Why does Father Christmas wear red and white? It's not for the reason you may think. In an updated version of an episode from 2018, Tim Harford tells the story of Christmas and consumerism.
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Sources
Stephen Nissenbaum The Battle For Christmas Alfred Knopf: New York 1997 and Bruce David Forbes Americaβs Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories University of California Press, Oakland 2015
Stephen Nissenbaum The Battle For Christmas
Bruce David Forbes Americaβs Favorite Holidays
Joel Waldfogel Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldnβt Buy Presents For The Holidays Princeton University Press Woodstock 2009
Waldfogel Scroogenomics
Harriet Beecher Stowe βChristmas; or, The Good Fairyβ National Era 4 (26 December 1850)
Maria Frazee Santa Claus: The Worldβs Number One Toy Expert 2005
Jennifer Pate Offenberg βMarkets: Gift CardsβΒ Journal of Economic PerspectivesβVolume 21, Number 2βSpring 2007
Broadcasts
- Sat 21 Dec 2019 05:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sat 21 Dec 2019 14:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Sun 22 Dec 2019 14:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 22 Dec 2019 15:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet, Online & Europe and the Middle East only
- Sun 22 Dec 2019 22:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Mon 23 Dec 2019 04:50GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
Podcast
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world
