50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy began as a weekly economic history documentary radio series on the BBC World Service presented by economist and journalist Tim Harford. The first episode was broadcast on Saturday 5 November 2016, and all episodes are available as podcasts.

Harford explained his motivation "to paint a picture of economic change by telling the stories of the ideas, people, and tools that had far-reaching consequences". He was fascinated by the many unexpected outcomes, such as "the impact of the fridge on global politics, or of the gramophone on income inequality."

The series was subsequently released by Harford as a book titled Fifty Things That Made The Modern Economy in the UK published by Little, Brown Books, and as Fifty Inventions That Shaped The Modern Economy in the US published by Riverhead Books. The hardcover and eBook editions were released on 6 July 2017 in the UK and the US edition was released on 29 August 2017. A paperback edition has been announced for May 2018.

A public call was made for suggestions for a 51st thing in August 2017. Harford chose his six favourite submissions for an online vote from late September to 6 October 2017. The winning item was announced as the Credit Card in an episode released on 28 October 2017.

Video 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Radio series

Each of the nine-minute long programmes introduces the story of fifty products or inventions that have revolutionised the modern world.

Each episode was originally broadcast on BBC World Service, with a subsequent broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and distribution as a BBC podcast.

Maps 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

51st Thing

The shortlist selected by Tim Harford for public vote as the 51st thing was:

• Credit Card
• Glass
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Irrigation
• The Pencil
• Spreadsheet

The item selected by public vote was the Credit Card, announced by Tim Harford in the episode entitled "Number 51"

src: ichef.bbci.co.uk

Book Chapters

Each of the short chapters describes fifty products or inventions that have revolutionised the modern world.

The book title uses the word Fifty whereas the radio programme uses the number 50. The chapter order is different to the radio broadcast and podcast order, some book chapters have modified titles, and the chapters are grouped into sections in the book.

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See also

• Category:Lists of inventions or discoveries
• A History of the World in 100 Objects

src: ichef.bbci.co.uk

References

src: media.npr.org

External links

• BBC World Service episode guide
• Financial Times review of podcast
• Little, Brown book description

Source of article : Wikipedia