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Explaining economic processes through the history of the objects and inventions that surround us. Recognised as the best book of 2017 by Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Time, and Amazon.

Topic

Economics, history.

About the book

Simple inventions can trigger global processes and fundamental transformations. They shift the balance of economic power, determine winners and losers, change social relations, and open up thousands of new opportunities. They also tell the story of how our world is changing and functioning. How did the invention of the gramophone deepen wealth inequality? What impact did the invention of the Gillette razor have on business? Why did the emergence of air conditioning become not only a matter of comfort in homes, but also the settlement of entire territories?

Who is the book for

The book is for the widest range of readers, anyone interested in economics, history, and social processes.

Why this book

Tim Harford has chosen 50 things that have changed our world and made life what it is today. Each invention is not only a story about human ideas, but also about the processes and complex systems that surround us.

About the author

Tim Harford is an economist, chief columnist for the Financial Times, and presenter on BBC Radio 4. In 2014, he was named Economic Commentator of the Year, and in 2015, he received the Royal Statistical Society's Award for Excellence in Journalism. He is a 2014-2015 winner of the Society of Business Economists' Writing Award. He is a visiting lecturer at Oxford. Author of several bestselling books, including the book «Unstuck. How Creative Disorder Can Change Your Life for the Better (Nash Format, 2018).

Books on similar topics

• «Economics. Instruction for use» by Ha-Young Chang, «Our format», 2016
• «Evolution of money. The Financial History of the World", Neil Ferguson, «Our Format», 2017
• «Free Economy. The Downside of Everything in the World, Stephen Dubner, Stephen Levitt, «Our Format», 2018

Reviews

"Harford was able to talk about economic growth, labour productivity, monopolies, market regulation without any special terms, tables or graphs."
Wall Street Journal

"The author's humour and curiosity make complex topics seem remarkably simple."

Quotes

About Passports
For most of human history, passports were not as common or as frequently used. In the past, a passport was essentially a threat: it was a letter from a certain powerful person asking everyone who might meet a traveller to let them pass on without hindrance, or else... The very idea of a passport as a letter of protection dates back to biblical times. The protection it provided was a privilege, not a right.

About the Ready-to-Eat Dinner
The industrialisation of food, symbolised by TV dinners, has changed our economy in two important ways. It has freed women from hours of slaving away in the kitchen and removed an important barrier to professional careers. And yet, by making empty calories much more affordable, this same industrialisation of food has also started the process of fattening humanity.

About iPhones
Economist Mariana Mazzucato has compiled a list of 12 key technologies that made smartphones possible. 1: tiny microprocessors. 2: memory chips. 3: solid-state drives. 4: liquid crystal displays. 5: lithium batteries. All these technologies are important for the iPhone and any smartphone to function properly... Some of them are not just important, but absolutely necessary. But when Mariana Mazzucato compiled this list of technologies and researched their history, she found something that struck her. The key figure in the development of the iPhone is not Steve Jobs. It was Uncle Sam. All 12 technologies appeared thanks to the substantial support of government agencies, and most often American ones.