you believe things are different than they are.
@@fobusas I don't think it's sad, I think it simply it is what it is. Peoples brains tend to be wired differently and there's rarely a one size fits all way to explain abstract concepts. Also it is up to the teacher to come up with meaningful analogies and effectively measure a student's comprehension. A good analogy that works for the student will not lead them astray and they'll be able to quickly display understanding.
The moment you got out the rubric I knew this was going to be good. Also love that when you reference 'textbooks' you displayed CORE, which is quite an innovative text, yet not at all an obvious choice or the most widely used textbook (but it is of the better ones out there compared to those widely used). It's little things like that that really reveal to me how much you care about teaching good economics, and not just about growing the viewer base by referencing / responding to some other big channel.
What I find interesting is what standard of sources we should accept from johny. Should he use the best textbook, or is (one of) the most popular one sufficient?
@@sjoerdglaser2794 His sources are pre-prepared. He makes his videos in orer to spread the agenda of private purchasers. I'm baffled why people lend this man so much credibility. Are people that stupid?
can you give a recommendation? sorry to bother
Why isn't core an obvious choice? I think it was the one used in my university in econ class.
@MoneyMacro this video is spewed bullshit. Keynesian economic theory is wrong, as the Federal reserve is a private bank with the primary objective of enriching its shareholders (the commercial banks.) Every economic crisis (suppressed asset prices) since the 1913 establishment of the Federal reserve has profited its commercial bank constituents. Central banks do not operate like commercial banks, they issue new currency (buying government debt without collateral backing their loans.) Commercial banks utilize rehypothecation - which is not "investing deposits" - it is a reissuance of additional unbacked currency. The "moral hazard" "problem" is accurate, aka plain fraud. Most of Jonny's points are accurate, interest rates are the primary driver of economic cycles and therefore inflation, because interest rates drive investment decisions therefore employment and retail pricing. The only difference between the failure of third world central banks and the Federal reserve is that the US has continued to coup governments to force global trade in USD; the reserve currency status (temporarily) ensures the world subsidizes USD quantitative easing. If you wanted actionable advice on markets you'd speak to a buy side investor or trader, not an economist.
Johnny Harris is on my black list because of his repeated basic lack of fact checking, stretching the truth, and using hyperbole. I'm glad that more and more content is coming out to debunk his work.
Also he went full ufo nerd last year
I consider peer-review videos like these essential for the youtube educational ecosystem. Please keep it up, your channel has revolutionized my interest in economics
Johnny Harris is not a peer. He's a propagandist.
@@gagamba9198dont know him much, except that he has been corrected by many credible people, like here, so maybe. but to me propagandist implies an intent to represent something in the service of a partisan message though, which im not sure it is, more like self-service or some kind of reach=money-maximization with alarmingly little concern for accuracy. probably harmful either way tho
This is the best kind of debunking. No bashing, just corrections on any errors delivered in an unbiased manner. Everyone learns more from this.
to be fair, it's pretty condescending
Its pretty biased lmao
Fact checks are back on the menu baby :D
Yesss. It's not the core of the channel. But, I will keep doing them every now and then. I think it is needed on YT.
@MoneyMacro this video is spewed bullshit. Keynesian economic theory is wrong, as the Federal reserve is a private bank with the primary objective of enriching its shareholders (the commercial banks.) Every economic crisis (suppressed asset prices) since the 1913 establishment of the Federal reserve has profited its commercial bank constituents. Central banks do not operate like commercial banks, they issue new currency (buying government debt without collateral backing their loans.) Commercial banks utilize rehypothecation - which is not "investing deposits" - it is a reissuance of additional unbacked currency. The "moral hazard" "problem" is accurate, aka plain fraud. Most of Jonny's points are accurate, interest rates are the primary driver of economic cycles and therefore inflation, because interest rates drive investment decisions therefore employment and retail pricing. The only difference between the failure of third world central banks and the Federal reserve is that the US has continued to coup governments to force global trade in USD; the reserve currency status (temporarily) ensures the world subsidizes USD quantitative easing. If you wanted actionable advice on markets you'd speak to a buy side investor or trader, not an economist.
