Tim Harford

Oxford

Presenter at More or Less: Behind the Stats

Podcast Host at Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Columnist, Undercover Economist at Financial Times

Author How To Make The World Add Up (UK) / The Data Detective (US). Cautionary Tales podcast. Undercover Economist at the FT. BBC More or Less. Views my own.

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Articles

Cautionary Tales - Give politicians a raise, smuggle smartphones into school, and go full donk!

1 week ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

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Can we ‘nudge’ our way to higher growth?

1 week ago | ft.com | Tim Harford

Can we “nudge” our way to a higher rate of economic growth? In a recent speech, David Halpern argued that we should at least try.
Beware Giffen-ish vibes in the money markets

1 week ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

The quest for the elusive Giffen good has taken economists to the depths of the Irish potato famine, to the poorest parts of rural China and to the cages of lab rats at Texas A&M University. Now the Giffen good has been spotted at Disney theme parks. But what do Giffen goods really tell us about the way the world economy works? Giffen goods were first described in Alfred Marshall’s ubiquitous textbook Principles of Economics.
Cautionary Tales - Roosevelt and the Renegade (Panama Disaster 2)

2 weeks ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

Sixteen years have passed since Ferdinand De Lesseps’ catastrophic failure in Panama, and the dramatic collapse of the French Panama Canal company. Now, President Theodore Roosevelt has picked up the task. “No single great material work,” Roosevelt tells Congress, “is of such consequence to the American people.”The Americans have their work cut out. Enter chief engineer John Stevens. How does he spot a problem no-one else has noticed? And what does he do to solve it?
Am I boring you? Good

2 weeks ago | ft.com | Tim Harford

A good columnist is never unintentionally tedious, but this week’s effort is about obsolete telephone directories, binary counter...
Seven truths about trade

2 weeks ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

Beneath all the tariff craziness — the taxes on islands inhabited only by penguins, the pseudo-profound mathematical definition of “reciprocal”, the idea that the settled trade policy of every other country on the planet somehow constitutes an emergency, and enough U-turns to make a ballerina dizzy — it is easy to lose sight of a basic fact: even a modest and predictable tariff is still a modest and predictable act of foolishness. Let’s start with a simple truth about a complicated world.
Cautionary Tales - Panama Disaster 1

3 weeks ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

Ferdinand De Lesseps, “the Great Frenchman”, was convinced that he was the man to build the Panama Canal. No, he wasn’t an engineer and no, he’d never actually been to Panama before. But he’d managed to dig the Suez Canal, and everyone had said that would be impossible too. How hard could it be?
What does it take to stand up to tyranny?

3 weeks ago | ft.com | Tim Harford

When the thugs arrive — the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan — who stands up to them?
The value of institutional memory

3 weeks ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

In 1978, a dredging gang working for British Waterways was struggling with a problem. They were trying to clear obstacles on the Chesterfield Canal so they could stabilise a concrete wall — not an easy day’s work. But what really had them stumped was a heavy iron chain on the canal bottom. After various attempts, they hooked the chain to their dredger. That did the trick. A firm pull removed the chain and the block of wood on the end of it. The gang took a well-earned break for tea.
Donald Trump vs Mr Market

4 weeks ago | timharford.com | Tim Harford

Who can predict what he will do next? Back in 1987, one of the world’s most celebrated experts opined: “Sad to say, the poor fellow has incurable emotional problems. At times he feels euphoric and can see only the favorable factors . . .