50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Tax Havens

The economist Gabriel Zucman is the inventor of an ingenious way to estimate the amount of wealth...

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Tax Havens

The economist Gabriel Zucman is the inventor of an ingenious way to estimate the amount of wealth...

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Infant Formula

Not every baby has a mother who can breastfeed. Indeed, not every baby has a mother. In the early...

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Index Fund

Warren Buffett is the world’s most successful investor. In a letter he wrote to his wife,...

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Tally Stick

Tally sticks were made from willow harvested along the banks of the Thames in London. The stick...

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Passports

How much might global economic output rise if anyone could work anywhere? Some economists have...

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Intellectual Property

When the great novelist Charles Dickens arrived in America in 1842, he was hoping to put an end...

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Video Games

From Spacewar to Pokemon Go, video games – aside from becoming a large industry in their own...

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Cuneiform

The Egyptians thought literacy was divine; a benefaction which came from the baboon-faced god...

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Air Conditioning

Tim Harford tells the surprising story of air conditioning which was invented in 1902 to counter...

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Elevator

In 1853 Elisha Otis climbed onto a platform which was then hoisted high above a large crowd of...

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Contraceptive Pill

The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that. But – as Tim...

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TV Dinner

The way educated women spend their time in the United States and other rich countries has changed...

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Gramophone

“Superstar” economics – how the gramophone led to a winner-take-all dynamic in the performing...

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Battery

Murderers in early 19th century London feared surviving their executions. That’s because their...

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Public key cryptography

Take a very large prime number – one that is not divisible by anything other than itself. Then...

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Robot

Robots threaten the human workforce, but their ubiquity and growing competence make them crucial...

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Disposable Razor

King Camp Gillette came up with an idea which has helped shape the modern economy. He invented...

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Disposable Razor

King Camp Gillette came up with an idea which has helped shape the modern economy. He invented...

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Clock

There’s no such thing as “the correct time”. Like the value of money, it’s a convention that...

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