I never seen such a fair and replicable assessment of educational youtubers before. Definitely a good thing and I'd love to see more of it on youtube, especially as more people start to treat the information on here as 100% truths
Shhh
hmmm@@Nutra5
With regards to banking I think he was shocked by the reserve requirements; not the fact that banks loan out your money, but how little they are required to keep. Great video and channel btw
"I think he was shocked by the reserve requirements." Which makes it seem like he just fell off the tuna truck. Not exactly a confidence booster in his acumen.
indeed, you'd have to assume he didn't actually think banks keep all of our money in vaults. In other words he probably wasn't using the words" me" or "I" in the most literal sense. Like you said, he was probably surprised by the actual reserve requirements etcetera and also surprised at how surprised he was, despite his prior general knowledge of how banks work. So he was like "if I'm this surprised, imagine how surprised many of my viewers will be". So he proceeded to use the rhetoric trick of using the "me"-form even though he wasn't really truly representing his own thoughts and positions, because that resonates hugely with all of the viewers who identify to some extent with the concept of banks keeping savings in vaults. Meanwhile the people who did know how little money the banks have to keep, well they get to feel smart because they supposedly knew something JH didn't know. Brilliant xD It's either something among those lines, or JH was much less knowledgeable then he should've been if he claims to have studied economics for 4 years at university.
Unfortunately, we're living in a society where we've prioritized simplification and entertainment (meme-ification) in the production of anything educational, so people like Johnny Harris are perceived to have more credibility than people who have really studied the subject. I'm just happy we have you, Patrick Boyle, and that Canadian donut guy for solid and understandable explanations of complex economic and finance topics. Maybe you just need to hire someone to create some cute animations to attract more subs?
He's a bagel guy, not a donut guy, silly!
Canadian donut guy?
@@petyorakovplain bagel
Donut guy is full of bs as well. I called him out many times in his videos. He's just a parrot for his firm. source: I have a degree in finance and have worked in the industry many years (still do). Unless a finance guy is teaching you how to create financial models and research he's just blowing smoke.
It’s the editing and storytelling. That is why he is a top video essayists.
I feel like he has become kind of a meme in the geography/politics/economics section of KZhead at this point.
I just wanted to take a moment to say how amazing your video was! I was really impressed with the quality of the footage, the editing, and the overall presentation. You did a great job of explaining the topic in a clear and concise way, and I learned a lot from watching your video. I also really appreciated the way you made the video engaging and entertaining. You kept my attention throughout the entire video, and I never felt bored or lost. I would definitely recommend your video to anyone who is interested in learning more about the video. Thanks again for making such a great video! I look forward to watching more of your content in the future. PS: I outsourced this feedback to AI.
Thank you so much not only for great educational content, but also for modelling how to actually give a helpful and kind feedback. If more teachers were like you, more kids would actually enjoy learning stuff ... Chapeau !
I absolutely endorse this kind of exchange and peer-reviewed videos in the educational space of KZhead! This helps everyone a lot and I believe this is how we as a species can grow stronger together.
it's like scientists checking each other's paper
@BigBoss-sm9xj except it should be done before its published
And thats why youtube educational content is cursed and doomed.
To summarise, the errors are often quite subtle, but actually have a large impact. To simplify "correctly" you need a deep understanding of the ideas to distinguish between good and misleading simplifications.
As a non economics person, I want to give my 2¢ on the whole bank confusion. While I understand how banks make money in a simple sense, I do think that the default way that people think about bank accounts is like vaults. This is how its presented in primary school and often doesn't really get revisited. Honestly most people I know don't think about interest, they just want somewhere to put their money. So I think that part is just johnny bringing the layman up to speed/reminding them.
“Can you trust Johnny Harris on Economics?” You can’t trust Johnny Harris on anything.
“In teaching economics, there has always been one thing that really pisses me off; and that’s over simplifying economics.” Amen to this; it’s not just economics, it’s many complicated things that people don’t understand, there’s always going to be a Johnny Harris or worse trying to provide simple explanations to things that are actually much more complex in reality.
I partly agree with you. During my economics degree I expected teachers to be profound and precise, but I found many times they do it understantable. However, for a short, simple and engaging video, I completely understand there will be some misleading concepts. Maybe Johnny could have been more precise, but I doubt he could be more appealling to noneconomic geeks like us. In my opinion, he did a good job, maybe a 7 out of 10 in global.
but You cant do that with mathematics or natural science, engineering etc... well you can, but you dont get away with it. in economics.. You can get away with it. whats why everyone in comment section got thire own economic theories without knowing anything about economics...
