00000nam a2200000 a 4500 20251203114840.0 9781408709122 609 HAR Harford, Tim _ Fifty things that made the modern economy _ London Little, Brown 2017 343 p. 24 cm. PB Includes index _ Technological innovations Economic aspects Economic History Inventions -- History. _ _ _ From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next. Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We'll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We'll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we'll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate 211540 C 201049 201049 0 0 0 0 PU PU 2018-02-19 479.20 0 609 HAR 211540 BK