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Episode details

Radio 4,24 Dec 2019,14 mins

Available for over a year

Consumerism and Christmas have gone hand in hand for a surprisingly long time. Santa Claus was an advertising icon in the 1840s, and Macy's department store in New York stayed open until midnight on Christmas Eve in 1867. In a seasonal edition of Fifty Things That Made The Modern Economy, Tim Harford explores the history of Christmas consumerism across the years and around the world. Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Richard Vadon

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