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How to spot a suspicious statistic

Professor Alex Edmans on his book, May Contain Lies.

Untruths sneak into our lives in all kinds of ways. Sometimes they’re outright lies. Blatant misinformation.

But in this episode, we’re going to talk about something else - those sneaky numbers and claims that bounce around our society and that aren’t exactly false, but are leading you down the wrong path.

That’s the subject of a book called May Contain Lies by Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School.

Tim talks to Alex about the statistical claims that might not be wrong, but aren’t right either – and how to make sure you aren’t fooled by them yourself.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Andrew Garratt
Editor: Richard Vadon

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9 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Jun 2025 23:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 21 Jun 2025 04:50GMT
  • Sat 21 Jun 2025 17:50GMT
  • Sun 22 Jun 2025 04:50GMT
  • Sun 22 Jun 2025 08:50GMT
  • Sun 22 Jun 2025 23:50GMT

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