Pop-Up Ideas
Channel Details
Pop-Up Ideas
Tim Harford presents a series of talks inspired by ideas in anthropology, culture and the social sciences
Recent Episodes
13 episodes
Simon Garfield: Maps and Mistakes
"How boring would the world be," asks Simon Garfield, "if we knew precisely where everything was?"
Simon reflects on the many mistakes and decep...
Jared Diamond: How Geography Creates History
The geographer and polymath Jared Diamond argues that apparently slight differences in geography can have profound consequences for the culture and hi...
Jerry Brotton: Mapping History
Jerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, argues that how we see the world depends on where we stand on it....
Tim Harford: The Power of Maps
Tim Harford returns with a new series of Pop Up Ideas. This time Tim and his guests tell intriguing stories inspired by maps.
In the first talk,...
Common Tragedy
Tim Harford presents the last in the series, 'Pop-up Ideas'.
Tim explores the concept of 'The Tragedy of the Commons' - a term coined by the Ame...
David Kilcullen: Feral Cities
One of the world's most influential counter-insurgency experts, David Kilcullen, whose ideas were described by the Washington Post as "revolutionizing...
Gillian Tett: The Anthropology of Finance
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...
Malcolm Gladwell: Listening in Vietnam
Tim Harford (the Financial Times' 'Undercover Economist' and presenter of Radio 4's More or Less) is joined by Malcolm Gladwell, David Kilcullen and G...
Tim Harford: The day the geeks took over poker
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 ga...
Tim Harford: The Indiana Jones of Economics
Tim Harford tells the story of Bill Phillips - war hero, engineer, crocodile-hunter, and one of the fathers of macro-economics.
Tim Harford: War Games and Armageddon
Tim Harford tells the story of Thomas Schelling, an economist who helped America and the Soviet Union to avoid nuclear war.
Tim Harford: The Kidney Matchmaker
Tim tells the story of Al Roth, who worked out how to create a clearing-house for kidneys.
Tim Harford: Hotpants vs The Knockout Mouse
Tim Harford weaves together economic ideas with remarkable personal histories in some unusual locations. The presenter of Radio 4's More or Less speak...