Fire

Available for over a year

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