Helen Paul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the system of economic thinking which dominated Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries.

16 March 2023

listen ↗

Also featuring: D'Maris Coffman, Craig Muldrew

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the age of gold, from 1870, when many nations tied their currencies to gold in the hope of economic stability and increasing trade around the world

20 January 2022

listen ↗

Also featuring: Catherine Schenk, Matthias Morys

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ricardo's argument that Britain's economy was being held back by the interests of landlords and protectionism, and his call for free trade.

25 March 2021

listen ↗

Also featuring: Matthew Watson, Richard Whatmore

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bernard Mandeville's scandalous and influential work on private vices and public benefits, published first as The Grumbling Hive, a poem, in 1705.

25 October 2018

listen ↗

Also featuring: David Wootton, John Callanan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Dutch East India Company, which dominated the Asian spice trade in the 17th century and is sometimes called the first multinational corporation.

3 March 2016

listen ↗

Also featuring: Anne Goldgar, Chris Nierstrasz

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations.

19 February 2015

listen ↗

Also featuring: Richard Whatmore, Donald Winch

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Physiocrats, an important group of economic thinkers in 18th-century France.

20 June 2013

listen ↗

Also featuring: Richard Whatmore, Joel Felix

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the South Sea Bubble, the speculation mania in early 18th-century England which ended in the financial ruin of many of its investors.

20 December 2012

listen ↗

Also featuring: Anne Murphy, Roey Sweet