5. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a political work"

"In 1964, a professor named Henry Littlefield speculated that the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a political work meant to support the farmers' opposition to the gold standard. Dorothy is a young farm girl from Kansas who represents rural U.S. citizens; the Tin Man represents city workers; the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryant, whom the author thought was not a strong enough leader; and the Scarecrow is the U.S. farmer. The four travel toward the East on the yellow brick road -- a road made of gold -- to see the Wizard of Oz, who represents the evil eastern bankers who manipulate the economy by pulling strings and levers behind a curtain. Their destination, Oz, is simply the abbreviation for ounce, as in ounces of gold."

From "Economics FOR DUMMIES" by Sean Masaki Flynn, PhD, Assistant Professor of Economics, Vassar College