Planet Money

The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.

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Episodes

December 23, 2022

In defense of gift giving

Cold economic reasoning says, supposedly, that gifts are inefficient transfers of wealth . But Planet Money host Jeff Guo believes in the economic virtues of gift giving. On today's show, Jeff tries to win over Planet Money's resident Scrooge, Kenny Malone, by going on a quest to find him the perfe...

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December 21, 2022

Two Indicators: The fight over ESG investing

"ESG" investing – Environmental, Social, Governance – has attracted a lot of attention from investors, and from Republican politicians who call it "woke investing." On today's show, what the fight over ESG reveals about the potential and limitations of sustainable investing. Subscribe to Planet Mon...

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December 16, 2022

The sports ticket price enigma

Inflation is making prices go up, except not for...sports tickets? So, we set out on a daylong sporting event marathon to learn why. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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December 14, 2022

Spam call bounty hunter

Telemarketing calls are not only annoying; in some cases, they are illegal. Congress even gives you the right to sue scofflaw telemarketers for $500 a call. Today, the story of one man who collected a surprising amount of money bringing telemarketers to justice. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Appl...

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December 9, 2022

The case of the missing cheese racks

Jelle Peterse's company ships cheese all over the world, but they don't always get their cheese racks back. In this episode, we try to fix a supply chain problem. Gouda grief! Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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December 7, 2022

When women stopped coding (Classic)

A lot of computing pioneers were women. For decades, the number of women in computer science was growing. But in 1984, something changed. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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December 2, 2022

My Favorite Tax Loophole

There's a big difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. But sometimes even avoiding taxes (legally) can feel like you're getting away with something. Today, we share some of our — and your! — favorite loopholes in the U.S. tax code. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plu...

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November 30, 2022

Messi economics

Soccer star Lionel Messi is currently hoping to lead Argentina to victory in the World Cup. His path to global fame was shaped by a crisis in Argentina's economy. This episode was made in collaboration with NPR and Futuro Studios's The Last Cup podcast. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podca...

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November 23, 2022

One economist's take on popular advice for saving, borrowing, and spending

This episode was first released as a bonus episode for Planet Money+ listeners last month. We're sharing it today for all listeners. To hear more episodes like this one and support NPR in the process, sign up for Planet Money + at plus.npr.org . Planet Money + supporters: we'll have a fresh b...

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November 18, 2022

How the cookie became a monster

30 years ago, Lou Montulli set out to solve a fundamental problem with the internet, and accidentally created an entirely different one. On today's show, how the cookie went from an obscure piece of code designed to protect anonymity, to an online advertiser's dream, to a privacy advocate's nightmar...

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November 16, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of a crypto empire

Sam Bankman-Fried built a reputation as the one reliable crypto bro. But within the span of days, his empire came crashing down. What the rise and fall of crypto's 30-year-old elder statesman says about the story of crypto so far. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/p...

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November 11, 2022

The E-Book Wars

In 2019, a group of librarians (quietly) stormed the offices of a major publisher, Macmillan, to protest a controversial policy on e-books. On this show, how a tiny change - a book on a screen - threw an industry into war with itself. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.o...

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November 9, 2022

Peak Sand (classic)

Sand. It's in buildings, windows, your cell phone. But there isn't enough in the world for everyone. And that's created a dangerous black market. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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November 4, 2022

Planet Money tries election polling

Polling is facing an existential crisis. Few people are answering the phone, and fewer people want to answer surveys. On today's show, we pick up the phones ourselves to find out how polling got to this place, and what the future of the poll looks like. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts...

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November 2, 2022

Two Indicators shaking China's economy

Xi Jinping recently secured his third term as China's president – so we're looking at two shocks to the world's second-largest economy. First: How China's housing boom turned into a real estate crisis. Second: How the recent U.S. ban on selling advanced semiconductor chips to China could affect Chin...

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October 28, 2022

Planet Money Records Vol. 2: The Negotiation

We got our hands on the long-lost "Inflation" song, and now it's time to put it out into the world. So, we started a record label, and we're diving into the music business to try and make a hit. (This episode is part two of a series. Listen to part one here .) Subscribe to Planet Money+ in ...

