50 More Things That Made the Modern Economy

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Things That Made the Modern Economy

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Inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world

Tim Harford introduces inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world

Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 2: Fire

Fire

Series 2

BBC Radio 4 - Things That Made the Modern Economy, Series 2, Fire

Has fire created not only the economy, but also modern humans?

Economic progress has seen us increasingly confine fire to furnaces, or internal combustion engines. But our fear of wildfires may hold a lesson about the modern financial system.

Try to imagine the economy before our ancestors tamed fire. There’d be nothing made with metal or glass or plastic, nothing that requires burning fossil fuels to manufacture or transport. We can hardly call it an 'economy'. Some experts say fire created not only the economy, but humans – that our brains were built by cooked food and evenings around the campfire. Economic development has seen us increasingly confine fire to furnaces, or internal combustion engines. But, as Tim Harford reveals, our fear of wildfires may hold a surprising lesson about the modern financial system.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon

Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 2

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

More inventions, ideas and innovations that helped to create the modern economic world.

More inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to create the modern economic world.

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Things That Made the Modern Economy

Series 2

Fire

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