who was the author of the crash course article on the economist

What happened to Lehman Brothers in 2008?

THE collapse of Lehman Brothers, a sprawling global bank, in September 2008 almost brought down the world’s financial system. It took huge taxpayer-financed bail-outs to shore up the industry. Even so, the ensuing credit crunch turned what was already a nasty downturn into the worst recession in 80 years. Massive monetary and fiscal stimulus ...

What was the Great Moderation?

The “Great Moderation”—years of low inflation and stable growth —fostered complacency and risk-taking. A “savings glut” in Asia pushed down global interest rates. Some research also implicates European banks, which borrowed greedily in American money markets before the crisis and used the funds to buy dodgy securities.

How many people died in the 1977 plane crash?

According to David Ropeik, author of " How Risky is it, Really? ", the deadliest plane crash in history occurred in 1977 in Tenerife when 583 people were killed after two jumbos collided on the runway. Yet, that many people die from heart disease in America every eight hours.

How many people died in road traffic in 2010?

By way of comparison, the World Health Organisation says there were over 1.2m road traffic deaths around the world in 2010. It is the leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds. The University of Oxford calculates that in 2006, Brits had odds of one in 36,512 of dying in a motor accident and one in 3.5m dying in a plane crash.

What plane did the gulliver fly on?

A crash course in probability. GULLIVER will soon fly from Heathrow to Milan on a British Airways Airbus A319. That flight has a one-in-4.8m chance of crashing. Shortly after he is jetting from Heathrow to JFK on a Virgin-operated A330.