The functioning or malfunctioning of the economy affects everyone. Unfortunately, the educational system has failed to adequately teach us about how it all works, and myths abound. The goal of this site is to make important concepts in macroeconomics and markets easier to understand for a wider audience.
| How Loans Create Money | A narrated visual guide to how bank loans create money (Part 1). | about 3 minutes | Level: Beginner |
| How Loans Create Money (PART 2) |
Reserve ratios, capital requirements, cash withdrawals, and more. (COMING SOON) | ||
| How the Economy Works — A Visual Tutorial |
A "quick start" MMT-inspired narrated guide to the economy. (Part 1, optionally continuing to parts 2 & 3) | about 10 minutes | Level: Beginner - Intermediate |
| How the Economy Works (PART 2) | A shortcut to Part 2 in case you stopped at the end of Part 1. | about 11 minutes | |
| How the Economy Works (PART 3) | A shortcut to Part 3, the final part. | about 9 minutes | |
| Macroeconomic Balance Sheet Visualizer | An interactive balance-sheet-driven exploration of specific concepts in macroeconomics. | Level: Intermediate - Advanced | |
| Macroeconomic Circular Flow Visualizer |
A circular flow simulator allowing control of leakages and injections. (PREVIEW VERSION) | Level: Intermediate - Advanced | |
| EconViz Blog | See updates on site progress and contribute to the discussion. (Or follow @EconViz on twitter) |
Macroeconomics is very well suited to conceptual visualization, yet most educational material (for example in the blogosphere) remains text-centered rather than visually-centered. This site provides content in an interactive multimedia web format.
Why not just provide videos? The EconViz approach is an attempt to go beyond what conventional videos on the web can offer by incorporating the following features (in additional to the visuals, animation and narration that videos have too):
Data visualization helps us grasp the size and direction of trends in the economy and markets, but doesn't directly illustrate the underlying mechanics. The most common form is charts and graphs, but many other formats have been explored. This site will only focus on data visualization to the extent that it enhances understanding of the concepts.
The workings of the economy as explained on this site are inspired by a branch of macroeconomics sometimes referred to as MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) or neo-Chartalism. Related academic work can be found at the University of Missouri-Kansas City economics department, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and many places on the web, for example the New Economic Perspectives blog.
Possible topics of future narrated visual tutorials include:
This site is brought to you by "hbl", a software engineer long fascinated by macroeconomics who also
occasionally blogs at ThoughtOfferings.com.
You can email feedback to hbl - AT- econviz -DOT- org.
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