Category: Retired

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Disposable Razor

King Camp Gillette came up with an idea which has helped shape the modern economy. He invented the disposable razor blade. But, perhaps more significantly, he invented the two-part pricing model which works by imposing what economists call “switching costs”. If you’ve ever bought replacement cartridges for an inkjet printer you experienced both when you discovered that they cost almost as much as the printer itself. It’s also known as the “razor and blades” model because that’s where it first drew attention, thanks to King Camp Gillette. Attract people with a cheap razor, then repeatedly charge them for expensive replacement blades. As Tim Harford explains, it’s an idea which has been remarkably influential. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Razor, Credit: Shutterstock)
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Clock

There’s no such thing as “the correct time”. Like the value of money, it’s a convention that derives its usefulness from the widespread acceptance of others. But there is such a thing as accurate timekeeping. That dates from 1656, and a Dutchman named Christiaan Huygens. In the centuries since, as Tim Harford explains, the clock has become utterly essential to almost every area of the modern economy. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: A wall clock. Credit: Shutterstock)
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Google

The words 'clever' and 'death' crop up less often than 'Google' in conversation. That’s according to researchers at the University of Lancaster in the UK. It took just two decades for Google to reach this cultural ubiquity. Larry Page and Sergey Brin – Google’s founders – were not, initially, interested in designing a better way to search. Their Stanford University project had a more academic motivation. Tim Harford tells the extraordinary story of a technology which might shape our access to knowledge for generations to come. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Google logo and search box on a screen. Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
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Crimetown - S1 E09: A Deal With the Devil

One night in 1982, a 20-year-old man is senselessly murdered at an abandoned gas station. A mobster is taken into witness protection after he pins the murder on his boss. This brutal crime will push three wiseguys out of the mafia in very different ways.

For a full list of credits, and for more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com. 

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Insurance

Legally and culturally, there’s a clear distinction between gambling and insurance. Economically, the difference is not so easy to see. Both the gambler and the insurer agree that money will change hands depending on what transpires in some unknowable future. Today the biggest insurance market of all – financial derivatives – blurs the line between insuring and gambling more than ever. Tim Harford tells the story of insurance; an idea as old as gambling but one which is fundamental to the way the modern economy works. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Lloyds Coffeehouse, Credit: Getty Images)
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Crimetown - S1 E08: Cat and Mouse

A master thief keeps getting away with big heists. A cop spends years tailing him, tapping his phone, and practically moving in across the street. Their epic tug-of-war will revolutionize the fight against organized crime.

For a full list of credits, and for more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Paper

The Gutenberg printing press is widely considered to be one of humanity’s defining inventions. Actually, you can quibble with Gutenberg’s place in history. He wasn’t the first to invent a movable type press – it was originally developed in China. Still the Gutenberg press changed the world. It led to Europe’s reformation, science, the newspaper, the novel, the school textbook, and much else. But, as Tim Harford explains, it could not have done so without another invention, just as essential but often overlooked: paper. Paper was another Chinese idea, just over 2000 years ago. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Stack of coloured paper, Credit: Laborant/Shutterstock)
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Crimetown - S1 E07: Power Street

March 20th, 1983. As an FBI investigation swirls around him, an increasingly unpredictable and paranoid Buddy Cianci summons a few friends to his home on the East Side of Providence. What happens there that night shocks the city.

For a full list of credits, and for more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Antibiotics

In 1928 a young bacteriologist named Alexander Fleming failed to tidy up his petri dishes before going home to Scotland on holiday. On his return, he famously noticed that one dish had become mouldy in his absence, and the mould was killing the bacteria he’d used the dish to cultivate. It’s hard to overstate the impact of antibiotics on medicine, farming and the way we live. But, as Tim Harford explains, the story of antibiotics is a cautionary one. And unhelpful economic incentives are in large part to blame. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Penicillin Fungi, Credit: Science Photo/Shutterstock)