50 Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy—The Plow, Barbed Wire, and Google Search

Hey, it's me, Tyla. Bose open earbuds are stylish. The color, the way it looks, it looks almost like an earring, you know, so I feel like I could go with anything. My style is very fun. I feel like I always look like I'm on holiday. I just really like playing around with it and tying it to the music. So, yeah, I really feel like the music I'm making right now feels like a holiday. So I want to look like it too. Check out Bose.com for more.

This is Ashley at Gennady from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. Have you ever thought about your relationship with money? What if I told you that was the one thing that could change everything about your financial situation? Dow Jones is here to help you unlearn what you think you know about money. Founders Britt and Laurie Ann are on a mission to get more money in the hands of more women through their free online classes. They teach you how to overcome financial fears, tackle debt and learn to invest.

Go to Dow Jones dot com slash Ashley for access to their free class that is Dow Jones dot com slash Ashley. One in three women and one in four men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime and nearly half of survivors delay leaving because they can't bring their pets with them. Purina started the Purple Leash Project to help eliminate one of the many barriers domestic abuse survivors face. A lack of pet friendly domestic violence shelters through the Purple Leash Project. Purina is helping to create more pet friendly domestic violence shelters across the country. So abuse survivors and their pets can escape and heal together.

Visit Purina dot com slash purple to get involved. The twenty twenty four presidential election is here. MSNBC has the in-depth coverage and analysis you need.

Our reporters are on the ground. Steve Kornacki is at the big board breaking down the races. Rachel Maddow and our decision. Twenty twenty fourteen will provide insight as results come in and the next day. Morning Joe will give you perspective on what it all means for the future of our country.

Watch coverage of the twenty twenty four presidential election Tuesday beginning at six p.m. Eastern on MSNBC. Holiday magic is in the air and DSW has got all the shoes to make your season extra merry. Believe you've got parties to attend and list to check twice.

So DSW is taking care of the details like gifts to make their eyes all aglow. Styles that bring joy to your world. Brands everyone wants like Nike, Birkenstock and more and deals to make your budget right.

Find the perfect shoes for you and yours at a DSW store near you or DSW dot com. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Our next storyteller is an economist and best selling author of 50 things that shaped the modern economy. Here is Tim Harford to tell the story about three of those, starting with the plow. It's a wonderful example of how technology has profound effects on society.

We think about technologies as solving problems. So with the plow, what's the problem? I want to grow crops. The soil is not very fertile. I need to break up the surface of the soil so I invent the plow. But of course, that's just the beginning.

Then all the social changes begin. So with the case of the plow, it created a surplus. It created a harvest that you could store somewhere at the end of the year, which meant you had an incentive to form up in big gangs. These days we call them armies and we go and take the grain in someone else's barn. It meant that you could support an elite, people who thought, who planned, bureaucrats, accountants, priests.

It meant you could support cities and with cities, of course, comes the whole of civilization. So you could really say this is where the whole thing started, whether you like it or not, with the plow. You say this, there was a reason that American farmers were so hungry for barbed wire. A few years earlier in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Homestead Act. So that act said anybody who wants to move to the West, to the Midwest and to put up a fence and to farm some land for five years, men, women, freed slaves, anyone who wants to do that, that land will be theirs at the end of a few years. So it seems like a huge opportunity. The only trouble is when these new settlers get to the Great American Prairie, they realize there is no wood or certainly there's not enough wood to spare putting up miles and miles of fences. And so if they want to claim land and in particular to keep off these tough long horn cattle from trampling all over the place, they need a source of fencing.

So this is one of those situations. Sometimes people invent things and they never know what is going to be used for. So the classic is the laser. The laser is invented and it's a solution looking for a problem. Complete opposite with barbed wire.

Everybody knew what the problem was. It's how do we make inexpensive fencing that doesn't require a lot of wood? And there were huge efforts, lots and lots of patents for different fencing techniques emerged from the American Midwest at the time. Lots of people trying to solve the problem. The American government issuing reports saying we need fencing material.

