Things That Made the Modern EconomySeries 1Episodes Episode guide

Back up to: Things That Made the Modern Economy

1. Plough

   The plough kick-started civilisation - and ultimately made our modern economy possible.
2. Cold Chain

   Refrigeration revolutionised the food industry, and other industries too.
3. Welfare State

   Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it? It's not an easy question to answer.
4. Property Register

   Property rights for the world's poor could unlock trillions in 'dead capital'.
5. Management Consulting

   If managers often have a bad reputation, what about those who tell them how to manage?
6. Double-entry Bookkeeping

   Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping.
7. S-Bend

   The S-bend was a pipe with a curve in it, an invention that led to public sanitation.
8. Radar

   A high-tech 'death ray' capable of zapping sheep led to the invention of radar.
9. Market Research

   Market research marked a shift from a producer-led to a consumer-led approach to business.
10. Plastic

    We make so much plastic these days that it takes about eight percent of oil production.
11. Seller Feedback

    Without seller feedback, companies like eBay might not have grown as they have.
12. Paper Money

    Currency derives value from trust in the government which issues it.
13. Limited Liability Company

    How some legal creativity has created vast wealth down the centuries.
14. Dynamo

    The big story behind the way dynamos made electricity useful.
15. Leaded Petrol

    When lead was added to petrol, it made cars more powerful - but it also poisoned people.
16. Department Store

    Harry Selfridge pioneered a whole new retail experience with his London department store.
17. Barbed Wire

    'Lighter than air, stronger than whiskey' - barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America.
18. Tax Havens

    Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore.
19. Infant Formula

    For many new mothers who want, or need, to get back to work, infant formula is a godsend.
20. Index Fund

    Warren Buffett is one of the world's great investors. His advice? Invest in an index fund.
21. Tally Stick

    The tally stick shows us what money really is: a kind of debt that can be traded freely.
22. Passport

    If anyone could work anywhere, some economists think global economic output would double.
23. Intellectual Property

    Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation.
24. Video Game

    From Spacewar to Pokemon Go, video games have shaped the modern economy in surprising ways
25. Cuneiform

    Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the world's first accounts.
26. Air Conditioning

    Invented for the printing industry, air conditioning now influences where and how we live.
27. Part 24: Elevator

    The safety elevator is a mass transit system that has changed the shape of our cities.
28. Contraceptive Pill

    The pill wasn't just socially revolutionary, it also sparked an economic revolution.
29. TV Dinner

    The TV dinner, and other inventions from the same era, made a lasting economic impression.
30. Gramophone

    'Superstar' economics - how the gramophone transformed the performing industry.

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