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Pop-Up Economics: Episode 4: The Indiana Jones of Economics

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Episode 4

Episode 4: The Indiana Jones of Economics

The Indiana Jones of Economics

BBC Radio 4 - Pop-Up Economics, The Indiana Jones of Economics

How Bill Phillips - war hero, croc-hunter - became one of the fathers of macro-economics.

Tim Harford tells the story of Bill Phillips - war hero, engineer, crocodile-hunter, and one of the fathers of macro-economics.

"I'd really like to re-model all of your economic systems in plumbing," Bill Phillips said to his incredulous tutor.

The tutor agreed and Phillips set to work on a kind of wardrobe-sized fish gym with sluice gates, floats and trap doors where everything was connected and revenues literally flowed from one place to another. It was the first computer anyone had built of any economy, and it was astonishingly accurate.

Tim Harford tells the extraordinary story of how Phillips - war hero, engineer and crocodile-hunter - became one of the fathers of macroeconomics.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Tim Harford tells an audience stories about fascinating people and ideas in economics

Tim Harford tells a pop-up audience short stories about fascinating people and ideas in economics

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Episode 4: The Indiana Jones of Economics

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