Cincuenta innovaciones que han cambiado el mundo

Through the fascinating stories of fifty ideas and inventions, the author of "The Camouflaged Economist" explains in this new book how innovation can change our lives and alter the complex global economic system. There are innovations, ideas and inventions that make it possible to cure cancer. Others allow us to get to our vacation destinations much faster. They are fun. They make money. And, of course, inventions are successful because they solve a problem that someone, somewhere, wants to solve. However, inventions shape our lives in unpredictable ways, and while they solve a problem for someone, they often create a problem for someone else. With the talent of having made him the most famous economic popularizer, Tim Harford describes the workings of the economy through the surprising history of the pre-cooked dish, the Welfare State, the dynamo, the Billy bookshelf, intellectual property, the iPhone, razors and razor blades, paper money or tax havens. And all these innovations tell us a story, not only of human ingenuity, but also of the invisible systems that surround us: of global supply chains, of ubiquitous information, of money and of ideas. And, in the end of the book, we can put all these lessons together to ask ourselves how we should think about innovation today. What are the best ways to encourage new ideas? And how can we think clearly about what effects these ideas can have and act with foresight to maximize profits and mitigate biases?