50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is a British radio show and podcast which airs on the BBC World Service. It is presented by economist and journalist Tim Harford. The first series was broadcast between 5 November 2016 and 28 October 2017. A second series began airing on 30 March 2019.
Harford explained in a BBC interview in 2017 that his motivation for creating the show was "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."[1]
Towards the end of the first series, a public call was made for suggestions of a "51st thing". Harford chose six submissions for an online vote, which ran from late September to early October, 2017.[2] The winning item was announced as the credit card in an episode released on 28 October 2017. A special bonus episode on Santa Claus was broadcast on Monday 24 December 2018.
The first series was released by Harford as a book titled Fifty Things That Made The Modern Economy. It was published in the UK by Little, Brown Books, and as Fifty Inventions That Shaped The Modern Economy in the US by Riverhead Books. The hardcover and eBook editions were released on 6 July 2017 in the UK and on 29 August 2017 in the US. A paperback edition was released on 2 August 2018.
Episodes
Series 1 (2016–2017)
Each of the nine-minute long programmes introduces the story of a product or invention that 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.
| Episode | Title | Tagline | Broadcast Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diesel Engine | Rudolf Diesel died in strange circumstances after changing the world with his engine | 5 Nov 2016 |
| 2 | Haber-Bosch Process | Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser | 14 Nov 2016 |
| 3 | Shipping Container | The boom in global trade was caused by a simple steel box | 19 Nov 2016 |
| 4 | Concrete | It's improved health, school attendance, agricultural productivity and farm worker wages | 26 Nov 2016 |
| 5 | iPhone | How Uncle Sam played an essential role in the creation and development of the iPhone | 3 Dec 2016 |
| 6 | Barcode | How vast mega-stores emerged with the help of a design originally drawn in the sand | 10 Dec 2016 |
| 7 | Banking | Warrior monks, crusaders and the mysterious origins of modern banking | 17 Dec 2016 |
| 8 | Lightbulb | Once too precious to use, light is now too cheap to notice | 24 Dec 2016 |
| 9 | M-Pesa | Transferring money by text message is far safer and more convenient than cash | 31 Dec 2016 |
| 10 | Compiler | Installing Windows might take 5,000 years without it | 7 Jan 2017 |
| 11 | Billy Bookcase | Low cost, functional and brilliantly efficient, one is produced every three seconds | 14 Jan 2017 |
| 12 | Antibiotics | The tale of antibiotics is a cautionary one, and economic incentives are often to blame | 20 Jan 2017 |
| 13 | Paper | The Gutenberg press changed the world – but it could not have done so without paper | 28 Jan 2017 |
| 14 | Insurance | Insurance is as old as gambling, but it's fundamental to the way the modern economy works | 4 Feb 2017 |
| 15 | The words 'clever' and 'death' crop up less often than 'Google' in conversation | 11 Feb 2017 | |
| 16 | Clock | The clock was invented in 1656 and has become an essential part of the modern economy | 18 Feb 2017 |
| 17 | Disposable Razor | King Camp Gillette created the disposable razor. But his influence extends beyond shaving | 25 Feb 2017 |
| 18 | Robot | Robots threaten the human workforce, but they are crucial to the modern economy | 4 Mar 2017 |
| 19 | Public-Key Cryptography | Geeks versus government – the story of public key cryptography | 11 Mar 2017 |
| 20 | Battery | The story of the battery begins inside a dead murderer. It's a tale that's far from over | 18 Mar 2017 |
| 21 | Gramophone | "Superstar" economics – the story of how the gramophone led to a winner-take-all market | 25 Mar 2017 |
| 22 | TV Dinner | The TV dinner, and other inventions from the same era, made a lasting economic impression | 1 Apr 2017 |
| 23 | Contraceptive Pill | The pill wasn't just socially revolutionary, it also sparked an economic revolution | 8 Apr 2017 |
| 24 | Elevator | The safety elevator is a mass transit system that has changed the shape of our cities | 15 Apr 2017 |
| 25 | Air Conditioning | Invented for the printing industry, air conditioning now influences where and how we live | 22 Apr 2017 |
| 26 | Cuneiform | Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the world's first accounts | 29 Apr 2017 |
| 27 | Video Games | From Spacewar to Pokémon Go, video games have shaped the modern economy in surprising ways | 6 May 2017 |
