Available online
Description
Fire "at will"?The Beecroft Report has been stirring up controversy all week. But is there any evidence that the economy would be boosted if employers could fire their staff "at will...", as Adrian Beecroft recommends? Professor John Van Reenan - director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics - can't find much.Hard-working GreeksOne version of the Euro crisis story has it that hard-working Germans are bailing out lazy Greeks. But in fact Greek workers put in far longer hours than their German counterparts.The maths of infidelityIt's a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women. But it takes two to tango. So can this be mathematically possible?Publication biasIf we on More or Less were only to report statistical errors, and never statistical triumphs, you could be forgiven for concluding that the world is full of numerical lies. That's "publication bias" - and it's a big problem in science, as Ben Goldacre explains.
Fire "at will"?The Beecroft Report has been stirring up controversy all week. But is there any evidence that the economy would be boosted if employers could fire their staff "at will...", as Adrian Beecroft recommends? Professor John Van Reenan - director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics - can't find much.Hard-working GreeksOne version of the Euro crisis story has it that hard-working Germans are bailing out lazy Greeks. But in fact Greek workers put in far longer hours than their German counterparts.The maths of infidelityIt's a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women. But it takes two to tango. So can this be mathematically possible?Publication biasIf we on More or Less were only to report statistical errors, and never statistical triumphs, you could be forgiven for concluding that the world is full of numerical lies. That's "publication bias" - and it's a big problem in science, as Ben Goldacre explains.
| Series: | More or less |
|---|---|
| Episode | 6 |
| First transmission date: | 2012-05-25 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC Radio 4 |
| Published: | 2012 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:25:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Richard, Knight |
| Presenter: | Tim Harford |
| Contributors: | Tim Harford; S. A (Simon A.), Coates |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Subject terms: | Economics; Mathematics; Statistics |
| Production number: | AUDA779B |
| Available to public: | no |
