Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
The podcast examines housing issues, pharmaceutical economics, violent crime statistics, and fertility rates in the UK. It addresses the claim of 700,000 empty homes in England, clarifying that many are in flux or exempt from council tax, with only 150,000 considered long-term empties. The discussion explores the NHS's...
The podcast examines the state of health in the UK, focusing on life expectancy trends and the performance of the National Health Service (NHS). It highlights that while overall life expectancy is recovering post-COVID, worrying signs exist for those of working age, particularly in the 20-45 demographic, where death ra...
The podcast examines the UK's economic challenges, focusing on the cost-of-living crisis, labor market issues, and government spending. It highlights that while wages are growing faster than inflation, living standards remain dismal compared to historical trends. The discussion covers the impact of rising prices on low...
The "More or Less" podcast, hosted by Tim Harford, presents a special episode focused on numerical predictions for 2026. Guests include Simon Calder, who forecasts 100 million international passengers at Dubai International Airport, highlighting a shift in global travel patterns towards the Middle East and Asia. Hannah...
This special edition of the "More or Less" podcast investigates various numbers from 2025 to reveal insights about the world. The podcast covers topics such as the increasing number of transistors on computer chips and the slowing pace of Moore's Law, the gender disparity in space exploration despite a record-setting a...
The "More or Less" podcast from the BBC World Service presents its annual "Numbers of the Year" for 2025, hosted by Tim Harford. The episode features contributions from experts discussing significant numbers from the year. Thomas Sampson from the London School of Economics highlights the peak US tariff rate of 28% foll...
In this episode of More or Less, Tim Harford explores the statistics behind various topics, starting with the history and future of the UK census, featuring Georgina Sturge, who explains why the Doomsday Book doesn't qualify as a census and discusses the potential shift to administrative data collection. Lizzy McNeil d...
The podcast episode, hosted by Tim Harford, investigates a listener's query about the high cost of medication in US hospitals, specifically a claim that a Valium pill costing $3 in a pharmacy could be $750 in a hospital. Harford interviews Elisabeth Rosenthal, a healthcare journalist and editor-in-chief at KFF Health N...
This episode of "More or Less" delves into several statistical claims in the news. First, it examines the assertion of an "unprecedented wave of superflu" impacting the UK's NHS, comparing current data with previous years and other respiratory illnesses, concluding that while flu arrived early, it's not "super" or unpr...
This podcast episode investigates a claim made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding declining sperm counts and testosterone levels in American teenagers. Professor Allan Pacey, an expert in Andrology, debunks the claim about sperm count, explaining that while sperm quality may deteriorate with age, ...
The "More or Less" podcast, hosted by Tim Harford, features an interview with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler, co-author of "The Winner's Curse." They discuss the origins and implications of behavioral economics, contrasting traditional economic assumptions of rational human behavior with real-world observations of "sill...
This podcast episode addresses a listener's question about whether the current AI boom constitutes an economic bubble. Host Nathan Gower, from the "More or Less" podcast, introduces insights from financial experts Simon French (Chief Economist at Panmure Liberum) and Katie Martin (markets columnist at the Financial Tim...
The podcast episode features an interview with Carter Price, a senior mathematician at the RAND Corporation, discussing claims about income and wealth inequality. Price explains his research methodology, which calculates the "foregone income" for the bottom 90% of workers since 1975 by comparing actual income growth to...
The podcast "More or Less" with Tim Harford investigates claims made by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding diabetes statistics. Harford challenges Kennedy's assertions that juvenile diabetes was once rare and that 50% of China's population is now diabetic. Professor Dianna Magliano, a diabetes epidemio...
The "More or Less" podcast, hosted by Lizzy McNeill, investigates the historical claim that Vlad the Impaler impaled 20,000 people. McNeill interviews Dinesh Harai, a historian, who explains Vlad III Dracula's historical context, his reign in Wallachia, and the use of impalement as a form of capital punishment in the l...
In this episode of the "More or Less" podcast, host Tim Harford interviews Corinne Low, an Associate Professor at the Wharton School, about her research on how heterosexual couples divide their time between paid work and unpaid housework. Low's research, detailed in her book "Feminomics" (UK) / "Having It All" (US), re...
In this episode of the "More or Less" podcast, host Lizzy McNeill interviews economist Tim Harford about the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, also known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. The prize was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their work on innovation-driven ...
In this episode of More or Less, Tim Harford and his team dissect several statistical claims in the news. They investigate the accuracy of a statement regarding the impact of inheritance tax changes on farmers, revealing a significant discrepancy in the reported figures. The team also examines claims about the number o...
The podcast episode addresses a listener's query regarding Donald Trump's claims about the high percentage of foreign nationals in European prisons, specifically in Germany, Austria, Greece, and Switzerland. Tim Harford interviews Professor Marcelo Aebi, a criminologist and lead author of the Council of Europe report c...
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