{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcode-curiosities.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fthe-spreadsheet-that-sank-an-economy-xne2XzIz","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"The Spreadsheet That Sank an Economy","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/96a10b54-3566-4ae1-87fd-fd8bff7bd182/bfe23177-168e-4560-8f89-ca617c79586a/code-20curiosities.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/fe19c459-cc3b-4555-9b7b-16f9f2cc5121\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"The Spreadsheet That Sank an Economy\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"In 2010, two Harvard economists published a blockbuster paper claiming that countries with debt above 90% of GDP see their economies collapse — a finding that quietly became the justification for a decade of brutal austerity policies across Europe and beyond. The only problem? A grad student named Thomas Herndon tried to replicate the results for a homework assignment and discovered a Excel formula that skipped five countries entirely. We dig into how a hidden spreadsheet error shaped the lives of millions of people who never once opened Microsoft Office."}