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Episode details

Radio 4,25 May 2012,25 mins

Would firing staff 'at will' boost the economy?

More or Less

Available for over a year

In this week's programme: Fire "at will"? The Beecroft Report has been stirring up controversy all week. But is there any evidence that the economy would be boosted if employers could fire their staff "at will", as Adrian Beecroft recommends? Professor John Van Reenan - director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics - can't find much. Hard-working Greeks One version of the Euro crisis story has it that hard-working Germans are bailing out lazy Greeks. But in fact Greek workers put in far longer hours than their German counterparts. The maths of infidelity It's a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women. But it takes two to tango. So can this be mathematically possible? Publication bias If we on More or Less were only to report statistical errors, and never statistical triumphs, you could be forgiven for concluding that the world is full of numerical lies. That's "publication bias" - and it's a big problem in science, as Ben Goldacre explains. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Richard Knight.

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