Would love to see you do one of these on Peter Zeihan, he makes some pretty big claims regarding Chinas 'inevitable' demographic and economic decline and analysis around the Ukraine war and its effect on global economics. Edit: long time viewer first time commenters, really encouraging to see nuanced discussion thread about a controversial person, minus the boomer slander lol.
this. Zeihan is the perfect boomer channel that needs calling out
Zeihan is a total crackpot pushing copium to neocons and Sinophobes. Like even in the most dramatic of “demographic collapses”’which he pushes, China will still have over a billion people which is more than twice the population of the USA. Same with Russia. He’s been predicting Russia’s collapse for over a year and the reality is far from that.
@@icecp4279such boomer statement
@@icecp4279 Zeihan is like "The world is gonna end by 2030". Source - "Trust me bro"
Zeihan has some truths sprinkled with exaggerations.
6:13: 😕 The video series by Johnny Harris on economics lacks quality research and simplifies complex concepts, but improves with the video on unemployment. 9:44: 📚 The main message of the videos on inflation, recessions, unemployment, and banks is essential but fragile, and the videos have some errors. 11:24: 📚 The video discusses the causes of inflation and the control of inflation by the Federal Reserve, but simplifies the complexity of these concepts. 14:59: 📉 The video discusses the vicious circle of economic downturns and how it is different from what is commonly believed. 18:34: 📚 Johnny explains the study of economics and the concept of unemployment in capitalist economies. 22:21: 🏦 The video discusses the misconception about banks and their role in storing and investing money. 25:48: 📚 The video concludes that while the intention to simplify economics is noble, it often simplifies too much and can be potentially dangerous. Recap by Tammy AI with useful time stamps =)
Pointless timestamps aside from the rough alingment with the chapters M&M provided.
Recap by Tammy AI with useful time stamps =)🤓🤓🤓
Incredibly important to keep creators honest and fight non-experts trying to teach nonsense.
Thanks for fact checking Johnny Harris lmao. He has been making some pretty crazy claims for a while now, from economics to history. Man is a jack of all trades lmao.
Jack of all trades is a master of none
@@anugrah1921 yeah that’s why I said it sarcastically cause he is indeed a master of none.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. His comments section consistently attacks anyone that merely points out anything factually wrong as a hater.
@@travisfubu9053 omg i said this in his voice and almost spat out my food lmao
@@HEEHEEBOII lol, I really liked watching his content, but after the incident with past present I've now still enjoyed his content just with slight doubt about the degree of correctness.
He seems like a well-intentioned guy (meaning his main goal is making money, not necessarily spinning facts to fit a grand narrative), but this isn't the first time that an expert in a subject has corrected him and basically come away with a negative overall impression of his videos. He often gives a respectable comment on these videos (like he might on this) which usually gets a positive reaction, but then nothing improves in the videos. I guess listing sources are one thing at least...
I'm looking for a word for such people. Condescending, patronising... Act like they listen to advice to look respectable, but in reality don't give a crap.
Johnny did improve on his sources some after being called out in the past for including none. I definitely don’t think he’s being malicious, it’s just a balance between making an interesting explainer vs a long and in depth video that few could be bothered to watch… hopefully he will take some away from this to start showing more than one narrative of what causes these things
@@Dyl6886a freshman in college’s essays have better citation than his videos. And he has a whole team lmfao
He is a strange form of neo liberal that has a white savior complex. So his videos all have a strange tint to them where hole leaves out fact, or makes incorrect Statements all the time
There are more videos which criticize his videos. But, he no longer comments on those channels to clarify something
I would say that not just this video helps to spread the correction but with the level of dedication to share the right knowledge tells a lot about the mentor. I value this quality content. Thank you for sharing. ❤
Thank you! This video has been very educational as well as entertaining! Would love more of these.
That Johnny Harris got paid to do a video promoting the WEF is an underreported and undercriticized story
When?
@@rbrookebIt was the History of China video
@@rbrookeb Why do people like you exist. Literally a simple youtube search could bring to your blind eyes multiple videos explaining how he does corporate propaganda but you re here asking when? lol
@@rbrookeb Here kzhead.info/sun/d9mmYMapjpifeq8/bejne.html
@@alrighty4456 It was called “How China Became So Powerful” from Jan 2021 which he admits he worked on in the video with the World Economic Forum.
