Billy Bookcase - a podcast by BBC World Service

Low cost, functional and brilliantly efficient, an Ikea Billy bookcase rolls off the production line every three seconds. There are thought to be over 60 million of them already in service. Few could find the Billy bookcase beautiful. They are successful because they work and they are cheap. And – as Tim Harford explains in this fascinating story – brilliantly boring efficiency is essential to the modern economy. The humble Billy bookcase epitomises the relentless pursuit of lower costs and acceptable functionality.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

Further episodes of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Further podcasts by BBC World Service

Website of BBC World Service