Published in Great Britain in 2017 by Little Brown
Author: Tim Harford
Pages: 330
Tim Harford is an English economist and journalist. He has written four books on economics, and writes the Financial Times column, ‘The Undercover Economist’ on the economic ideas behind every-day experiences. This book, a short summary of 50 inventions that shaped the modern economy, shows how some inventions shaped, and still shape our lives in profound and unpredicted ways.
Many inventions create winners and losers, so while solving a problem for someone, they’re often creating a problem for others. The original Luddites, for example, were weavers and textile workers who smashed mechanical looms in England 200 years ago. They did this because they rightly feared that machines would devalue their skills and make them poorer.
“Whenever a new technology emerges,” Harford notes, “it’s worth trying to ask who will win and who will lose out as a result. The answer can often surprise us.”
Some inventions change how we live, the systems we use to cope, the ideas we hold, and more.
Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy It’s a book you can dip in and out of as its divided into chapters for each ‘thing’ that are relatively short.
However, it can’t be disputed that Tim Harford and his team have put a lot of work into summarising the invention, problems and impact of each item that had an impact on the modern economy. These range from the light bulb to radar, Google to the S bend. Each item makes you pause and think about how it has revolutionised the world for good or not so good (e.g., leaded petrol). It’s also a good taste of items you might want to read more about. For me I wasn’t aware that the inventor of TV dinners was a woman. Nor was I aware of the financial issues of the inventor of the diesel engine, who has saved me money on fuel economy!
Overall, it’s an interesting idea in a book format that’s good to read in small chunks as there’s no real need to remember the chapters before. Harford writes clearly and concisely; subjects are explained in more depth. A fascinating book that educates, informs, and introspects (some) of the best ideas that have shaped our lives!
Amazing ideas that struck me: Barbed Wire, The Shipping Container, Department Stores, Diesel Engines (shocking), M-Pesa (fascinating), Index Funds (my best), Concrete.
More than half the new jobs created since the 2008 financial crisis are in the self-employed sector in the UK.
On TV Dinners: The data is precise that the washing machine didn’t save a lot of time because we didn’t wash clothes very often before the washing machine. When it took all day to wash and dry a few shirts, people would use replaceable collars and cuffs or dark outer layers to hide the grime. But we cannot skip many meals in the way that we can skip the laundry. When it took two or three hours to prepare a meal, that was a job that someone had to take the time to do. The washing machine didn’t save much time, and the ready meal did because we were willing to stink, but we weren’t willing to starve.
On The Pill – The answer is that by giving women control over their fertility, the pill allowed them to invest in their careers. An economist demonstrated that if a woman in her twenties were able to delay motherhood by one year, her lifetime earnings would rise by 10 percent.
Where Ford offered cars in a single shade of black, Google famously tested the effect on click-through rates of forty-one slightly different shades of blue.
Selfridges was the 1st to introduce ladies’ lavatories in his dept shops and struck gold.
The biggest enabler of globalisation isn’t a free trade agreement but a simple invention: a corrugated steel box, 8 feet wide, 8.5 feet high and 40 feet long. A shipping container.
In Hungary in 1946, prices trebled every day. Walk into a Budapest café back then, and it was better to pay for your coffee when you arrived, not when you left.
