Showing results by author "Tim Harford" in All Categories

When was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever. But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic.

Ever wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why it's so difficult getting a foot on the property ladder, or how to outwit Starbucks? This audiobook offers the hidden story behind these and other questions, as economist Tim Harford reveals how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains, to name just a few, are vacuuming money from our wallets.

The epic story of how data created the modern world — and why our future depends on learning to use it wisely. For thousands of years, humanity’s greatest breakthroughs have begun with a deceptively simple act: counting. Counting harvests and armies. Births and deaths. Money and trade. From...

A million readers bought The Undercover Economist to get the lowdown on how economics works on a small scale, in our everyday lives. Since then, economics has become big news. Crises, austerity, riots, bonuses - all are in the headlines all the time. But how does this large-scale economic world...

The urge to tidiness seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit...

'Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you would expect from Tim Harford' BILL BRYSON 'Entertaining . . . A lively introduction to some of the most ingenious, yet often overlooked inventions that have changed the way we live' The Times 'Every Tim Harford book is cause for...

All five series of Simon Evans’ BBC Radio 4 show explaining economics through comedy. How do you make money funny? How do you put the comedy in commodity? In this BBC radio show, Simon Evans sets himself the challenge of making economics entertaining through comedic lectures, with the help of special guests including investment gurus, financial journalists and economists. 

Based on the series produced for the BBC World Service A Financial Times and Bloomberg Business Week Book of the Year Who thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine?...

Everything we know about solving the world’s problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again. In this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world’s most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.

En un mundo completamente transformado a raíz de la crisis global, regresa el economista camuflado. En este libro Tim Harford amplía el foco para ayudarnos a entender cómo funciona en realidad la economía del mundo, prescindiendo de terminologías huecas. Este libro plantea respuestas a cuestiones como: ¿qué sucedería si se cancelara la deuda de todo el mundo?, ¿por qué los bancos continúan pagando unos bonus de escándalo?, ¿cómo se crea realmente empleo?, o ¿llegarán los países emergentes a controlar la economía mundial?

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado por qué el café de Starbucks es el triple de caro que el de cualquier otra cafetería? Tim Harford responde en este libro a esta y otras cuestiones, y nos enseña a ver el mundo con la mirada de un economista....

***'A book that all children should read' - Matthew Syed*** -> Did you know that a toy spaceship can teach you about inflation? -> Or that a pooping cow can show you how to invest your pocket money? -> And that even the greatest detectives have been fooled by fake news and dancing fairies? The...

Tim Harford joins Robin Morgan in the Audible Studios for an exclusive interview. His latest book, Messy, may just make us all feel better when we have a messy desk at work!

A human-centered examination of the ways that data shapes us and how to use it more effectively For centuries, people have used data—the systematic counting that includes numbers, calculations, and observations—to build civilization. Gathering and analyzing data is at the foundation of what...

A lively history seen through the fifty inventions that shaped it most profoundly, by the bestselling author of The Undercover Economist and Messy. Who thought up paper money? What was the secret element that made the Gutenberg printing press possible? And what is the connection between The Da...

“Utterly fascinating. Tim Harford shows that if you want to be creative and resilient, you need a little more disorder in your world.” —Adam Grant, New York Times-bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take “Engrossing.” —New York Times From the award-winning columnist and...

From “one of the great (greatest?) contemporary popular writers on economics” (Tyler Cowen) comes a smart, lively, and encouraging rethinking of how to use statistics. Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The...

Hay innovaciones, ideas e inventos que permiten curar el cáncer. Otras nos permiten llegar a nuestros destinos de vacaciones mucho más deprisa. Son divertidas. Generan dinero. Y, por descontado, los inventos tienen éxito porque resuelven un problema que alguien, en algún lugar, quiere resolver. El arado, por ejemplo, tuvo éxito porque ayudó a los agricultores a producir más comida con menos esfuerzo.

Se trata de los números y los datos que manejan las estadísticas, indispensables en el relato con el que se construye hoy en día la actualidad política, económica y social. Y para comprender la realidad cambiante y compleja en la que vivimos no se necesita un doctorado en matemáticas. Basta un poco paciencia y sentido común, pero sobre todo, se requiere la curiosidad que Tim Harford, autor de El economista camuflado, sabe contagiar a sus lectores para observar el mundo con otros ojos.

A provocative and lively exploration of the increasingly important world of macroeconomics, by the author of the bestselling The Undercover Economist. Thanks to the worldwide financial upheaval, economics is no longer a topic we can ignore. From politicians to hedge-fund managers to middle-class...