The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford visits Oxford High School
Last week, our Economics Society had its inaugural meeting with guest speaker Tim Harford. Tim is better known as the author of the very successful book The Undercover Economist, which has sold over a million copies and as the host of Radio 4’s “More or Less”. After an introduction from our Head of Economics Society in Year 12, Tim went on to discuss many different topics from the economics of Christmas to methods of measuring happiness.
Firstly, he posed the question: How do we measure how happy people are? Can money bring us happiness? Unfortunately these questions don’t have a simple answer; we know this because for decades politicians have been asking the same questions. Governments spend millions of pounds and statisticians spend hundreds of hours trying to calculate how “happy” people are and no matter how wealthy the country gets and no matter how much stuff we may possess, when asked, on a scale of 1-10, we always rate our current state of happiness a lucky 7. Through posing those initial questions, Tim, through anecdotes and stories explained to us much of the current economic news.
I particularly engaged with the story about the myth of the rising income: often in the news, the Prime Minister may talk of a rise in the mean income of the UK due to the growing economy. But what does that really mean? Does it mean that every single person in this country is better off? Maybe? But the more likely explanation is that a very small minority are experiencing the benefits of our expanding economy by increased profits in the billions. A massive increase in income for the 1%, affects the mean value for the country, however the 99% don’t really feel the benefits of it that much; whereas if we were to take the median income for the country, a whole different story would start to unravel. This clearly represents the importance but also limitations of statistics.
He then moved on to a much more light-hearted subject….or so I thought.
The economics of Christmas sounds like such a jolly topic but not when you hear what some economists such as Joel Waldfogel have to say about it. Waldfogel describes Christmas as a “deadweight loss”, a complete waste of resources as in America alone, gift giving results in $4 billion being lost. Tim saved the little Christmas spirit we all had left by recognising the sentimental value of gift-giving, something that cannot be measured in monetary terms (well…not fully measured in monetary terms). I certainly have to thank Tim for making future gift giving a far more efficient process. He explained to us how studies show that rather than putting time and effort into choosing a gift for someone, the gift-receiver finds it much more thoughtful to have been bought something off their wish list. With Amazon wish lists in hand, I should have next year’s Christmas shopping done in 10 minutes!
Tim mixed humour and Economics together in a way that mirrored his many successful books. He explained to the engaged audience complex economic ideas in a way that even those who don’t study the subject could understand.
What an amazing first speaker! The bar has been set high by the Economics Society and I can’t wait to see who else they invite to speak.
Oxford High School 