Tim Harford on Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

Ethics, Philosophy, Economics, Books, Science, Business, Courses, Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Interviews, Education, History

4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2017

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Financial Times columnist and author Tim Harford talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Harford's latest book, Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. Highlights include how elevators are an important form of mass transit, why washing machines didn't save quite as much time as you'd think, and the glorious illuminating aspects of light throughout history.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.0	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast,
0:17.0	and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.0	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.
0:33.0	Today is November 3rd, 2017, and my guest is journalist and author Tim Hartford.
0:38.0	He first appeared on econtalk in 2011, long time ago, talking about his book Adapt,
0:44.0	and he was a guest a year ago, talking about his book Messy.
0:47.0	His latest book, which is the subject of today's conversation,
0:50.0	is 50 inventions that shaped the modern economy.
0:53.0	Tim, welcome back to econtalk.
0:55.0	It's great to be back, Russ.
0:57.0	I want to start. You did a podcast series on these ideas, correct?
1:00.0	Yes, it was simultaneously a book and podcast series for the BBC.
1:04.0	And the name of the series is very slightly different to the book.
1:07.0	The book's 50 inventions that shaped the modern economy,
1:10.0	and the podcast series was 50 things that made the modern economy.
1:14.0	And it ran for a year, one 10-minute episode a week,
1:19.0	and they're all still available.
1:21.0	If econtalk listeners might enjoy them, they're all free, of course,
1:24.0	as many podcasts are, so check them out.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Library of Economics and Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Library of Economics and Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.