50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - TV Dinner

The way educated women spend their time in the United States and other rich countries has changed radically over the past half a century. Women in the US now spend around 45 minutes per day in total on cooking and cleaning up; that is still much more than men, who spend just 15 minutes a day. But it is a vast shift from the four hours a day which was common in the 1960s. We know all this from time-use surveys conducted around the world. And we know the reasons for the shift. One of the most important of those is a radical change in the way food is prepared. As Tim Harford explains, the TV dinner – and other convenient innovations which emerged over the same period – have made a lasting economic impression. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: TV Dinner, Credit: Shutterstock)

the memory palace - Episode 107 (Roots and Branches and Wind-Borne Seeds)

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows.

Music

Notes

  • I learned about Ynes while flipping idly through the 1974 edition of Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary (volume II, G-O, incidentally), "prepared under the Auspices of Radcliffe College," as it says on the frontispiece.
  • By far the most comprehensive thing I read was biography for young readers called Ynes Mexia: Botanist and Adventurer by Durlynn Anema.