More or Less: Behind the Stats show

More or Less: Behind the Stats

Summary: Tim Harford investigates numbers in the news. Numbers are used in every area of public debate. But are they always reliable? Tim and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. A half-hour programme broadcast at 1600 on Friday afternoons and repeated at 2000 on Sundays on Radio 4. BBC World Service broadcasts a short edition over the weekend.

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Podcasts:

 MoreOrLess: Brain Culture Part 1, 15 Nov 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:27

In a change to the usual format, we are podcasting Matthew Taylor’s series “Brain Culture”. He explores how neuroscience will change society, asking how the justice system will change now that we can scan criminal brains.

 MoreOrLess: Government waste 09 Sep 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:36

In More or Less this week: Government waste, a logic puzzle, the statistics of spying, Olympic economics and the Janitor problem.

 MoreOrLess: A Euro Debt Odyssey: 02 Sep 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:52

In this week's More or Less: a Euro debt odyssey, the placebo effect and 70 years of social surveys.

 MoreOrLess: Scottish Independence: 26 Aug 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:58

On this week's More or Less: Scottish independence, mobile phones and cancer, and is Tendulkar the greatest sportsman?

 MoreOrLess: Is salt bad for you? 19 Aug 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:56

More or Less has the latest on salt, 'zero tolerance' policing, and how to predict the adult height of growing children.

 MoreOrLess: The maths of rioting: 12 Aug 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:55

In More or Less this week: riots, debt, disability benefit and when to buy a lotto ticket.

 MoreOrLess: US debt: 05 Aug 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:57

Tim Harford and the More or Less team unpick more numbers in the news. This week: US debt, NHS funding and the "27 club".

 MoreOrLess: Public Sector Pay: 13 May 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:07

Investigating the public sector pay premium, statins and the 'decline effect'.

 MoreOrLess: Climate Refugees: 8 May 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:55

More or Less looks at child poverty, climate refugees and Sir Henry Cooper's greatest moment.

 MoreOrLess: Wedding Stats: 29 April 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:53

In More or Less this week: a cornucopia of wedding-related numbers. And AV explained.

 MoreOrLess: How useful is GDP? 22 Apr 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:04

Tim Harford and team look at GDP, school standards and the results of 'The Other Census'.

 MoreOrLess: Tuition fees: 15 April 2010 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:03

Tim Harford and the team examine examine tuition fees, drugs testing and inflation.

 MoreOrLess: Youth Unemployment: 08 Apr 2011 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:51

In More or Less this week: youth unemployment, Trumpton and social mobility.

 MoreOrLess: Small spending cuts? 01 Apr 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:50

Tim Harford is back with a new series of More or Less, and the numbers behind the news. Are the cuts "small"? And we introduce "The Other Census".

 MoreOrLess: The Story of Economics 'Monsters': 30 Mar 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:10

In this three-part series Michael Blastland lays out the history of economic ideas to understand why economics goes wrong and whether it can ever go entirely right. In the third and final programme, 'Monsters', Michael investigates another view of economics: that it is the story of people, how they think and behave.

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