| 28 | Intellectual Property | Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation | 13 May 2017 |
| 29 | Passports | If anyone could work anywhere, some economists think global economic output would double | 22 May 2017 |
| 30 | Tally Stick | The tally stick shows us what money really is: a kind of debt that can be traded freely | 27 May 2017 |
| 31 | Index Fund | Warren Buffett is one of the world's great investors. His advice? Invest in an index fund | 3 Jun 2017 |
| 32 | Infant Formula | For many new mothers who want, or need, to get back to work, infant formula is a godsend | 10 Jun 2017 |
| 33 | Tax Havens | Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore | 17 Jun 2017 |
| 34 | Barbed Wire | "Lighter than air, stronger than whiskey" – barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America | 24 Jun 2017 |
| 35 | Department Store | Harry Selfridge pioneered a whole new retail experience with his London department store | 1 Jul 2017 |
| 36 | Leaded Petrol | When lead was added to petrol it made cars more powerful – but it also poisoned people | 8 Jul 2017 |
| 37 | Dynamo | The big story behind the way dynamos made electricity useful | 15 Jul 2017 |
| 38 | Limited Liability Company | How some legal creativity has created vast wealth down the centuries | 22 Jul 2017 |
| 39 | Paper Money | Currency derives value from trust in the government which issues it | 29 Jul 2017 |
| 40 | Seller Feedback | Without seller feedback, companies like eBay might not have grown as they have | 5 Aug 2017 |
| 41 | Plastic | We make so much plastic these days that it takes about eight percent of oil production | 12 Aug 2017 |
| 42 | Market Research | Market research marked a shift from a producer-led to consumer-led approach to business | 19 Aug 2017 |
| 43 | Radar | A high-tech 'death ray' capable of zapping sheep led to the invention of radar | 26 Aug 2017 |
| 44 | S-Bend | The S-bend was a pipe with a curve in it, an invention that led to public sanitation | 2 Sep 2017 |
| 45 | Double-entry Bookkeeping | Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping | 9 Sep 2017 |
| 46 | Management Consulting | If managers often have a bad reputation, what should we make of the people who tell managers how to manage? | 16 Sep 2017 |
| 47 | Property Register | Property rights for the world's poor could unlock trillions in 'dead capital' | 30 Sep 2017 |
| 48 | Welfare State | Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it? It's not an easy question to answer | 7 Sep 2017 |
| 49 | Cold Chain | Refrigeration revolutionised the food industry, and other industries too | 14 Oct 2017 |
| 50 | Plough | The plough kick-started civilisation - and ultimately made our modern economy possible | 21 Oct 2017 |
| 51 | Number 51 | Revealed – the winning 51st Thing! Which "thing" won the vote to be added to our list? | 28 Oct 2017 |
Special (2018)
A bonus episode on Santa Claus was broadcast on 24 December 2018. This included the announcement of the series 2 for March 2019.
Series 2 (2019)
| Episode | Title | Tagline | Broadcast Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Langstroth Hive | The Langstroth Hive: a wooden box that made the industrialisation of the bee possible | 30 Mar 2019 |
| 2 | Cellophane | Cellophane transformed how consumers purchased food, as well as how producers sold it | 6 Apr 2019 |
| 3 | Gyroscope | The gyroscope: a remarkable device used to guide everything from submarines to satellites | 13 Apr 2019 |
| 4 | QWERTY | From the early typewriters, the QWERTY keyboard layout has stood the test of time | 20 Apr 2019 |
| 5 | Bicycle | Has the bicycle had its day, or is it a technology whose best years lie ahead? | 27 Apr 2019 |
| 6 | Mail order catalogue | How the Montgomery Ward shopping catalogue transformed the middle-class way of life | 4 May 2019 |
| 7 | Brick | The humble brick has housed us for thousands of years, but how much longer will it endure? | 11 May 2019 |
| 8 | Spreadsheet | How a grid on a computer screen gives us a glimpse of the future of automated work. | 18 May 2019 |
| 9 | Recycling | Could recycling save cash, as well as the planet? | 25 May 2019 |
| 10 | Pornography | Did pornography help develop the internet? | 1 Jun 2019 |
| 11 | Dwarf wheat | Feeding a hungry world – how Norman Borlaug used genetics to tackle predicted famines | 8 Jun 2019 |
| 12 | "Like" button | Are we addicted to getting 'likes' on social media? | 15 Jun 2019 |
| 13 | Pencil | Is the pencil underrated? | 22 Jun 2019 |
| 14 | Blockchain | How powerful could the technology behind Bitcoin be? | 22 Jun 2019 |
