Tim Harford, “the Undercover Economist”, is a Financial Times columnist, BBC broadcaster, and the author of eight books (most recently “The Next Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy”) and the podcast “Cautionary Tales”.

One line biography Tim Harford, “the Undercover Economist”, is a Financial Times columnist, BBC broadcaster, and the author of ten books (most recently "The Truth Detective") and the podcast “Cautionary Tales”. Brief biography Tim is an economist, journalist and broadcaster. He is author of "How To Make the World Add Up" / "The Data Detective",…

Nov 27, 2024 · The simplest and most reliable way to see everything I create is here on this blog, via RSS or email. (I don’t share your email or use it for any other purpose.)

Jan 17, 2025 · Cautionary Tales – The Night of the Mugger. by Tim Harford | Jan 31, 2025 | Cautionary Tales. Winston Trew has just been arrested for mugging. It’s 1972, and the crime has recently made its way to Britain from the United States.

The Logic of Life “As lively as it is smart, charming, penetrating, and wise. If you are at all interested in knowing much more than you do about how the world works, you couldn’t ask for a better guide than Harford.”

Oct 17, 2024 · From time to time, my editor will suggest that I write a column about how to be more productive. It’s a sure way to trigger imposter syndrome because, whether or not I appear productive from the outside, I certainly don’t feel productive on the inside. In fairness to myself, and to anyone who worries that they…

At the London School of Economics, a few weeks before Christmas, in 1949, the Lionel Robbins seminar was about to begin. The prestigious event was at the razor’s edge of postwar economic thought: Robbins, a giant of economics, had made the LSE a rival to John Maynard...

Dec 1, 2022 · Quitting is underrated. by Tim Harford | Dec 22, 2022 | Undercover Economist “I am a fighter and not a quitter,” said Liz Truss, the day before quitting. She was echoing the words of Peter Mandelson MP over two decades ago, although Mandelson had the good sense to speak after winning a political fight rather than while losing one.

Cautionary Tales Brilliant" - The Guardian We’ve always warned children by telling them unsettling fairy tales. But my Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups. And my Cautionary Tales are all true. Cautionary Tales is my new podcast from Pushkin Industries, makers of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History, Michael Lewis's Against The Rules, and Laurie Santos's Happiness…

Here’s the problem with forecasts: some of them are right, and some of them are wrong, and by the time we find out which is which, it’s too late. This leads to what we might call the forecasting paradox: the test of a useful forecast is not whether it turns out to be ...