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Tim Harford Biography

Tim Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economist and journalist who lives in Oxford. He is the author of four economics books and writes his longrunning Financial Times column, "The Undercover Economist", syndicated in Slate magazine, which reveals the economic ideas behind everyday experiences. His column in the Financial Times, "Since you asked", ran between 2011 and 2014 and offered a sceptical look at the news of the week.

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Tim Harford Quotes

British politicians used to be good at misleading people without actually lying.

Actually, British, Lying, People, Politician

Norway has a relationship with the EU which is very close. It has to accept most EU rules. It has to pay EU membership fees. It has free movement of people just like other EU countries, but it's not actually in the EU.

Accept, Country, Movement, Norway, People, Rules

A lot of international companies invest in the U. K. as a base for doing business with the rest of the European Union.

Company, European Union, International, Invest, Rest, Unions

There's lots and lots of guys out there. The question is trying to find the right one.

Guy, Guys, Lots, Question, Right, Trying

Each additional child that you have is going to divide your time and your attention. You're going to have to cram them into a smaller house. They're going to have to share rooms, or you might have to move into the suburbs, somewhere cheaper, further away from where the job is.

Child, Children, Divide, Further, Jobs, Moving

Trying to be able to have, let's say, more than three partners was absolutely impossible, at least for my own relationships.

Able, Partners, Relationships, Say, Three, Trying

We now have political chaos. We've got parties in Ireland saying they want to merge with Northern Ireland. You've got parties in Scotland saying you want to leave the U. K. You've got the Spanish government saying it would like to take ownership of Gibraltar which is a British overseas territory. So that - just the politics of this is a mess.

Government, Like, Party, Politics, Scotland

Pluralism matters because life is not worth living without new experiences - new people, new places, new challenges. But discipline matters too; we cannot simply treat life as a psychedelic trip through a series of novel sensations.

Discipline, Life, New Experiences, People, Pluralism

Failure in Innovation - it's a price worth paying.

Failure, Innovation, Paying, Price, Worth

Economists have allowed themselves to walk into a trap where we say we can forecast, but no serious economist thinks we can. You don't expect dentists to be able to forecast how many teeth you'll have when you're 80. You expect them to give good advice and fix problems.

Advice, Expect, Forecast, Giving, Teeth, Thinking

There is much more to life than what gets measured in accounts. Even economists know that.

Accounts, Economist, Know, Measured, More To Life

Success Comes Through Rapidly Fixing our Mistakes Rather than Getting Things Right the First Time.

Firsts, Fixing, Mistake, Mistakes, Rapidly

Loss aversion is a really disproportionate anxiety about stuff that doesn't matter very much. So for instance, if you lose $5, you feel really bad about the $5 you've lost. You're cursing yourself. You're going through it again and again. If, on the other hand, you find $5, you go - hey, great, five bucks. And you've forgotten about it really quickly.

Anxiety, Aversion, Forgotten, Hands, Loss, Quickly

In many ways, love seems to be totally divorced from economics. But then you realize - well, the stakes are high. This is something that matters to us. We're dealing with scarcity. I mean, if you're dating one person, at the very least, you don't have as much time to date another person. And you may well find that you can only date one person at a time.

Dating, High, Love, Mean, Person, Scarcity

People today dont become economists to make the world a better place.

Make, People, Place, Today, World

Accepting trial and error means accepting error. It means taking problems in our stride when a decision doesn't work out, whether through luck or misjudgment. And that is not something human brains seem to be able to do without a struggle.

Errors, Mean, Misjudgment, Struggle, Work

There's nothing wrong with a plan, but remember Von Moltke's famous dictum that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. The danger is a plan that seduces us into thinking failure is impossible and adaptation is unnecessary - a kind of ‘Titanic' plan, unsinkable (until it hits the iceberg).

Dictum, Enemy, Firsts, Iceberg, Seduces, Thinking

I am aiming my books at anybody with no economics background.

Aiming, Background, Backgrounds, Book, Books, Economics

Love may be boundless and abundant, but time isn't. Time is finite.

Abundant, Boundless, Finite, May

The more grotesque your boss's pay and the less he has do to earn it, the bigger the motivation for you to work with the aim of being promoted to what he has.

Aim, Boss, Earn, Grotesque, Motivation, Pay

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