I just want to thank you for this series. Almost all of the channels I choose to watch, I choose to watch because I can see, through them, a part of the world that I've never had the chance to see before. When "educational" channels turn out to be full of falsehoods, the result is that I'm taking into my mind, as truth, stuff that isn't true, and because it's almost always things I have no experience with, I have no way of knowing that I'm being fed BS until the channel covers something I have knowledge of. Usually at that point, I realize 'Oh, if they got this wrong, what ELSE did they get wrong?' and unsub from the channel, but who knows how much damage is being done before that happens. Channels like yours pointing out places I shouldn't go to for information is so helpful to me. I've never had KZhead recommend I watch this guy (possibly because I've unsubbed from so many similar channels due to the above), but if it does, I'll know to stay away. Not that there's anything wrong with an entertaining channel for people who go to that channel for entertainment, but that's not what KZhead is, to me.
I guess a good rule of thumb to follow for that would be this : as soon as it dips either lightly or heavily into sensationalism, it's probably more for entertainment/proaganda than for factual information.
@@rigelb9025 Oh, yes. Definitely. All those channels with thumbnails about how China was going to collapse in X days did me the favor of letting me know without wasting any of my time that they're clowns, something that I deeply appreciate.
@@purplecat4977 Precisely.
@@purplecat4977 Try Asianometry. You might like him. He's the opposite of sensationalism, his content is practically dry lol.
@@rigelb9025 See above.
Here's my 2 cents before having watched the video and being biased by its content: You can't trust Jonny Harris on anything. Most of his videos (economic or not) are littered with little but important errors and tendentious misinterpretations, which would already ride the line of what's acceptable if his channel was a small hobby project. But given the production value behind it, they are either deliberate (remember that WEF sponsored video on China?) or willfully negligent.
Deliberate. Everyone who has a significant following is pushing an agenda especially the "journalists" Channels
Exactly. He's either maliciously irresponsible or grossly incompetent. I'd say both even.
Thats youtube. thats how you get views. whats more important than views? no one care facts if video was entertaining enough. thats how 90% of people watch youtube videos.
Johnny's videos on China are littered with falsehoods that it falls into sinophobia and KZheadrs were quick to call him out on it.
The China/WEF video was even bad by his own standards as the narrative was completely jarring. Like why open up with a 'china is scary' theme and then talk about stakeholder theory and 'doing better'? It's got nothing to do with china. Essentially he used China as clickbait so he could ram WEF propaganda down our throats.
Thanks for the video. And also for making us aware of this awesome core econ text book. Please consider putting links to such sources in your video description.
Done!
Thank you for this! Oversimplification of science is such a big problem as of late and I feel like it's definitely important to have more people go through to try and give second opinions on things!
Well considering you can only learn so much in a 20 minute video, I’d say the goal is to oversimplify it.
I remember one of my economics professors in the 90s warning us not to think ourselves experts that once we had a bachelor's degree in economics. that it took a minimum of 8 years to be a doctor, but that in the end bad econmists had the potential to do much more harm than a bad doctor... wonder what he would think now...
Don't know much about economics but my teachers of the Dental school I studied at always reminded us in scientific disciplines although you get your degrees, you never stop learning and evolving. I think he is pointing out that same fact in very great detail.
@@kuriakosekjoseph6253 actualluy what Johnny Harris argues is that formal education in a way is a racket because it overcomplicates subjects. the issue is that not eveything is simple as is pointed out in this video and that whilst continuous education is certainly something to aim for, pretending that economics is a simple subject doesnt really help... anyway, maybe at the least it can get some people interested
@@shanghaidiscovery2664 exactly. I think Johnny Harris in his quest to challenge the established norms of education system and teaching methods went too far to the extreme end. That is oversimplification. When it should've been in the middle.
Excellent point
Johnny’s general ethos- an ethos he seems to have imbibed during his stay in my home state of Utah- is that being outwardly polite and well-buttoned is the end of all moral achievement, rather than actually effecting positive results in the world. Other commenters have, for example, already pointed out Johnny’s tendency to leave ‘humble’/‘respectful’ comments on the videos that debunk his presentations, without ever actually improving the research quality of his work. To Johnny, merely putting on the appearance of accountability *is* accountability, just as, in his videos, the appearance of informative content *is* informative content.
Yea he makes disingenuous states and leaves out facts all the time. He makes agenda focused videos instead of a fact based essays.
Totally ! He's a lib in his way of approaching things. It's all politeness
He is his own brand and most brands only care about looking good. Not actually doing any good. Just like him. For the viewers that will see and believe his replies, it's enough.
