50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
BBC World Service
Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.
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Top 10 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Disposable Razor
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
02/25/17 • 9 min
King Camp Gillette came up with an idea which has helped shape the modern economy. He invented the disposable razor blade. But, perhaps more significantly, he invented the two-part pricing model which works by imposing what economists call “switching costs”. If you’ve ever bought replacement cartridges for an inkjet printer you experienced both when you discovered that they cost almost as much as the printer itself. It’s also known as the “razor and blades” model because that’s where it first drew attention, thanks to King Camp Gillette. Attract people with a cheap razor, then repeatedly charge them for expensive replacement blades. As Tim Harford explains, it’s an idea which has been remarkably influential.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: Razor, Credit: Shutterstock)
3 Listeners
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Barcode
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
12/10/16 • 8 min
How vast mega-stores emerged with the help of a design originally drawn in the sand in 1948 by Joseph Woodland as he sat on a Florida beach, observing the furrows left behind, an idea came to him which would – eventually – become the barcode. This now ubiquitous stamp, found on virtually every product, was designed to make it easier for retailers to automate the process of recording sales. But, as Tim Harford explains, its impact would prove to be far greater than that. The barcode changed the balance of power between large and small retailers.
(Image: Barcode with red laser line, Credit: Jamie Cross/Shutterstock)
2 Listeners
Haber-Bosch Process
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
11/14/16 • 8 min
Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser, the Haber-Bosch Process has been called the greatest invention of the 20th Century – and without it almost half the world’s population would not be alive today. Tim Harford tells the story of two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, figured out a way to use nitrogen from the air to make ammonia, which makes fertiliser. It was like alchemy; 'Brot aus Luft', as Germans put it, 'Bread from air'.
Haber and Bosch both received a Nobel prize for their invention. But Haber’s place in history is controversial – he is also considered the 'father of chemical warfare' for his years of work developing and weaponising chlorine and other poisonous gases during World War One.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Photo: A farmer sprays fertiliser. Credit: Remy Gabalda/Getty Images)
2 Listeners
Diesel Engine
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
11/05/16 • 8 min
Rudolf Diesel died in mysterious circumstances before he was able to capitalise on his extraordinary invention: the eponymous engine that powers much of the world today. Before Diesel invented his engine in 1892, as Tim Harford explains, the industrial landscape was very different. Urban transport depended on horses and steam supplied power for trains and factories. Incredibly, Diesel’s first attempt at a working engine was more than twice as efficient as other engines which ran on petrol and gas, and he continued to improve it. Indeed, it wasn’t long before it became the backbone of the industrial revolution; used in trains, power stations, factories and container ships.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: Stamp depicting Rudolf Diesel, Credit: Boris15/Shutterstock)
2 Listeners
Shipping Container
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
11/19/16 • 8 min
The boom in global trade was caused by a simple steel box. Shipping goods around the world was – for many centuries – expensive, risky and time-consuming. But, as Tim Harford explains, 60 years ago the trucking entrepreneur Malcolm McLean changed all that by selling the idea of container shipping to the US military. Against huge odds he managed to turn 'containerisation' from a seemingly impractical idea into a massive industry – one that slashed the cost of transporting goods internationally and provoked a boom in global trade.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Photo: Container ship travelling along the Suez Canal, Credit: Science Photo Library)
2 Listeners
Robot
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
03/04/17 • 9 min
Robots threaten the human workforce, but their ubiquity and growing competence make them crucial to the modern economy. In 1961 General Motors installed the first Unimate at one of its plants. It was a one-armed robot resembling a small tank that was used for tasks like welding. Now, as Tim Harford explains, the world’s robot population is expanding rapidly (the robot “birth rate” is almost doubling every five years) and, coupled with rapid advances in artificial intelligence, robots are changing the world of work in unexpected ways.
(Photo: Robot, Credit: Toru Yamanaka/Getty Images)
1 Listener
Clock
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
02/18/17 • 9 min
There’s no such thing as “the correct time”. Like the value of money, it’s a convention that derives its usefulness from the widespread acceptance of others. But there is such a thing as accurate timekeeping. That dates from 1656, and a Dutchman named Christiaan Huygens. In the centuries since, as Tim Harford explains, the clock has become utterly essential to almost every area of the modern economy.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: A wall clock. Credit: Shutterstock)
1 Listener
TV Dinner
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
04/01/17 • 9 min
The way educated women spend their time in the United States and other rich countries has changed radically over the past half a century. Women in the US now spend around 45 minutes per day in total on cooking and cleaning up; that is still much more than men, who spend just 15 minutes a day. But it is a vast shift from the four hours a day which was common in the 1960s. We know all this from time-use surveys conducted around the world. And we know the reasons for the shift. One of the most important of those is a radical change in the way food is prepared. As Tim Harford explains, the TV dinner – and other convenient innovations which emerged over the same period – have made a lasting economic impression.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: TV Dinner, Credit: Shutterstock)
1 Listener
Battery
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
03/18/17 • 9 min
Murderers in early 19th century London feared surviving their executions. That’s because their bodies were often handed to scientists for strange anatomical experiments. If George Foster, executed in 1803, had woken up on the lab table, it would have been in particularly undignified circumstances. In front of a large London crowd, an Italian scientist with a flair for showmanship was sticking an electrode up Foster’s rectum. This is how the story of the battery begins – a technology which has been truly revolutionary. As Tim Harford explains, it’s a story which is far from over.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: Used Batteries, Credit: Gerard Julien/Getty Images)
1 Listener
Canned food
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
09/16/19 • 9 min
Developed for the military, dodging bureaucracy and fuelled by venture capital: canned food blazed a trail many of today's biggest tech innovations have followed. Tim Harford reveals the surprising lessons and cautionary tales lurking under the lid.
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FAQ
How many episodes does 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy have?
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy currently has 110 episodes available.
What topics does 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts and Business.
What is the most popular episode on 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy?
The episode title 'Disposable Razor' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy?
The average episode length on 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is 10 minutes.
How often are episodes of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy released?
Episodes of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy?
The first episode of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy was released on Nov 5, 2016.
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