Thanks for downloading this podcast from the BBC, though it might not be what you expect.

Some of the people behind More or Less have been busy making another series, The Story

of Economics, presented by Michael Blasland and broadcast in three parts from Wednesday

the 16th of March.

Since More or Less is off air, we thought you might like this instead.

You can find out more about this series at bbc.co.uk slash radio 4.

Last week we left the gods of the Acropolis, the idea of economics as morality, and looked

towards the Agora, the market.

This week we begin on the trading floor of a financial market at the Chicago Mercantile

Exchange.

What you hear behind me is the open outcry, as it's called, of people buying, selling,

tagling.

There's a riot of colour, voices, the litter of forgotten trades, in scraps on the floor.

Across the walls there are prices, flashing, red, green, orange, the pit they call the

business end of all this.

Think fish market, think flower market, think cattle auction all rolled into one, a roofless,

fizzing machine of amazing complexity.

From economic gods, this program turns to the economic cogs of the market.

From the gallery overlooking the pit, we bump into Phil Flynn, a trader and Fox news

pundit.

Some people hate markets, Phil loves them, really loves them.

You can blindfold a trader, and he can listen to the roar of the crowd and tell you whether

...