Commanding Heights is a documentary film which shows and explains to viewers

how economists and other people reacted to the ups and downs of the economic
revolution leading to globalization. It provides clear illustration and explanation of
different economic theories used in order for them to control a countrys economy. The
first part of the documentary entitled The Battle of Ideas focused during the 20 th century.
It is stated that during the World War, there were two main economic thoughts or
theories: Keynesian Economics and Austrian School. Keynesian Economics was
proposed by John Maynard Keynes, a British economist. He believed that in order to
maintain a growing economy, the government should not meddle with the markets.
While the latter, opposes the former. Austrian School is conceptualized by an Austrian
named Fredrich Hayek who believes that free market mechanism must be implemented.
Many people supported and accepted Keynes theory which made it popular and
soon used by many countries. Keynes believed that the commanding heights of a
country must be controlled by the government. Before watching the documentary film,
weve always wondered what the commanding heights is and what its role in a
countrys economy is. And upon watching, I learned that these are the aggregate inputs
of production which affects the countrys economy. And the term itself originated from
Lenins speech. We somehow agree to the Keynesians idea since it states that in a
country, the government must have the power to control their commanding heights. And
since many people during that time adapted this theory, many believed that this results
to a better economic outcome. But Hayek strongly opposes Keynes theory. He insisted
that free market is the answer to a better economy and not a government control. He
even wrote a book entitled The Road to Serfdom. But since Keynes theory is more
popular than his theory, all of his ideas and arguments remained unheard and
unaccepted. During the time that Keynesian theory is thriving, it suddenly came to a
downfall when they hit stagflation which is a persistent high inflation combined with
high unemployment and stagnant demand in a countrys economy. And this is the time
where Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan finally decided to switch the tables
around and go with Hayeks theory instead. Even if others believed that they would fail,
they persevered and finally succeeded which resulted to positive effects in the economy,
and finally the Keynesian Economics theory ended. That is how the battle ended

according to the documentary but we think that up until now, the battle isnt really over
yet because we still struggle to find new ways in order to keep our economy rising.
Many people up to today still debates which of the two is more effective to use for an
economy. But maybe it will all just be a matter of balance. There will always be power in
the government to intervene with the markets but it must only be limited in order for the
markets still decide on their own and not only depend on the government. This
documentary film shows how globalization affected on a countrys economic decisions.
And it also gave us a lot of knowledge and opened our eyes and minds about how our
economy started and how it really works.