Commanding Heights: The Battle for the world Economy is a three-episode documentary from PBS alleging to inform viewers on the world economic history of the 20 th century. The first episode illustrates how the world transformed, forth and back, from market economies to planned economies. The second episode illustrates the impact, some of which are painful, of this transformation. The third episode concentrates on both current and future problems of globalization. The movie is a six hour documentary introducing important ideas and events associated with the political economy thus igniting critical thinking concerning economic issues. This essay is, therefore, a critical summary of the movie. Episode One: The Battle of Ideas In the wake of the First World War, the economic turmoil experienced by the global economic super powers led to new perceptions of the world economy in both public and private sectors (Mayer, 1987). This has since ignited a debate on the virtues of a global free market as opposed to planned economies managed by governmental controls. In this episode various ideas associated with economic planning emerge leading to a battle of ideas as stated in the title. The episode presents a battle between two competing economic ideologies: free market supported by Hayek, economic theorist, and planned economy supported by Keynes. These conflicting ideas lead to this important question: who should be in charge of “the Commanding Heights” of the economy? In every democratic society, there are two schools of thoughts (Baumol, and Blinder, 2009). On one side is Keynesian economics developed by John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, and on the other side is Austrian school of thought developed by Friedrich Hayek, an Austrian. Keynes advocates for government intervention in managing inflation and economic stabilization as well as cushioning economic busts and booms (Public Broadcasting Service). Hayek on the other hand advocates for a free market with minimal government intervention if any. He believes in a free balancing of market forces and use of market price as a signal to communicate businesses for decision making purposes (Public Broadcasting Service). Interventions like price control will thus interfere with the signal and lead to market inefficiency. The viewer is presented with two options on economic planning. The first option favors government control and the second option favors free market. The first option carries the notion that the commanding heights of the economy should be controlled by the government. People have equal rights and should be treated with respect, “each according to his/her needs (Baumol, and Blinder, 2009). Keynesian ideology can be summarized as: Economic planning with some government intervention is essential in preserving full employment and a mixed economy whereby government own essential industries (Baumol, and Blinder, 2009). Full blown socialism as presented by Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin can be summarized as: Complete government control of the economy in which the government takes charge of planning and owns all industries (Baumol, and Blinder, 2009). The episode presents a case whereby there is a conflict on whether to adopt the socialism option or the Keynesian option (Public Broadcasting Service). The episode addresses various questions that arise as the viewer digests these conflicting ideas on how market control should be undert