50 Things That Made the Modern Economy Podcast
Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.
Episodes to download
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Welfare State
Sat 7 Oct 2017
Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it? Itβs not an easy question to answer
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Property Register
Sat 30 Sep 2017
Property rights for the world's poor could unlock trillions in βdead capitalβ
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Management Consulting
Sat 16 Sep 2017
If managers often have a bad reputation, what about those who tell them how to manage?
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Double-entry Bookkeeping
Sat 9 Sep 2017
Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping
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S-Bend
Sat 2 Sep 2017
The S-bend was a pipe with a curve in it, an invention that led to public sanitation
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Radar
Sat 26 Aug 2017
A high-tech βdeath rayβ capable of zapping sheep led to the invention of radar
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Market Research
Sat 19 Aug 2017
Market research marked a shift from a producer-led to consumer-led approach to business
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Plastic
Sat 12 Aug 2017
We make so much plastic these days that it takes about eight percent of oil production
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Seller Feedback
Sat 5 Aug 2017
Without seller feedback, companies like eBay might not have grown as they have
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Limited Liability Company
Sat 22 Jul 2017
How some legal creativity has created vast wealth down the centuries
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Leaded Petrol
Sat 8 Jul 2017
When lead was added to petrol it made cars more powerful β but it also poisoned people
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Department Store
Sat 1 Jul 2017
Harry Selfridge pioneered a whole new retail experience with his London department store
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Barbed Wire
Sat 24 Jun 2017
βLighter than air, stronger than whiskeyβ β barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America
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Tax Havens
Sat 17 Jun 2017
Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore
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Infant Formula
Sat 10 Jun 2017
For many new mothers who want, or need, to get back to work, infant formula is a godsend
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Index Fund
Sat 3 Jun 2017
Warren Buffett is one of the worldβs great investors. His advice? Invest in an index fund
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Tally Stick
Sat 27 May 2017
The tally stick shows us what money really is: a kind of debt that can be traded freely
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Passports
Sat 20 May 2017
If anyone could work anywhere, some economists think global economic output would double
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Intellectual Property
Sat 13 May 2017
Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation
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Video Games
Sat 6 May 2017
From Spacewar to Pokemon Go, video games have shaped the modern economy in surprising ways
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Cuneiform
Sat 29 Apr 2017
Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the worldβs first accounts
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Air Conditioning
Sat 22 Apr 2017
Invented for the printing industry, air conditioning now influences where and how we live
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Elevator
Sat 15 Apr 2017
The safety elevator is a mass transit system that has changed the shape of our cities
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Contraceptive Pill
Sat 8 Apr 2017
The pill wasnβt just socially revolutionary, it also sparked an economic revolution
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TV Dinner
Sat 1 Apr 2017
The TV dinner, and other inventions from the same era, made a lasting economic impression
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Gramophone
Sat 25 Mar 2017
"Superstarβ economics β the story of how the gramophone led to a winner-take-all market
