Why the biggest ever fall in the Dow wasn't, and how much do women spend on tampons?
Start the Week - Money Makes the World Go Around
Andrew Marr discusses money, transformation and the obsession with growth with two leading economists: Diane Coyle and Dharshini David. Professor Coyle argues it's time to rethink the way we measure productivity, while the broadcaster Dharshini David follows the journey of a single dollar in her study of globalisation. The theatre director Anna Ledwich is more interested in the people whose lives revolve around the money markets: her latest play Dry Powder highlights their vulnerability, vision and sheer unadulterated greed. During the financial crisis of 2008, Iceland experienced proportionally the largest banking collapse by any country in economic history. The novelist Jón Kalman Stefánsson is writing a modern Icelandic family saga and explores whether the transformation of his country in the 20th century laid the foundations for its future collapse. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS More or Less: Is China On Track to End Poverty by 2020?
A key pledge of the Chinese President Xi Jinping is that China will have eradicated poverty by 2020. It?s an extraordinary claim, but the country does have a good track record in improving the wealth of its citizens; the World Bank says China has contributed more than any other country to global poverty reduction. So how does China measure poverty? And is it possible for them to make sure, over the next few years, that no one falls below their poverty line?
Photo: A woman tends to her niece amid the poor surroundings of her home's kitchen Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Transgender Numbers, Parkrun and Snooker
How many transgender people are there in the UK?
The UK produces official statistics about all sorts of things ? from economic indicators to demographic data. But it turns out there are no official figures for the number of transgender people in the UK. We explore what we do know, and what is harder to measure.
Do 4% of the population drink nearly a third of the alcohol?
According to recent headlines, just 4% of the population drink nearly a third of the alcohol sold in England. But can so few people really account for so much of the countries bar tab? We find out where the statistic came from.
Bank of England?s Mark Carney says no to RPI
At a hearing of the House of Lords? economic affairs committee, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said it would be useful to have a single measure of inflation for consumers ? and that CPI was a much better measure than RPI, which he said had ?no merit?. We find out why with the FT?s Chris Giles.
A statistical take on parkrun
Every weekend over 1.5 million people run 5,000m on Saturday mornings for parkrun which is a free event that takes place all over the UK and indeed across the globe. Each runner is given a bar code, which is scanned at the end of the run and fed into a database showing them what place they came in their race? we take a look at which courses are the fastest, slowest, hardest and easiest.
Testing for a cough correlation between snooker and smoking
A listener emailed us this week to ask whether you can connect the number of coughs during snooker matches to the decline in smoking. We got counting to see if the theory was a trick shot - with help from John Virgo.
Photo: Jimmy White Credit: Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Is the US Census Under Threat?
The survey question that could affect the accuracy of its results.
The United States are due to run their next nationwide census in 2020, but already critics are warning that underfunding and proposed question about citizenship could affect the accuracy of its results. We look at the real life consequences if groups choose not to complete the 2020 census, and ask whether the recent politically charged debate is unusual in its two hundred year history.
Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Kate Lamble
Photo: Concerned woman holding a clipboard and a pen Credit: Nicolas McComber/Getty Images
Start the Week - Mohsin Hamid on leaving home
With millions of people on the move around the world, the novelist Mohsin Hamid has set his latest novel against the backdrop of the refugee crisis. He tells Kirsty Wark how he imagined those fleeing home passing through mysterious black doors into other parts of the world. The lawyer and sociologist Carol Bohmer examines the culture of suspicion which greets migrants when they arrive. She looks at how officials judge the line between truth and deception, and increasingly label people as liars, criminals or terrorists. While many countries are looking to fortify their borders, the former Portuguese Europe Minister Bruno Maçães believes we need to think on a super-continental scale. He travelled overland from the edges of Europe to the heart of Asia arguing for a new world order. But the theatre director Robert Hastie is more interested in what connects people to the land and their origins, as he revives Peter Gill's play The York Realist - a reflection on the rival forces of place, class and longing. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - A Girl’s First Time, Shark’s Stomachs, Prime numbers
First sexual experience - checking the facts A short film for the Draw A Line campaign has made the claim that one in three girls first sexual experience is rape. This seems shockingly high, but what is the evidence? Is it just for the UK or a global figure? We go back to the reports that were used to source the claim, and find the research has been misinterpreted.
How long can a shark go for without eating? A recent episode of Blue Planet II stated that after a large meal a Sixgill shark might not have to eat for 'up to an entire year'. Tim Harford speaks to Dr David Ebert, a shark expert who has studied the stomach contents of Sixgills over the years. And to Professor Alex Roger, a zoologist who advised the Blue Planet team, to try and find out how accurate the claim is and why the deep sea is still a mystery.
The wonder of Prime Numbers Oxford mathematician Vicky Neale talks about her new book - Closing The Gap - and how mathematicians have striven to understand the patterns behind prime numbers.
Multiple grannies A Swiss mummy has recently been identified as a distant ancestor of Boris Johnson. But some people have been getting tangled up over just how many great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmothers the Foreign Secretary might have. We tackle an email from one listener - none other than the broadcaster Stephen Fry.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS More or Less: Real Lives Behind the Numbers
If you ask an economist to explain what is happening in a country?s economy. They rely on economic data points to describe what is happening ? they might talk about the unemployment rate, average wages, and the numbers of people in poverty. They pull together the information available for thousands or millions of people to work out trends.
But are we getting the whole picture?
We speak to Rachel Schneider, co-author of the book, ?The Financial Diaries?. It?s based on a large study in the USA. Over a period of a year from 2012 to 2013, researchers interviewed several families about how they were managing their money to find out the personal stories behind economic data.
Presenter and Producer: Charlotte McDonald
(Photo: A couple looking at their finances. Credit: Wayhome Studio/Shutterstock)
Start the Week - The Power of Art
Art was power for Britain's kings and queens. In a new BBC TV series, Andrew Graham-Dixon visits the paintings amassed by King Charles I, the first great royal collector in British history. He tells Andrew Marr why after Charles was executed his royal artworks were flogged across Europe. The lost royal collection will finally be reunited this year in an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Historian Leanda de Lisle brings the Stuart monarch back to life in her biography White King. But was the art-loving king a traitor, a murderer or a martyr? And it is not only kings who use art to impress. Don Thompson meets hedge fund managers and foreign oligarchs in his study of the contemporary art scene, while artist Kelly Chorpening describes the role of Camberwell College of Art in shaping the art scene. Producer: Hannah Sander
Picture credit: Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Charles I in Three Positions, 1635-36 Royal Collection Trust / (c) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018, www.royalcollection.org.uk.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Gender Pay Gaps and How to Learn a Language
Gender Pay Gap This week the Office for National Statistics has published analysis trying to find out why it is that on average women are paid less than men in specific industries and occupations. We examine their findings, as well as taking a look at the current discussion about equal pay at the BBC.
Alcohol reaction times We take a look at a study that suggests that people's reaction speeds are affected over time by regular drinking. It recommends that official guidelines for the amount of alcohol consumed a week should be lowered. But what does the evidence show?
Bus announcements - when is too many? Transport for London has introduced a new announcement on its buses to warn travellers that the bus is about to move. We discuss the benefit of such messages.
How many words do you need to speak a language? Ein bier bitte? Loyal listener David made a new year's resolution to learn German. Three years later, that's about as far as he's got. Keen to have something to aim for, he asked More or Less how many words you really need to know in order to speak a language. We find out with help from Professor Stuart Webb, and put Tim through his paces to find out how big his own English vocabulary is.
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.
(Photo: Man and woman working on a car production plant. Credit: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)