I've also wondered if money might be an incentive. He has to provide for his family so videos need to get out on time even if that means cutting a lot of corners in his research.
@@TheDuzx If he can afford to hire such a big team trust me money isn't an issue.
Peer reviewed videos!!! Yes I love this idea! I'm a big fun of the spread of education and information in a fun, entertaining way via youtube and other internet sources. However, the quality of the content has always worried me. But with this method of peer reviewing, we can start to build a more stable system that we trust, known that no one knows it all and everyone is gonna make mistakes at some point but we have each other to check we did our homework! Love it
thank you for the thorough and patient work u do to inform the public on economics
I have caught him being a little inaccurate about history from time to time like the American capture of the Philippines.
What did he get wrong? I havent watched it.
i last watched him over a year ago but i think his videos on crypus never mentioned bloody christmas or even the coup that spawned the crisis
What was inaccurate?
Only a little? His videos about colonisation was beyond terrible. He is pushing agenda rather than explaining history and historical phenomens.
@@cesenu19 I agree with you. On the story about how the US won the Philippines from the Spanish. He explained how a mock battle was staged between the surrendering Spanish and the Americans so that the Spanish didn't have to surrender to the Filipino Rebels in part because they didn't want to surrender to brown people. All true, at least in part. He said that was all there was to it. He totally ignored the bloody battle between the Americans and their Rebel allies vs the Spanish on the sea and on land with heavy casualties for months, as if it never happened, just the mock battle. Also when President Franklin Roosevelt gave his Day of Infamy speech to Congress after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he claimed that FDR didn't mentioned the Philippines a one of the several places the Japanese attacked at roughly the same time as they did Pearl Harbor, claiming FDR didn't mentioned them for racist reasons, when he clearly did in his address to Congress. I don't trust what he has to say, and it is not because he has obvious SJW opinions since my favorite historians I subscribe to run the political spectrum from Mr. Beat's (not the huge KZheadr but a history teacher) progressivism to Vlogging through History's Conservatism to TIK's Libertarianism/Right wing Anarchism; the Cynical Historian's near SJW stance to The History Guy's I-can't-figure-out-his-politics (a good thing). I like them all. Johnny Harris does have an agenda to distort History. I hate it when Right Wingers do it, I hate it when Left wingers do it.
Love these videos and love calling out "economics explained"!
that channel is actually so bad im surprised its still growing and so uncriticized
Same. Also loved the history and China debunks of Johnny's videos.
@@shayan_idk From the very first video EE pissed me off as it was like they never read through their own script as it contradict itself at least once, several times are not unusual. The minimum wage video was so infuriating I stopped. Another was he was supposed to be Keynesian, but was clearly pushing debunked Austrian/Chicago economics.
Him contradicting himself is not something unusual i think it's by design bcs i think he is targeting both groups of extremes rather than looking at things without colored glasses and being objective and rational.
@@upsetforever7643 No, he is just terrible. You're thinking he is presenting 'Both sides', but contradicting yourself isn't that. They aren't small contradictions either, they are massive logical disconnects, outright mistakes.
This is why I hate oversimplified videos about stuff that affect politics. They tend to just cause more misinformed anger, which in turn tends to cause more harm.
aye
Thank you so much for making these videos. It's so seductive when someone tells you, "It isn't that complicated. Let me just show you how it works, simply..." I want to feel smart, but I also have little ability to critique what I'm seeing, or time to fact-check it all. Thanks for doing that for us!
Very good point! That exactly the problem with the economists themselves (like this author). Economy is not an exact science, it is more an emperical Field. It is indeed complicated. So if (which is true) Harris oversimplify, the economists as Nassim Taleb says are another oversimplification layer above. By trying to appear more sophisticated with methemathical équations and models which are mainly based on assumptions and simplifications. Their predictions are always wrong. So we don't see really the difference between harris' and this so called expert.
@@johnmreck1218"I heard you liked simplification, so I simplified this simplification..." 😱
I’m not sure if you mistyped and meant “reductive” or actually meant seductive… and then I realised both worked perfectly 🔥
@@toziassmitthaha good point!
One of the best criticisms on any subject. No excessive condemnation or hyperbolic rhetoric, just calm and rational analysis without any bias! Though appreciate that you even applaud Johnny's merits, those merits are almost irrelevant and sometimes positively harm the main message. Although I was one of the early subscribers of his channel (as I had followed him in vox) I feel he oversimplifies not just economics but almost everything! His narrative is just poor and follows the template of good and evil and victimhood with often exaggerated emotions. This template is what has gathered him views and he has fallen victim to this positive feedback loop to the point where he is click baiting. His videos have started covering wider and bigger topics and thus have become misinforming and almost to the point of a conspiracy theorist. Anyways loved your video got a new sub from India!
