1/3. Tim Harford returns with a new series of Pop Up Ideas. This time Tim and his guests tell intriguing stories inspired by maps. Published on December 11, 2013.

Tim Harford: The Power Of Maps 11 Dec 2013

Professor Jerry Brotton argues that how we see the world depends entirely on where we stand on it and says each period in history gets the map it deserves. Published on December 18, 2013.

Tim Harford: Jerry Brotton - Mapping History 18 Dec 2013

The geographer and polymath Jared Diamond argues that apparently slight differences in geography can have profound consequences for the culture and history of nations. Published on December 25, 2013.

Jared Diamond: How Geography Creates History 25 December 2013

Simon Garfield on the mistakes and deceptions in some of our best-loved maps. "How boring would the world be," he asks, "if we knew precisely where everything was?" Published on January 1, 2014.

Tim Harford: Simon Garfield: Maps And Mistakes 01 Jan 2014

The Anthropology of Economics: Having studied anthropology and living among Tajik families Gillian Tett went on to become a financial journalist. She describes how her background in anthropology led her to predict the financial crisis in 2008 Published on July 16, 2013.

Gillian Tett: The Anthropology of Economics 16 Jul 2013

Tim tells the story of Chris Ferguson who applied game theory to poker and won - big time. But, as Ferguson would find out, there's always a bigger game. Published on February 13, 2013.

Tim Harford: The day the geeks took over poker 13 Feb 2013

Common Tragedy: Exploring the term 'The Tragedy of the Commons', a term coined by the American ecologist Garrett Hardin. Tim Harford compares Hardin's work to that of the American political economist Elinor Ostrom, to reflect on the impact of mankind on the world around us. Published on July 30, 2013.

Tim Harford: Tragedy of the Commons 30 Jul 2013

Tim tells the story of Al Roth, who worked out how to create a clearing-house for kidneys. Published on January 23, 2013.

Tim Harford: The Kidney Matchmaker 23 Jan 13

Tim Harford weaves together economic ideas with remarkable personal histories in some unusual locations. The presenter of Radio 4's More or Less speaks to an audience from a shop window on London's Regent Street, and turns his attention to heated pants and the business of innovation. He tells the moving story of Mario Capecchi, whose struggle to get funding for his experiments tells us much about where new ideas come from, and how to foster them. Published on January 16, 2013.

Tim Harford: Hotpants vs The Knockout Mouse 16 Jan 2013

Tim Harford is joined by Gillian Tett for the second in this new series of talks inspired by ideas in anthropology and the social sciences.

The financial journalist describes how her background in anthropology led her to predict the financial crisis in 2008.

"For my doctorate I spent a year in a remote mountainous area of Tajikistan where I lived as a Tajik girl, wearing the local Atlas robes, fetching water and firewood and chasing goats," says Tett. She studied their rituals and social networks and how they helped to maintain village life.

Later, she became a journalist for the Financial Times and put her anthropology "into a deep, dark, mental drawer" and almost forgot about it. "Having a PhD in economics or astrophysics gave you credibility. Knowing about Tajik wedding rituals did not!"

She describes how one day, years later, she suddenly stopped and wondered: "what would happen if I was to look at the world of finance and business like an anthropologist peering at my Tajik village?".

Tett explains how this set her journalism on a new path, a path that was to help her predict the economic turmoil of 2008.


Producer: Adele Armstrong. Published on July 16, 2013.

Gillian Tett: The Anthropology of Finance

Tim Harford: Pop-Up Ideas

Tim Harford – in the company of Malcolm Gladwell, David Kilcullen and Gillian Tett – uses key ideas in anthropology and the social sciences to tell fascinating stories about how we - and the world – work.

Pop-Up Ideas

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