Tim Harford

behavioural economist and award winning Financial Times columnist, author of ‘The Undercover Economist,’ ‘The Logic of Life’ and ‘Adapt: why success always starts with failure,’ presenter of Radio 4 ‘More or Less’ and the BBC2 series ‘Trust Me, I’m an Economist’

Tim Harford is a world renowned behavioural economist and award-winning Financial Times columnist. Frequently described as ‘Britain’s Malcolm Gladwell,’ his first two books, The Logic of Life and The Undercover Economist, have been translated into 30 languages and sold well over a million copies. He is also presenter of Radio 4’s More or Less.

2011 saw the arrival of Tim’s third book, ADAPT: Why Success Always Starts With Failure. It suggests that today's challenges can't be solved with ready-made solutions. We must learn to improvise, rather than plan. Drawing on psychology, evolutionary biology, physics, maths and economics, Tim shows how adaptive, trial-and-error processes can help tackle everything from innovation to financial crises. Gillian Tett describes it as "required reading for anyone trying to navigate an increasingly complex world."

But whilst he’s a ‘serious’ economist with a career spanning Oxford, Shell and the World Bank, Tim’s FT columns dwell on the economics of daily life and offer tongue-in-cheek solutions to readers’ problems. He used a similar, highly accessible style as presenter of the BBC2 series, Trust Me, I’m an Economist.

Drawing on the frontiers of economic research, Tim’s speeches cover everything from theories on how to save the world from Armageddon to how we can match odd socks, lose weight and find happiness. He might also reveal the hidden logic of the world around us: when a teenager commits a burglary or a smoker lights a cigarette we seem to be a million miles from common sense - or are we? Weaving evidence from sources like casinos and speed-dating, Tim shows that human behaviour is actually surprisingly logical.

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