Central Park • 2016 • episode "Part 3" • New York: America's Busiest City

176:13

The TV series "Mad Men" gave us a glimpse into the world of US advertising. Ch 1. The 1950s Now see how advertisements in the 1950s tantalised Americans with visions of futuristic homes and cars. Ch 2. The 1960s This was the era at the heart of the TV series 'Mad Men' when Madison Avenue tapped into the growing counter-cultural movement, using irreverence and wit, and changed advertising forever. Ch 3. The 1970s A golden age in America's ad world, full of creativity and a love affair with non-conformity. But it was also fraught with new challenges, including a growing mistrust amongst consumers. Ch 4. The 1980s It's the Reagan Era, and American political confidence fuels an era of heavy consumption. The creative geniuses on Madison Avenue find new ways of attracting a booming consumer spend.

2019 • Economics

11:20

‘Economics is for everyone’, argues legendary economist Ha-Joon Chang in our latest mind-blowing RSA Animate. This is the video economists don’t want you to see! Chang explains why every single person can and SHOULD get their head around basic economics. He pulls back the curtain on the often mystifying language of derivatives and quantitative easing, and explains how easily economic myths and assumptions become gospel. Arm yourself with some facts, and get involved in discussions about the fundamentals that underpin our day-to-day lives.

RSA • 2016 • Economics

58:57

Anita Rani, Ade Adepitan, Ant Anstead and Dan Snow look at food consumption in the Big Apple. From dusk until dawn at the New Fulton fish market in The Bronx, they uncover the hidden night time operations, hard-nosed negotiations and price fluctuations of this enormous wholesale operation. Ade also looks into local apple production, Anita visits a cattle farm that supplies the region's steakhouses, Ant visits the New NY Bridge, and Dan heads to Freshkills on Staten Island. Once the world's biggest landfill, it's been transformed into 2,200 acres of parkland.

Part 2 • New York: America's Busiest City • 2016 • Economics

58:28

In the first of this three-part series investigating consumer spending, Jacques reveals how the concept of 'product lifespan' holds the key to our ever-churning consumerism. Exploring the historical origin of planned obsolescence, when some of the world biggest electrical manufacturers formed a light bulb cartel in the 1920s, Jacques reveals how products that are essential to our modern lifestyles are still made to break. During his investigation, Jacques uncovers the process by which a crucial transformation happened and attitudes towards spending were transformed. Instead of needing new goods because our old ones were broken, we learned to want them for reasons of fashion and aspiration - awaking a consumer appetite that could never be satisfied. In the US, he visits a recycling centre where brand-new high-tech goods are destroyed before they have even come out of the box. Jacques also meets some of the companies that encourage consumers to be dissatisfied with what they have and encourage purchases as part of an ever-faster cycle of 'upgrades'. He asks a senior IKEA executive why, despite the company's commitment to sustainability, it still encourages repeated discarding and purchasing. Jacques also talks to a former senior Apple employee who reveals how the company's new focus on fashion, with its colourful iPhones, keeps us buying even when technological innovation slows.

1/3 • The Men Who Made Us Spend • 2014 • 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

22:06

Over 10% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. But with radioactive waste and the threat of nuclear meltdown, are we playing with fire?

S1E8 • History 101 • 2020 • Economics