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Tim Harford

Undercover Economist

Tim Harford writes the Undercover Economist column, and was previously an economics leader writer for the FT. He first joined the newspaper as Peter Martin Fellow in 2003.

Tim is the author of nine books, including the million-selling The Undercover Economist and most recently How To Make The World Add Up. He is also a regular presenter for BBC radio.

He was made an OBE in the 2019 new year honours list “for services to improving economic understanding”.

Email Tim Harford @TimHarford  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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  • Friday, 31 March, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Medieval-style ‘ordeals’ become UK government policy

    The UK home secretary’s ‘dream’ of deporting asylum seekers is an eerie 21st-century echo of an ancient idea

  • Friday, 24 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    What Mystic Meg can teach us about economic forecasting

    If you want to be admired for your predictions, temper your bold claims with vagueness

  • Friday, 17 March, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Why children can be better at spotting misinformation

    They don’t have the reflexive cynicism of many adults, but that’s a strength, not a weakness

  • Friday, 10 March, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Most Budget-day tweaks make the tax system worse

    With each budget, the chancellor shuffles taxes and tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat. This is no way to run an economy

  • Friday, 3 March, 2023
    Undercover EconomistBehavioural economics
    The enshittification of apps is real. But is it bad?

    Internet platforms are the latest example of a product destined to go to the dogs

  • Friday, 24 February, 2023
    Undercover EconomistWorking from home
    Lockdowns are over. WFH isn’t. Why?

    It’s hard to believe we will return to 95 per cent attendance at the workplace in my lifetime

  • Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
    ReviewNon-Fiction
    Foolproof — how misinformation works, and how to counter it

    Social psychologist Sander van der Linden offers an authoritative guide to tackling fake news and false claims

  • Friday, 17 February, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Can gamers outplay the rapacious capitalists?

    Role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons are having a moment in the spotlight – and offer valuable lessons to the rest of the economy

  • Friday, 10 February, 2023
    Undercover EconomistArtificial intelligence
    Why chatbots are bound to spout bullshit

    Some of what they say is true, but only as a byproduct of learning to seem believable

  • Friday, 3 February, 2023
    Undercover EconomistUK economic growth
    How to fix the British economy

    The right blames red tape, the left inequality. Both are wrong

  • Friday, 27 January, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    What Lego can teach us about saving the planet

    A core feature of complex Lego sets holds big lessons for energy projects

  • Thursday, 26 January, 2023
    FT Magazine
    What the poet, playboy and prophet of bubbles can still teach us

    Charles Mackay was wrong about a lot, but his wild life and times hold many lessons

  • Friday, 20 January, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Is life in the UK really as bad as the numbers suggest? Yes, it is

    The past 15 years have been a disappointment on a scale we could hardly have imagined

  • Friday, 13 January, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    What economists get wrong about personal finance

    The advice given by academics and by financial self-help gurus is often very different

  • Friday, 6 January, 2023
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    The seven types of email you should never, ever send

    Guilty of these shocking breaches of epistolary etiquette? Do better

  • Friday, 23 December, 2022
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Tim Harford answers your absurd hypothetical questions

    What would happen if tax wasn’t a thing and other burning queries

  • Friday, 16 December, 2022
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Why you shouldn’t strive for the perfect Christmas

    My elaborate holiday preparations are more about enjoyment than about realising a particular goal

  • Friday, 9 December, 2022
    Undercover EconomistBrexit
    Storage is one of the least sexy words around. That’s a problem

    By the time a crisis hits, it’s too late to start building an extra cupboard

  • Friday, 25 November, 2022
    Undercover EconomistSocial Media
    How to leave Twitter but keep your followers

    Moving to a new social network should be like switching mobile provider or bank, but it’s not

  • Friday, 18 November, 2022
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Struck by the power of the simple invention

    Dr Dilip Mahalanabis changed the world. So why did we not hear more about it?

  • Friday, 4 November, 2022
    Undercover EconomistBehavioural economics
    Quitting is underrated

    We are far too stubborn, committing to an idea, job or romantic partner even when it becomes clear we’ve made a mistake

  • Friday, 28 October, 2022
    Undercover EconomistLife & Arts
    Farewell to the cakeism of Johnson and Truss, welcome back reality

    You can’t always get what you want, fiscally speaking — a lesson the former prime ministers did not learn

  • Friday, 21 October, 2022
    Undercover EconomistUK business & economy
    Uncertainty delays investment. If only the UK government grasped this

    When everything is in flux, businesses will often choose to watch and wait

  • Friday, 14 October, 2022
    Undercover EconomistTax evasion and avoidance
    How to tax (a guide for governments)

    Lessons on what really works from more than 300 years of history

  • Friday, 7 October, 2022
    Undercover EconomistUK business & economy
    Five ideas that might actually boost UK growth

    Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng don’t seem to know how to go about it. Here are a few starting points

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