And then about 10 years later, J.F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, produces this patent for this technology. And it is the first recognizably modern barbed wire where you have a little twist. You have two pieces of wire together.

You twist one around the other in order to keep these barbs secure as they don't slide up and down the wire. And that's really barbed wire as we know it even today. And it was immediately a sensational hit. So within a few years, the factories of Glidden and his associates were producing over 250,000 miles of barbed wire each year. But as with the plow, it created winners and it created losers. It completely reshaped the American landscape. And it was just one of those things where the president, Abraham Lincoln, had granted people property rights. And yet those property rights are really no good unless there's some practical technology for defending the property rights.

And it was barbed wire. Let's talk about Google search. I was trying to describe to my wife the other day, I was using a search engine on a newspaper website and it wasn't working very well. And I was saying, oh, Google works so well. This search engines so bad I can't Google anything. So even when I was trying to describe the process of searching for something not using Google, I was still using the verb to Google.

So it's just transformed the way that we access the Internet, that we access the World Wide Web. I'm old enough to remember the world before Google and the Internet before Google. And you would discuss strategies for how to find things. So you would say, oh, if you know, for example, that a particular person has been working on a problem and you want to find some information, if you search for their name, that might help because it's completely useless to search for an actual phrase or a bit of content.

That's never going to work. But maybe if you search for someone's name. When Google came along, suddenly you would type stuff into the search bar and you would actually find it. And that has been completely transformative.

And of course, it continues to reshape the economy because now it's become more and more local. These search engines, they're on our phones. So your attention is being directed. You want to search for a place to have a drink nearby. You've been locked out of your house.

You need to find a locksmith. Google is trying to solve these problems, sometimes with great success, sometimes not. And enormous amounts of effort are devoted to where you come on that Google search ranking.

If you're on page three of the Google search ranking, you're absolutely nowhere. So it's an insight into the way that a particular technology can unlock a whole world of information out there. And you've been listening to Tim Harford, author of 50 things that shaped the modern economy. You heard him talk about the plow barbed wire, which was fascinating. What a story he told about all those Americans rushing the settlers to populate the American prairie. And there was not enough wood to make fences to claim that land and protect the property rights of those landholders. And in comes barbed wire.

Two hundred and fifty thousand miles of barbed wire made every year and it reshaped the American landscape. By the way, Harford was quick to point out the word patent. He says patent. We say patent.

And of course, intellectual property rights and property rights of all kind are defended by patent rights. And last, of course, Google, which is now a verb. Tim Harford with 50 things that shaped the modern economy, the story of the plow barbed wire and Google here on our American story. This is Lee Habib, host of our American stories, the show where America is the star in the American people.

And we do it all from the heart of the south, Oxford, Mississippi. But we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows will always be free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, consider making a tax-deductible donation to our American stories. Go to our American stories dot com. Give a little, give a lot.

That's our American stories dot com. To listen, just search tablet questions with Pastor Mike. You're ready for some beats. Hey, Metta, play hip hop music.

You had to meet some friends, but can't remember the place. Hey, Metta, call Eva. Ray-Ban Metta glasses, the next generation of AI glasses.

Just say, hey, Metta, to harness the power of Metta AI. Shop now at Metta dot com slash smart glasses. The all electric Chevy Equinox EV combines everything you need when you're ready to go EV. Starting at $34,995, the 2025 Equinox EVLT gives you an impressive balance of all electric range, safety features for peace of mind, and effortless technology, including the 17.7 inch diagonal display screen, all at a price you'll love. The Chevy Equinox EV is the fun to drive, all electric SUV that gives you what you need to do exactly what you want. The manufacturer's suggested retail price excludes tax title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment. Dealer sets final price.

To learn more, visit Chevy dot com slash Equinox EV. Traveling to see your fave sports team is cool, but traveling with Amex Platinum for the big game is even better. Right this way. With access to dedicated card member entrances at select events, you can skip the line. And one. And with access to the Centurion Lounge, you can catch the next game on the way home. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash with Amex. Card member entrance access not limited to Amex Platinum card.