Couldn't agree more! Love the calm and totally rational analysis (often the case on this channel you'll find!). I used to like and follow Johnny harris too (his Vox series used to be great but it has since seemed to firmly descend into click bait territory).
To be fair, Johnny isn't the only one who makes this kind of oversimplified video. As viewers, we should all remember these videos are for entertainment only. It's dangerous if we only believe what these videos try to tell us and create a very narrow view of the world.
@@marcxie I think the bigger backlash (comapred to also similarly trash but popular channels) he gets is due to 2 facts: - he was already well liked at VOX, which he quit because he claimed mainstream media is not the truth (which is probably true), only to make even worse content, . he touches very big variety of subjects with more less detail than similarly bad channels. Like EE at least only leaves demage on the economics front, Harris destroys the general knowledge about everything he touches nowadays.
@@HelloOnepiece Well he's not as bad as the Infographics Show dude at least. Who I think has a bunch of other channels too.
@@HelloOnepiece i dont think EE is factually wrong or a case of oversimplification
This made me realize how allowing only those who finished a postgrad to teach in a specific field of study has its purpose. It's not to gatekeep, it's to ensure what you're delivering is factual and reliably studied
That's pretty much what gatekeeping is.
@@upsetforever7643 Yeah, I think we went wrong somewhere to give gatekeeping a negative connotation, it is absolutely needed. I for one really glad my local hospital is gatekeeping and do not let just crazy joe from the corner do my operations because "bro, you can trsut him"
@@HelloOnepiece I reached the same conclusion painful as it may have been but removing gatekeepers was a BIG mistake, and now it's too late people have seen trough the curtains and they can see that our elites are stupid, incompetent, malicious, and dangerous with delusions of grandeur.
Then you are misinformed. Nearly all finance youtubers are hacks, especially the ones with econ and finance degrees (rather than financial engineering). The author of this video clearly has no idea that his textbooks are irrelevant in the investment world. He likely cannot find professional employment either since economists are notoriously misinformed.
@@Aaron565 and who are you exactly to discredit him? What are your qualifications and what is it that he gets wrong in the video?
Hahahaha the LinkedIn screenshot of his “economics” degree is awesome
You know this is a good channel because it lists Unlearning Economists in it's recommended channels.
I love this series of "dutch KZheadrs hold Jonny Harris accountable"
Online educators need to make it easier to submit peer reviews & criticism. Content like this is important to making creators like Johnny Harris the best they can be. It would be really nice if KZhead could be more 2-way, making publishing peer review easier.
i am glad i get to expand knowledge scope, he can break down hard concepts to simple stories in an age where few people, even the well best intellectuals might not know where to start with a set of knowlege its great to see you dive deeper into the nuanced that can be lost in simplicity, i think everyone has a role to play in the knowledge span , id be great to see a combined knowledge video of you and him on this nuances
Great assessment. And really accurate given that Johnny is way out of his depth when it comes to economics. I agree on the Inflation video, I left him a comment awhile back pointing out inflation is in general NOT caused by banks printing money -- it's caused by supply/demand imbalance caused by supply chain, wages, or even monopolies, etc.
Yep! Johnny really is the punching bag of everyone on all political spectrum.
because you if you know about anything, you know he just makes shit up.
People love watching the character of a clueless person who keeps stumbling on amazing insights and facts about the world around him, so his videos really give me a "Waynes World" feeling more than anything else.
@@drscopeify I just imagined that scene from Jonny's quote where he says about recession/GDP "but the line always goes back up". *Insert Waynes World* "Party Time! Excellent!"
@@stephenhowes6509 Exactly spot on.
Fo real bro Dude is Hated by almost all
I genuinely think your channel is one of the more underrated channels. Absolutely loved this video, and how fair and objective you always keep it. Please keep up your fantastic work and making macroeconomics so interesting to us! (even though I'm not from a financial background!) Would you have any non-academic Macroeconomics book suggestions for someone who wants to learn more?