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October 26, 2022

Planet Money Records Vol. 1: Earnest Jackson

We try to start a real record label. Just to put one song out there. It's a song about inflation, recorded in 1975... and never released. Until now. (This episode is part one of a two-part series) Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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October 21, 2022

The high cost of a strong dollar

When it comes to international trade and finance, everyone pretty much speaks one language: the U.S. dollar. So when the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates and the dollar suddenly gets strong, it can cause huge headaches all over the world. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at pl...

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October 19, 2022

The money fixers (classic)

How do you mend a broken bill? On this classic episode, we visit the Mutilated Currency Division. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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October 14, 2022

You asked for coupons, Delaware, and the truth about goldfish

On today's show, we're answering listener questions from the Planet Money inbox. Like, who really benefits from retail coupons? And why are goldfish so cheap? Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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October 12, 2022

Two Indicators: back to school

It's fall, so on this episode, we're taking you back to school. First, what sorority rush can teach us about a particular kind of market. Then, how two economists fixed the way macroeconomics was taught in high schools. It's econ, inside and outside the classroom. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in App...

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October 7, 2022

Forging Taiwan's Silicon Shield

Taiwan is at the center of a global feud. Its main defense may be what some call its "Silicon Shield" — its powerful semiconductor industry. On today's show, the story of how one economic hero helped to transform Taiwan's economy and create the "Taiwan Miracle." Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple...

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October 5, 2022

Economic anarchy in the UK

Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister of the UK, was determined to change the British economy. Instead, her government's mini-budget helped kick off a mini-financial crisis. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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September 30, 2022

Would you like a side of offshoring with that?

A lot of restaurants took a hit during the pandemic. And when they struggled to find workers, some found surprising solutions. On today's show, what happens when you offshore cashiers. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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September 28, 2022

The miracle apple (Classic)

Today on the show, how we got from mealy, nasty apples to apples that taste delicious. The story starts with a breeder who discovered a miracle apple. But discovering that apple wasn't enough.

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September 23, 2022

Econ's Brush with the Law

What happens when you take some of the most powerful people in America — federal judges — and teach them economics? We look at the swanky econ retreats that may have changed American law forever. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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September 21, 2022

The Midnight Connection

Texas's energy grid is largely disconnected from the rest of the U.S. That led to disastrous consequences last year when the state's grid was overloaded during a winter storm. Back in the 1970s, one company attempted to change the system in a secret, middle-of-the-night operation. Subscribe to Plan...

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September 16, 2022

Vibecession Vibes Session

We're not in a recession, but why are the vibes feeling so off? We put the question to an economist and one expert on "vibes" and also hire a jazz band to take a pun way too far. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

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September 14, 2022

The Good, the Bad, and the Uggly

Eddie Oygur is an Australian businessman who's sold sheepskin ugg boots for years. But one day, he was hit with a lawsuit for breaking American trademark law. On today's show — what's in the name ugg? Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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September 9, 2022

Two Indicators: unlikely economic relationships

On today's show - how your social circle is one of the strongest predictors of economic mobility and how pop music reflects the economy. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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September 7, 2022

The salvage car Silk Road

A practically brand new Lexus with a New Jersey inspection sticker lands on an auto body lot in Turkmenistan. How did it get there? To find out, we journey into the bizarro economy for misfit cars. And we follow a very different kind of journey – of the auto body repairman from Turkmenistan who brou...

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September 2, 2022

Breaking down the price of gasoline

High gas prices have fueled speculation and investigations — is anyone raising prices and keeping prices high for profit? To find out, we break down the price of gas, piece by piece, to show you how we get to the price we see at the pump and how much everyone profits at each step of the way. | Subsc...

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August 31, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 8: Productivity & Getting Lit

Productivity is our economic measure for how far our work goes, as individuals and as a society over all. It plays an important role in determining our quality of life, the prices of our goods and services, and, to some extent, the amount of free time we have. Today, we explore how thousands of year...

