Capital in the Twenty-First Century • 2019

58:48

The federal welfare state controlled American capitalism until the 1973 oil crisis and recession, which led to the election of the ultra-liberal Ronald Reagan. At the dawn of the computer revolution, a generation of entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, emerged in Silicon Valley around Stanford University, which combined public and private research.

S1E3 • American Capitalism – The Cult of Wealth • 2023 • Economics

93:47

Jan Leeming narrates a look at controversies, scandals and surprises in TV, film, music and politics in 1988, including Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses igniting a literary and religious firestorm and Ian Paisley daring to heckle the Pope. On the global stage, US president Ronald Reagan and USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev reshaped geopolitics, while a soundbite from Tory MP Edwina Currie dented the UK's confidence in eggs, leading to a nationwide salmonella scare.

S1E4 • Controversially: That Was the Year that Was • 2023 • Economics

52:52

Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand. As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: “The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business “ - and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away. THE LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers. This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste. Economists and environmentalists believe that the growth society as we know it is unsustainable in the long run and that Planned Obsolescence needs to become a thing of the past, as it is impossible to combine the limitless consumption of resources with a finite planet. But what are the alternatives? The film offers thought-provoking analysis by thinkers working on ways of saving both the economy and the environment, and presents hands-on stories showing entrepreneurs putting new business models into practice.

2010 • Economics

22:15

Feeling lucky? Explore the ways our brains work against us when we're looking to beat the odds - and how the gambling industry takes advantage of it.

S1E4 • Money Explained • 2011 • Economics

20:17

How money works

Wendover • 2022 • Economics

59:09

Jamie Bartlett reveals how Silicon Valley's mission to connect the world is disrupting democracy, helping plunge us into an age of political turbulence. Many of the Tech Gods were dismayed when Donald Trump - who holds a very different worldview - won the American presidency, but did they actually help him to win? With the help of a key insider from the Trump campaign's digital operation, Jamie unravels for the first time the role played by social media and Facebook's vital role in getting Trump into the White House. But how did Facebook become such a powerful player? Jamie learns how Facebook's vast power to persuade was first built for advertisers, combining data about our internet use and psychological insights into how we think. A leading psychologist then shows Jamie how Facebook's hoard of data about us can be used to predict our personalities and other psychological traits. He interrogates the head of the big data analytics firm that targeted millions of voters on Facebook for Trump - he tells Jamie this revolution is unstoppable. But is this great persuasion machine now out of control? Exploring the emotional mechanisms that supercharge the spread of fake news on social media, Jamie reveals how Silicon Valley's persuasion machine is now being exploited by political forces of all kinds, in ways no one - including the Tech Gods who created it - may be able to stop.

S1E2 • Secrets of Silicon Valley • 2017 • Economics