My stomach sank when you whipped out the grading system. Super Professional Johnny indeed. Your review is courteous and patient. I appreciate your experience in handling any media and wish you good fortune. (The need for backing up "most important statements with trustworthy sources" is mutually constructive. In saying so, you're not trying to put anyone on a pillar. It will take more than a handful of short videos to explain economics!)
The Times is annoyed by the existence of Daily Mail
There should always be a warning when a generalist step in and explain really complicated or technical subjects. It's not just Johnny, but it's found in many other channels too. Unfortunately it means that we as viewers need to stop relying on "one stop shop" and actually seek out specialized channels when something of interest rise up.
This should be a given.
Actually Johnny Harris scored pretty mid getting these grades from a dutch professor. Not a star student, but 7.2 is pretty decent, 6.5 is good enough, Johnny should speak to Joeri to get that 5.4 bumped up past a 5.5, and I'm sure he can do an inflation resit. Not bad honestly. He'll pass econ
Being a huge Johnny Harris fan - these videos are a great! Thank you for doing this. 💯🙏🏾👏🏾 Truly gives us the entire scope of the subject.
I loved the evaluation! I hope Johnny sees it, reflect on it and improve! ❤️
He should be in jail
The inflation video had me losing it 😂 it made it like the inflation is a conspiracy
This is an interesting series. I'm glad the algorithm brought me here. I taught microeconomics at a college for a few years and love watching economics videos like junk food. That said from what I've seen from economics explained in the past 2 weeks or so it's all been pretty decent stuff. So I'm excited to see where that deviated.
Fantastisch dat je toch niet het 'full prof' gaan kon weerstaan en er een grade table op plakte. Goede content dit, ga zo door!
You are a pillar of KZhead. Thank you for your important work.
You should do a similar grading for larger channels/conglomerates such as CNBC!
Yes plz
Love the debate. Pointing out weaknesses and constructive criticism helps to get to the truth. Good job ❤
I really hope that Johnny Harris will respond in the comment section here and more importantly, takes this as an opportunity to make his videos better. Because when it comes to storytelling, Johnny is far beyond most of other creators
Im glad youtube algo show me this video, as i want to learn more about macroeconomic. it helps me in making decision in financial aspect
Your videos prompted me to read your PhD thesis and since then I actually trust your videos a lot more. You provide sources and arguments instead of just appealing to people's gut-instinct. Great video again! (also I'm not an economist but computer scientist/chemist (2 degrees) and find agent-based simulations interesting, that's why I read it ) By the way as a video-suggestion: I recently read some articles and saw video's about how the EU fell behind (or is falling behind) the USA (and China). Would you mind doing an evaluation on the EU's approach and the different approaches towards stimulating prosperity and economic growth.. I myself am Belgian, but about to "emigrate" to the Netherlands, (I don't really see it as emigration much) due to better job-opportunities in technology/science, I was stunned when I finished university and got into the job-market how large differences can be between two pretty similar countries that I'm both very familiar with.. I am currently convinced that this is largely due to government policy towards macro-economics
From primaire Belg to reserve Belg! 😉
Belgium? I heard that it doesn't exist... 🤭
@@LiamNI don't tell Joeri, he's Belgian!
As long as you aren’t an illegal immigrant to the Netherlands that’s fine! 😂😂😂
@@bunnystrasse Kinda hard to be an illegal immigrant when both are EU countries (and would be really stupid too)
Yes please keep making these types of videos. The world needs them.
On the inflation topic, I often don't feel like we appropriately account for technological deflation which often looks like inflation. Or in other words feature creep, and rising minimum standard. CPUs are a good example of this. Often times the physical chip for a range of processors are the same, so everything from your celeron to your i3 may be identical parts. Some of the lower end chips have a problem so they fuse out sections of the chip to make the lower part, but more often it is a soft limit. So as a business it is about pricing and profits. If using a normal tiring system then you would mostly sell the bottom performing chip, and fewer of higher end more expensive products. But a low end product makes less profit, and could hurt the brand (like low cost atom chips which were a great value per performance.... But were just awful performance). So,even though the cost per chip may go down, the minimum cost of the product is artificially raised because the cheapest chip is so expensive (or even the same price) as the more performant varients. So the minimum purchase price goes up, and the average price goes up, which looks like inflation. But really, they aren't selling any real numbers of the lower tier products, and over time the product still gets cheaper when evaluating on price per performance. This then gets integrated into a laptop or server, which then increases it's price, looking more and more like inflation, when more often than not it is flat or down on a dollar per performance or dollar per feature metric. There is also the durability issue, which can't be accounted for at the time. But in the early to mid 2000s product durability increased a lot. Products that use to need replacement every 2-3 years started to last 10+ years, and the maytag man became bored. Or cell phones which use to last 1-2 years now easily last 5+ if not abused. I am not denying inflation in more recent years, but I think we need to go back and look at numbers through the 90s and late 2000s, because where on paper we had 1-2% inflation we probably were deflating.
