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Timothy Douglas Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economic journalist who lives in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Harford is the author of four economics books
and writes his long-running ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' column, "
The Undercover Economist
''The Undercover Economist'' () () is a book by Tim Harford published in 2005 by Little, Brown.
The book provides an introduction to principles of economics, including demand-supply interactions, market failures, externalities, globalisation, ...
", syndicated in
''Slate'' magazine, which explores the economic ideas behind everyday experiences. His column in the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', "Since You Asked", ran between 2011 and 2014 and offered a
sceptical
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
look at the news of the week.
Since October 2007 Harford has presented the
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
programme ''
More or Less.'' The series segments are also available as podcasts. Subsequently Harford launched his own podcast on the podcast production network
Pushkin Industries
Pushkin Industries is an American publisher of podcasts and audiobooks. It was co-founded in 2018 by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg. As of 2021, it hosts over 25 podcasts.
History
The company was co-founded in 2018 by Malcolm Gladwell and Jac ...
, called ''Cautionary Tales''.
Education
Harford was educated at
Aylesbury Grammar School
Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury situated in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students.
Founded in 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabet ...
and then at
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...
. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics and then a
Master of Philosophy
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
in Economics, in 1998.
Harford said that he originally planned to drop economics when studying towards his undergraduate degree but that his Economics tutor
Peter J. N. Sinclair
Peter James Niven Sinclair (18 September 1946 – 31 March 2020)''Old Greshamian Club Address Book'' (Cheverton & Son Ltd., Cromer, 1999) p. 43 was a British economist. He was Professor, and subsequently Emeritus Professor, in Economics at t ...
convinced him otherwise.
Personal life
He lives in Oxford with his wife Fran Monks, a photographer, and their three children.
Career
Harford joined the ''Financial Times'' in 2003 on a fellowship in commemoration of business columnist Peter Martin. He continued to write his financial column after joining
International Finance Corporation
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of t ...
in 2004, and he rejoined the ''Financial Times'' as economics lead writer in April 2006. He is also a member of the newspaper's editorial board.
Tim has spoken at
TED
TED may refer to:
Economics and finance
* TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar
Education
* ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association
** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey
** Transvaal Education Depa ...
, PopTech and the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
. He is a
visiting fellow
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
at
Nuffield College, Oxford
Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...
and an honorary fellow of the
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good.
...
.
In August 2007, he presented a television series on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, ''Trust Me, I'm an Economist''. In October 2007, Harford replaced
Andrew Dilnot
Sir Andrew William Dilnot, (born 19 June 1960) is a Welsh economist and broadcaster. He was formerly the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002, and was Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford between 2002 and 2012. As o ...
on the BBC Radio 4 series ''
More or Less''. From November 2016, he presented an economic history documentary radio and podcast series ''
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy.'' Since November 2019, he has been presenting the podcast series ''Cautionary Tales''. On 13 November 2020 he started a new podcast series on
COVID-19 Vaccination
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...
called ''How to Vaccinate the World''.
Harford is managed by the agency Knight Ayton.
[https://knightayton.co.uk/male-presenters/tim-harford]
Awards
* ''More or Less'' won the
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good.
...
's 2010 award for statistical excellence in broadcast journalism. In 2017 Harford was made an Honorary Fellow of the society.
* ''More or Less'' won
Mensa's award for promoting intelligence in public life.
* Harford was awarded the
Bastiat Prize
The Bastiat Prize was a journalism award given annually by the Reason Foundation. In 2011 and before it was given by the International Policy Network. The Bastiat Prize recognized journalists whose published works "explain, promote and defend the ...
for economic journalism in 2007 (shared with
Jamie Whyte
Jamie Whyte is a New Zealand classical-liberal academic and politician who was the Leader of ACT New Zealand in 2014. He unsuccessfully contested the Pakuranga electorate in the 2014 general election. At the election, Whyte held the first po ...
). In 2010 he again drew with Whyte, in second place.
* He was awarded the
OBE in the
2019 New Year Honours
The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
''for services to Improving Economic Understanding''
Publications
* ''The Market for Aid'' (2005) with
Michael Klein,
* ''
The Undercover Economist
''The Undercover Economist'' () () is a book by Tim Harford published in 2005 by Little, Brown.
The book provides an introduction to principles of economics, including demand-supply interactions, market failures, externalities, globalisation, ...
'' (2005),
* ''
The Logic of Life
''The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World'' is a book by Tim Harford published in 2008 by Random House. Harford argues that rational behavior is more widespread than expected in the larger population. He uses economic prin ...
'' (2008),
* ''Dear Undercover Economist: Priceless Advice on Money, Work, Sex, Kids, and Life's Other Challenges'' (2009). New York, Random House. 2009.
* ''Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure'' (2011). New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
* ''The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Runor Ruinan Economy'' (2014). Penguin Riverhead Books (US).
* ''Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives'' (2016). Riverhead Books.
* ''
Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy'' (2017). Little, Brown.
* ''The Next Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy'' (2020). The Bridge Street Press.
* ''How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers'' (2020). Little, Brown.
** Published in North America as: ''The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics'' (2021). Riverhead Books.
References
External links
Harford's column at the ''Financial Times''wit
RSS FeedAll is fair in love and war and poker – details of the first episode of "Trust me, I'm an economist" (BBC)Blog at the FT, which began October 2007Video (and audio) of interview of Tim Harfordby
Will Wilkinson
Will Wilkinson (born 1973) is an American writer. He was born in Independence, Missouri, and grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1995, received an M.A. in philosophy from Northern Illinois Univers ...
on
Bloggingheads.tv
Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...
*
An interview with Tim Harford about ''The Logic of Life''on ''The Marketplace of Ideas''
*
A series of short film commentaries by Tim Harford on the work of past Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Laureates in economics, as part of the Nobel Perspectives project]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harford, Tim
1973 births
Living people
English economists
English male journalists
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Bastiat Prize winners
Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford
Financial Times people
People educated at Aylesbury Grammar School
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society