Tim Harford, Undercover Economist: My Big Decision

Thursday, October 29, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: My big decision, Media sector | Tags: FT, my big decision, Tim Harford, Chris Anderson, Fons Trompenaars, undercover economist

What was the moment that changed everything for Tim Harford and led him to become one of the UK’s most renowned economists? Grant Thornton’s My Big Decision series continues by asking Tim Harford, the FT’s economics agony uncle and author of The Undercover Economist, about his big decision, how his business bestseller came into being and discovers along the way how he proposed to his wife – thanks to economics theory.

View Tim Harford’s My Big Decision video podcast for the full story. It lasts just a couple of minutes but gives a behind-the-scenes insight into his decision to write The Undercover Economist.

After his first book went became a business bestseller in 2003, Tim went on to present the TV series Trust Me, I’m an Economist and now also presents More or Less on Radio 4.

He is also the author of two more recent books on behavioural economics: The Logic of Life: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything and a new collection of his Financial Times columns Dear Undercover Economist offering ‘Priceless Advice on Money, Work, Sex, Kids, and Life’s Other Challenges’.

His ‘economics of everyday life’ explains, for example, why your boss is overpaid and uses economic theory to advise on everything from dating and relationships to lost gloves and football teams.

Tim Harford’s My Big Decision is the third installment in a series of video podcasts in which Grant Thornton asks prominent business individuals about a critical moment that changed their lives forever.

Previous My Big Decision interviewees include online theorist Chris Anderson, who moved from print to web just as the dotcom bubble burst and became a very public figure as a result, and renowned cultural commentator Fons Trompenaars, who kicked off the My Big Decision series by revealing how leaving his homeland of Holland to study in the US set him on the path to both career – and marital – success.

* View Tim Harford’s video podcast
* View Chris Anderson’s video podcast
* View Fons Trompenaars’ video podcast
* You can subscribe to the series in iTunes and listen while you’re on the move