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Series 1

Part 24: Elevator

The safety elevator is a mass transit system that has changed the shape of our cities.

• 9 mins

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Air Conditioning

Invented for the printing industry, air conditioning now influences where and how we live.

• 15 mins

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Cuneiform

Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the world's first accounts.

• 9 mins

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Video Game

From Spacewar to Pokemon Go, video games have shaped the modern economy in surprising ways

• 9 mins

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Intellectual Property

Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation.

• 9 mins

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Passport

If anyone could work anywhere, some economists think global economic output would double.

• 9 mins

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Tally Stick

The tally stick shows us what money really is: a kind of debt that can be traded freely.

• 9 mins

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Index Fund

Warren Buffett is one of the world's great investors. His advice? Invest in an index fund.

• 15 mins

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Infant Formula

For many new mothers who want, or need, to get back to work, infant formula is a godsend.

• 15 mins

Series 1

Tax Havens

Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore.

• 10 mins

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Barbed Wire

'Lighter than air, stronger than whiskey' - barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America.

• 9 mins

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Department Store

Harry Selfridge pioneered a whole new retail experience with his London department store.

• 9 mins

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Leaded Petrol

When lead was added to petrol, it made cars more powerful - but it also poisoned people.

• 10 mins

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Dynamo

The big story behind the way dynamos made electricity useful.

• 10 mins

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Limited Liability Company

How some legal creativity has created vast wealth down the centuries.

• 10 mins

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Paper Money

Currency derives value from trust in the government which issues it.

• 10 mins

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Seller Feedback

Without seller feedback, companies like eBay might not have grown as they have.

• 10 mins

Series 1

Plastic

We make so much plastic these days that it takes about eight percent of oil production.

• 10 mins

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Market Research

Market research marked a shift from a producer-led to a consumer-led approach to business.

• 10 mins

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Radar

A high-tech 'death ray' capable of zapping sheep led to the invention of radar.

• 10 mins

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S-Bend

The S-bend was a pipe with a curve in it, an invention that led to public sanitation.

• 10 mins

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Double-entry Bookkeeping

Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping.

• 10 mins

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Management Consulting

If managers often have a bad reputation, what about those who tell them how to manage?

• 10 mins

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Property Register

Property rights for the world's poor could unlock trillions in 'dead capital'.

• 10 mins

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Welfare State

Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it? It's not an easy question to answer.

• 10 mins

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Cold Chain

Refrigeration revolutionised the food industry, and other industries too.

• 10 mins

Series 1

Plough

The plough kick-started civilisation - and ultimately made our modern economy possible.

• 10 mins

Santa Claus

Consumerism and Christmas have gone hand in hand for a surprisingly long time

• 14 mins

Series 2

Langstroth Hive

The Langstroth Hive: a wooden box that made the industrialisation of the bee possible.

• 14 mins

Series 2

Cellophane

Cellophane transformed how consumers purchased food, as well as how producers sold it.

• 14 mins