| 15 | Factory | Have factories made workers' lives better? | 29 Jun 2019 |
| 16 | CubeSat | How a student engineering challenge has changed the way we use space | 6 Jul 2019 |
| 17 | Rubber | An everyday substance with a bloody past | 13 Jul 2019 |
| 18 | Postage stamp | How a disgruntled customer revolutionised the postal service | 20 Jul 2019 |
| 19 | RFID | Radio frequency identification is the foundation of many contactless technologies | 27 Jul 2019 |
| 20 | Fire | Does the story of economics really begin with a spark? | 3 Aug 2019 |
| 21 | Cassava | A toxic plant that sheds light on hidden social forces | 10 Aug 2019 |
| 22 | Solar PV | How important is solar power to the future of the planet? | 17 Aug 2019 |
| 23 | Chatbot | Can a computer convince you that it's human? | 24 Aug 2019 |
| 24 | Oil | How did the price of oil become so important? | 31 Aug 2019 |
| 25 | Interchangeable parts | The manufacturing revolution that started with a gun | 9 Sep 2019 |
| 26 | Canned food | The surprising lessons lurking under the lid | 16 Sep 2019 |
| 27 | Interface Message Processor | The big metal box that made the internet possible | 22 Sep 2019 |
| 28 | Prohibition | How much does it cost to outlaw something? | 29 Sep 2019 |
| 29 | Bonsack Machine | Why did a machine for making cigarettes transform the advertising industry? | 6 Oct 2019 |
| 30 | GPS | What would happen if GPS stopped working? | 13 Oct 2019 |
| 31 | Vickrey Turnstile | How did an invention that was never built help make the modern world? | 20 Oct 2019 |
| 32 | Glasses | A vital aid for many, but billions don't know they need them | 27 Oct 2019 |
| 33 | Wedgewood | What does the fashion industry owe to an 18th-century potter? | 3 Nov 2019 |
| 34 | SWIFT | A system that solved big problems is now facing its greatest challenge | 10 Nov 2019 |
| 35 | Fundraising appeal | What's the best way to get people to give to charity? | 17 Nov 2019 |
| 36 | Stock option | An incentive for good performance, or another way to boost executives' pay? | 24 Nov 2019 |
| 37 | Hollerith punch card | The machine that turned data into money | 1 Dec 2019 |
| 38 | Sewing machine | A device that changed women's lives was designed to make a man very rich | 8 Dec 2019 |
| 39 | Santa | Why does Father Christmas wear red and white? | 16 Dec 2019 |
| 40 | Retirement | How should we treat our elders? | 23 Dec 2019 |
| 41 | CCTV | How do we feel about being watched? | 4 Jan 2020 |
| 42 | Fast Food Franchise | Why the franchising model is such a success | 11 Jan 2020 |
| 43 | Wardian Case | The economic effects of a miniature greenhouse | 18 Jan 2020 |
| 44 | Sanitary Towel | The controversial history of a quietly revolutionary product | 25 Jan 2020 |
| 45 | Tulips | The Tulip-mania Bubble popped in 1637 but there were other financial bubbles | 1 Feb 2020 |
| 46 | Dams | How these massive structures have changed the world for many, but led to catastrophe for others | 8 Feb 2020 |
| 47 | Auctions | Are things only worth what people are willing to pay for them? | 15 Feb 2020 |
| 48 | Chess Algorithms | The history and nature of computer algorithms | 22 Feb 2020 |
| 49 | Slot Machines | What slot machines reveal about the business of addiction | 29 Feb 2020 |
| 50 | The Gutenberg Press | Why did Johannes Gutenberg struggle to make money from his invention? | 7 Mar 2020 |
Bonus episodes
The series 1 episode on the Index Fund was re-released with additional comments by Harford in the podcast feed to commemorate the death of John C. Bogle.
A number of episodes of the parallel BBC radio documentary series 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter were included as bonuses in the podcast feed of early episodes of series 2.
"51st thing"
The shortlist selected by Harford for public vote as the 51st thing was:
The item selected by public vote was the credit card, announced by Harford in the episode entitled "Number 51".
Book
Each of the short chapters describes fifty products or inventions that have revolutionised the modern world. The chapter order is different from the radio broadcast and podcast order. Some book chapters have modified titles, and the chapters are grouped into sections in the book.
See also
- Category:Lists of inventions or discoveries
- A History of the World in 100 Objects
References
- "BBC World Service invites suggestions for the '51st Thing' that made the modern economy", BBC World Service, 19 August 2017. Retrieved on 10 September 2017.
- "Vote for the 51st Thing!". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
External links
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