Tim Harford on Persuasion and Popular Economics

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2020

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To Tim Harford, mistakes are fascinating. "We often only understand how something works when it breaks," he says, explaining why there's such an emphasis on errors throughout his work. They also tend to make great stories, which can stoke the curiosity necessary to change minds. A former persuasive speaking champion, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for services to improving economic understanding," which he's achieved through appearances on the BBC, columns for the Financial Times, several TED Talks and books, and now his latest podcast series Cautionary Tales.

Tim joined Tyler to discuss the role of popular economics in a politicized world, the puzzling polarization behind Brexit, why good feedback is necessary (and rare), the limits of fact-checking, the "tremendously British" encouragement he received from Prince Charles, playing poker with Steve Levitt, messiness in music, the underrated aspect of formal debate, whether introverts are better at public speaking, the three things he can't live without, and more.

Note: This conversation was recorded in November 2019 and thus took place before the UK's general election in December, which secured Boris Johnson a Conservative majority and ensured the passage of his Brexit deal in January 2020.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded November 11th, 2019

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.3	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.5	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.
0:27.4	Today I'm very happy to be speaking with Tim Harkford.
0:30.6	Tim is a long-standing columnist for the Financial Times.
0:33.8	He's on BBC Radio all the time, presenter of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy,
0:40.0	and also the series More or Less.
0:42.6	He's the author of at least seven books, including The Million Selling, The Undercover Economist.
0:48.0	His TED Talks have been watched by more than 8 million people.
0:52.2	He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and he was made an officer of the
0:57.8	Order of the British Empire for, quote, services to improving economic understanding.
1:03.7	And now he has a new podcast series out called Quasionary Tales.
1:08.0	Tim, welcome.
1:09.0	I'm delighted to be here.
1:10.9	The prospects of talking to you, Tyler, is both the most exciting and also the most terrifying
1:16.2	engagement I have on my podcast promotion tour, so I'm looking forward to it.
1:20.2	These are all easy questions.
1:21.8	Well let's think about public speaking, which you've done quite a bit of.
1:26.2	On average, do you think extroverts or introverts are better public speakers?
1:31.2	I am an introvert.
	...

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