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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

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More or Less: Plastic Bags

Factual

Plastic Bags

05/08/2016

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, Plastic Bags

Has a 5p charge caused a drop in the use of carrier bags?

Series that investigates the numbers in the news. Tim Harford asks if the introduction of a 5p charge has caused a drop in the use of carrier bags.

Plastic bags
The Government says that since the introduction of the 5p fee for single use plastic bags their use has plummeted. We take a look at the numbers.

Olympic Medals at Rio 2016
The Olympic Games are with us again. So how can we use statistics to predict how many medals each nation will win? We speak to Dr Julia Bredtmann, an economist at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research.

Income inequality
Politicians and commentators often claim that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. But what do the numbers actually tell us about income inequality in the UK? Tim Harford interviews Jonathan Cribb of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the co- author of a comprehensive analysis of Living Standards, Income Inequality and Poverty in the UK.

Desk of Good News - Maternal mortality rates
The number of women dying in childbirth is falling around the world. In 1990, maternal mortality rates were 385 deaths per 100,000 live births 
Today there are 216 deaths per 100,000 live births. This means the death rate is down by nearly half. 

The Coastline Paradox
Why is it so difficult to measure coastlines? The further you zoom into the detail of a coastline, the longer it becomes. This is referred to as 'The Coastline Paradox'. We speak to Mairi Walker, a mathematician at the University of Edinburgh, and Danny Hyam, from The Ordnance Survey - the UK government agency responsible for mapping our coastlines.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.

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