What Tim Harford thinks about behavioural science
Economist and journalist; Financial Times columnist as The Undercover Economist, author of How to Make the World Add Up, and presenter of the Cautionary Tales podcast.
Tim Harford did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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3 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Tim Harford has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsNo supercomputing was required: Shannon's machine had just 16 bits of memory. We humans are not hard to read.
↗Random is as random doestimharford.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- 7 days earlier
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Their wordsFirst, if most of our beliefs are handed to us by the society in which we live, it is vital that our society itself values truth and truth-telling.
↗Why the story of the Vegetable Lamb was believedtimharford.com 1st of 2 in this piece
- 7 days earlier
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Our readingSerious policy reform requires changing regulations or the tax system, not just behavioural nudges.
Their wordsI've also argued that while nudges can be quick, easy and effective, serious policy action usually requires a change to regulations or the tax system.
↗Nudge or tax? At last, some datatimharford.com 1st of 2 in this piece