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United Kingdom
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
From Pushkin Industries
Business
Business History
by Pushkin Industries
Today: #175 in Business, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
Today: #151 in Business, Canada on our combined chart.
Today: #94 in Business, New Zealand on our combined chart.
Today: #174 in Business, India on our combined chart.
Today: #149 in Business, South Africa on our combined chart.
Chart positions today · United States
Not on the United States charts we track today.
Not on the Australia charts we track today.
Not on the Germany charts we track today.
Not on the Brazil charts we track today.
Not on the Mexico charts we track today.
Not on the Ireland charts we track today.
Not on the Japan charts we track today.
Not on the Philippines charts we track today.
If you like Business History, try…
Hot Money: Agent of Chaos
Shared creator or host credits
What's Your Problem?
Shared creator or host credits
FINAiUS
Also in History
Revisionist History
From Pushkin Industries
Founders
Also in History
Ranking history · United States
Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.
Recent history only — this show has no current ranking on the Business chart. These are recorded positions from the last 14 days, not current rankings.
Position on the Business combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.
Episode releases
View as table
| Date | Combined Rank | Apple Podcasts |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | — | — |
| Oct 23 | #195 | #189 |
| Oct 22 | #198 | #191 |
| Oct 19 | — | #198 |
| Oct 18 | — | #194 |
| Oct 16 | #193 | #187 |
| Oct 15 | #184 | #178 |
Latest episodes
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How the Company Conquered the World
October 21, 2026 · 48 minJacob Goldstein and Robert Smith talk with Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea. Companies are some of the most powerful institutions in the modern world – right up there with the…
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Sam the Banana Man: Gunboats, Coups, and United Fruit
October 14, 2026 · 56 minIn the late 1800s, a Russian immigrant named Samuel Zemurray spent nearly everything he had on a load of bananas, and turned it into a fortune. But Sam the Banana Man wasn’t just a business titan. He was a puppeteer on the geopolitical…
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Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook
October 7, 2026 · 50 minWe're here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public…
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Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I – Rerun
September 30, 2026 · 35 minBusiness History is off this week, so we wanted to keep you entertained with a rerun, in case you missed our Beetle episode the first time around. (You can help us win a Signal Award for this episode by voting here.) The VW Beetle was the…
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King of the Roll-Ups: The Man Who Created a Trash Empire, Then Built Blockbuster Video
September 23, 2026 · 38 minWayne Huizenga came from a long line of trash collectors. It was a rough, fragmented, mom-and-pops business which notoriously attracted mobsters. But Huizenga set out to buy his small competitors - to roll them up - to form the biggest…
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How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See – Rerun
September 18, 2026 · 44 minWith the news of Warren Buffett stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, we are revisiting an episode from our two-part series on Buffet. Warren Buffett rose from obscurity to become the richest person in the world - and he did it…
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Herman Petty's Dream: The Struggles of the First Black American to Own a McDonald's
September 16, 2026 · 45 minHerman Petty was a Chicago barber and bus driver who dreamed of running his own business. When his local McDonald's restaurant was abandoned in 1968, Herman approached the company and said he should be the first black American to be given…
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The Battle of Fort Frick and the Anarchist Assassin
September 9, 2026 · 45 minConcluding our story of Andrew Carnegie's effort to break the unions at his Homestead steel factory, we look at how the plant boss Henry Clay Frick enlisted a private army of Pinkerton detectives to confront the steel workers. Gunfire…
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Andrew Carnegie's War with his Workers
September 2, 2026 · 40 minIn the first of two shows about the fight between the richest man and the unions at his Homestead steel plant - we look at why Andrew Carnegie decided that his workforce deserved a smaller share of his profits and the lengths he went to to…
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George Washington’s Trusted Tavern Guide: The Birth of the User Review
August 26, 2026 · 45 minWhen America’s first president set off to tour his new country, he had no idea where to stay. George Washington slept in some taverns he described as dirty and grim, but also stayed at some delightful inns. In the 1790s, there was no way…
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The DeLorean Saga: Fraud, Drug Deals and Marty McFly's Car
August 19, 2026 · 48 minThis is a special crossover episode with Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford. John DeLorean was a top car executive - but he was too maverick to fit into the oppressive corporate culture of GM. He wanted to make a new and exciting sports…
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The Tangled Story of Instant Ramen
August 12, 2026 · 42 minMomofuku Ando told the world he invented instant ramen noodles in a shed in his backyard. In Japan, there's not one, but two museums celebrating this breakthrough. Only Ando wasn't the first person to flash-fry noodles to preserve them…
About the show
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.