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: Wedgwood

Wedgwood

Series 2

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

Josiah Wedgwood’s pottery was a precursor to the “trickle-down” theory of fashion.

Josiah Wedgwood was a man of many talents. But maybe his greatest achievement was solving a problem it took another 200 years for a Nobel Prize-winning economist even to identify.

Josiah Wedgwood was a man of many talents – potter, chemist, pioneering accountant. But perhaps his most remarkable achievement was solving a problem it took another two centuries for a Nobel Prize-winning economist even to identify. That problem was how to make wealthy clients pay a premium for your goods, then add to your profits by selling them more cheaply to the mass market. Tim Harford explains how Wedgwood’s 18th century pottery was a precursor to the “trickle-down” theory of fashion that still shapes the economy today.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon

Things That Made the Modern Economy: Series 2

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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

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