Economics was never my main interest, and I wanted to learn and understand it more bc I thought it's good to have some knowledge about it in general. I relied heavily on such videos wich aimed at explaining economics in simple and entertaining way. Your take on Economics Explained videos about hyperinflation and Netherlands inequality motivated me to diversify my sources when learning economics (that also means I'm subscribed to your channel since then :) ). Glad to see another solid and profetional critique. I highly appreaciate your work and find it much helpfull.
I've been waiting for this one!
I applaud you for Showing the criteria and score first - most videos keep that till the end and that is counter productive
Good structure in presenting your argument. I like that you present your conclusion early on in the video and then explain how you got there later.
we live in an era where expertise is devalued and at the same time some podcast hosts become experts on a different subject daily. simplification in itself as you mention is not bad except when the claim is that there is nothing else you need to know beyond what is presented. hopefully in this series you can also review channels that present a biased view of economics, which is another kind of simplification
We also live in an era where “experts” have been indoctrinated with false information or limited information. The most trusted experts have been shown to be the biggest frauds and part of a corrupt and dishonest system. Credentials don’t make one credible. Results do
Just discovered this channel. Nice methodical and calm analysis
While I always knew that banks gave out loans, I was never aware that it was customer money that was used. I always thought it was the banks private funds, not customer funds.
I went into this video partially biased because myself and Johnny Harris share opposing views on the economy - with him self proclaiming as a socialist and myself being independent, I'm somewhere in the middle. However, I think your video did it justice and was totally fair. You shone light on things you yourself disagreed with even though you rated his video fairly high. Being THE money and macro channel, I was very happy to see another unbiased approach to it. Kudos for not being overly harsh, and saying he should still continue his noble journey, and still criticizing him in his faults. This kind of discussion IS what's needed here on KZhead, not just about this but all walks of life - even the most controversial, whatever you wanna fit into that category.
This video is absolutely needed.
Thank god someone finally calling out that guy's BS
This guy has been an easy target for a while
Everything he says is BULLSHIT.
i though i was crazy
I love how reasonable, well informed, and easy to follow this video was - great job and thank you!
The biggest thing I noticed that was misleading about him was during the Hong Kong property prices video. He was basically saying, because the government owns the land and sells it for a lot, but then he says that’s the free market.
Hopefully he is going to respond to this video as he did to the history youtuber criticising him for is oversimplification of his history videos.
Great job! He surely needs to be fact checked.
Wow this is an excellent video for me. I've never seen Johnny's videos, but I think the perspective he presents sums up my current understanding of economics quite well, and to have the nuance added to it is just what I wanted (but didn't know I wanted).
Great video! Important stuff. Hope this happens for more subjects on youtube as well.
Yes, I totally agree that people over-simplifying complex topics is annoying and harmful. At the same time, journalism will always over-simply and misunderstand complex topics. It's kind of a function of specialization of labor. Journalists are journalists, and they try to simplify topics that they may not fully understand such that the public can "understand".
But the journalists bring experts and then ask questions. He doesn't
Yesss another one! I absolutely love all these channels, different experts in different fields, call out this guy. I found so many good history, politics, and now economics channels simply by searching for "Johnny Harris debunked" XD
Great review. Very informative! However, by the time you showed the textbook definition of inflation I validated why I like watching Harris' videos: it is way easier to digest these concepts for people in a different area of science (for example, "index" could mean different things on different areas of science).
This is how we grow, when we help each other learn. Great video!
Glad you're doing this series. I've stopped watching Johnny due to his content being so sensationalized. Its like watching a reality show news drama.
But his videos are really good
Without even watching this video I can answer your question: No, he cannot be trusted. He’s either ignorant or malicious.
Probably a bit of both. Or we can AT LEAST question his "pure" intentions. From his sponsorships and his continuous misinformation it is weird
Just found your channel. I really like this kind of content!
Y’know, I don’t really watch this channel nor am I that interested in economics, but I watched this entire video, wasn’t bored once. Subscribed.