Books
FIFTY INVENTIONS THAT SHAPED
THE MODERN ECONOMY
By Tim Harford
A well known British economist shapes his radio
broadcasts into chapters of a diverting collection of
what he considers humanity’s greatest inventions. Best
taken in small doses, the chapters sometimes cover the
expected territory but more often head off in surprising
directions. For Financial Times senior columnist
Harford (Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our
Lives, 2016, etc.), an invention might be a concrete
object, like a plow or a battery, but it’s just as likely
to be a more abstract idea, like intellectual property
or index funds. Fortunately, the author has a knack
for making potentially
dry and demanding
concepts spring to life. For
example, in a chapter on
management consulting,
Harford darts from a messy
factory in contemporary
Mumbai back to the 1930s
to introduce the first cigar-
chomping management
consultant and the
creation of a consulting
company requiring its
employees to wear white
shirts and hats—and then
back to Mumbai, pointing
out telling details along
the way. The author shines when tackling seemingly
homely topics. Writing about barbed wire, he weaves
together the philosophy of John Locke into a discussion
of a material that its marketer called “lighter than
air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust.” Some
might quibble that Harford awards a disproportionate
amount of attention to relatively modern inventions.
However, he makes it clear that these are personal
choices, and his zest for his subjects makes them hard
to resist; his lively, humorous style and wide-ranging
curiosity make hard topics go down easily. And while
the essays stand on their own, he has a broader point
to make. “Inventions shape our lives in unpredictable
ways,” he writes, “and while they’re solving a problem
for someone, they’re often creating a problem for
someone else.”
Harford’s contagious delight in his subject
reminds readers not