WS More or Less: Numbers of the Year Part 1
The numbers that made 2018.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4
The numbers that made 2018.
What to look out for on Christmas Eve.
Are mega-dams really sustainable?
Are women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?
Xavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians
Updating the kilogram.
How likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?
What proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?
In foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?
The economists tackling climate change and growth.
New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of Dirty Money, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Producer: Ruth ...
New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of “Dirty Money”, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Producer: Rut...
This week BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind programme announced the results of The Loneliness Experiment. It was a large survey conducted by the programme in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection. The largest survey into the issue of loneliness to date, said All in the Mind, while the accompanying BBC press release reported that “The survey results indicate that 16-24 year olds experience loneliness more often and more intensely than any other age group. 40% of respondents aged 16-24 reported f...
Were Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?
Tim Harford on Spitfire pilots, and whether football triggers violence in the home.
How can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?
Tim Harford on child carers, shareholder income, football vs museums and dangerous sports
What is the difference between 96% similarity or sharing 20% of our DNA?
Tim Harford with statistics on suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis. Plus goats
A listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road?
Tim Harford questions the usefulness of a popular heart age calculator.
Tim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts
Tim Harford fact checks EU trade deals with Africa, and whether one drink is one too many
BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of interest rates. Why did they lead to coffins full of car getting sent to the US Federal Reserve? What factors affect what you have to pay on your loans? And what do your film choices say about why you decide to borrow? Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane P...
Computer programmes are being developed to combat fake news.
What would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor?
BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of inflation. They’ll explain how hyperinflation is affecting how Venezuelans have sex, why you can’t afford a ticket to see your favourite band in concert anymore and why a sale on sofas isn’t always a good thing. Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters:...
Are Wildfires in the United States and Southern Europe burning more land than before?
BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve explore government debt. Why did an anonymous mother send her bracelet to the government to be turned into a bullet? How are you lending the government money without even realising? And when should you be worried about how much debt the government is in? Producers: Simon Maybin &...
How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world?