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Is Apple worth more than Poland?
Tim Harford explains why the technology giant Apple is not bigger than Poland, as media reports have claimed. And he scrutinises the claim that the Millennium Development Goal on safe drinking water …
Published on 13 years, 6 months ago
Less than a dollar a day
Tim Harford assesses how global poverty is measured, as the World Bank releases the latest figures on the number of people living on less than a dollar a day. What progress has been made, and how use…
Published on 13 years, 6 months ago
Syria poll and Europe’s work hours
Fifty-five per cent of Syrians do not think their leader President Assad should resign, according to media reports of an opinion poll. It’s a striking number, given the bloody violence that has broke…
Published on 13 years, 6 months ago
Cybermetrics and Groundhog Day
Can you measure your popularity – or that of anyone or anything – by the number of results that an internet search generates? Tim Harford points the finger at lazy journalists. Plus, a professor of e…
Published on 13 years, 6 months ago
Measuring famine
How do you measure a famine? Following the UN’s recent announcement that famine conditions have ended in Somalia, More or Less explores what the definition of a famine is – and how definite a definit…
Published on 13 years, 6 months ago
More alive than dead?
Tim Harford investigates one of the most popular questions from More or Less listeners: “Are there more people alive today than have ever lived?” It is a zombie statistic that every time it is laid t…
Published on 13 years, 7 months ago
Sizing up cities
Which are the world’s biggest cities, and what are their populations? Two simple questions that we discover are surprisingly difficult to answer. Plus, has the world got heavier or lighter since the …
Published on 13 years, 7 months ago
Climate bet; Africa Cup of Nations
A four-year bet about global warming between two scientists is settled. In 2008, after there had been no new record for the global average temperature set since 1998, David Whitehouse and James Annan…
Published on 13 years, 7 months ago
Chavez's cancer claims
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela thinks the US may have developed a secret technology to give him and other Latin American leaders cancer. He said the fact that several presidents have had cancer i…
Published on 13 years, 7 months ago
High speed rail
High Speed rail - Tim Harford speaks to railway consultant Chris Stokes and Alison Munro from HS2 Ltd. He investigates the different measures of the rise in executive pay with Steve Tatton from Incom…
Published on 13 years, 7 months ago