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August 26, 2022

Wake up and smell the fraud

Sometimes online shopping can feel a little unsavory. There are the listings that make you question if you'll really be getting exactly what's advertised. And there's no worse feeling than paying for something and then not getting it. But when Nina Kollars ordered coffee pods and got WAY more than s...

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August 24, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 7: The Fed & Volcker's Socks

The Federal Reserve plays a very important role in the economy. When things start to look uncertain, the central bank is tasked with stepping in to restore people's confidence in the economy. But how do they do it? On today's episode we dive deep on monetary policy and the role of the fed. |At this...

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August 19, 2022

Inflation Reduction Actually

Congress just passed the biggest, most ambitious climate bill in history. And it's called ... the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. What's with that branding? And what can the bill teach us about actually fighting inflation? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetm...

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August 17, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 6: Trade & The Better Life

International trade is the web of cross-border relationships that binds economies together. Because of trade we have access to cheaper, higher-quality goods, and we get to benefit from other countries' cultures. Economics tells us trade makes society, overall on average, better off, but that doesn't...

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August 12, 2022

Carried interest wormhole

The carried interest tax loophole is a way that wealthy Americans – often the people who manage hedge funds or private equity firms – avoid paying billions of dollars worth of taxes. It has been one of the most controversial yet durable features of the U.S. tax code. But where did it come from? Toda...

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August 10, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 5: Car Parts, Celery & The Labor Market

You can learn a lot about a person from their job. The same can be said of an economy. The market for jobs can us a lot about how the economy is doing, but more importantly, it is where we look to see who the economy is working for, and who is left behind. In today's lesson we'll visit two workplace...

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August 5, 2022

A new way to pay for college (Update)

College has gotten incredibly expensive. And some colleges are offering students a new way to pay. It's not a scholarship. It's not quite a loan. It's more like the students are selling stock in themselves. We check in on how income share agreements at one school have been working. | Subscribe to Pl...

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August 3, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 4: Inflation & Drinking Buddies

Inflation can be one of the scariest forces in the economy. As prices rise and your dollar doesn't go as far, you feel poorer, and it's all out of your control. To better understand inflation, we turn to the story of Brazil, where, in the 90s, hyperinflation threatened to derail the whole economy un...

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August 1, 2022

BONUS: Micro-Face: The Musical

This episode, Micro-Face: The Musical. A full concert recording of a one-of-a-kind Planet Money superhero musical, taped during our recent live show at the Roulette Theater in Brooklyn, New York. Here's more from our project We Buy A Superhero. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts...

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July 29, 2022

Two recession Indicators

So are we in a recession or not? The jury is still out, but there are some warning signs. GDP is down and inflation is up. But how much do we know about the 'indicators' that tell us how the economy is doing? Today, the stories of two of our most important indicators, the Consumer Price Index and GD...

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July 27, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 3: Booms, Busts & Us

Life has its ups and downs. Same for the economy. Today we ask, can the business cycle be tamed? Two stories of recession and techniques for moderating the ferocity of booms and busts. Plus, how bankruptcy is a secret weapon of the American economy. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or ...

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July 22, 2022

Little House on the Blockchain

It has great bones, three bedrooms and one and half baths, and it comes with its own machine that mines cryptocurrency. But in a year of reckoning for crypto, how interested are potential buyers? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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July 20, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 2: GDP & What Counts

What even is "the economy"? And how do you measure it? Our path out of the economic darkness and into the light has been guided in large part by one single statistic: GDP. This week: the origins, history, and problems with the economic indicator to rule them all. | At this Summer School, phones AR...

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July 15, 2022

Best by, sell by, use by

Wait, wait...don't throw that out! What if much of what you've been told about food expiration dates is... wrong? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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July 13, 2022

SUMMER SCHOOL 1: Recessions & Rap Battles

It's macro time! Today: Keynes vs. Hayek. Season 3 of summer school is here asking the biggest economic questions about what makes an entire economy grow or contract? Things like, is there a "right" level of unemployment? Who gains from trade? What rhymes with 'paradox of thrift'? Also, inflation,...

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July 8, 2022

A tale of two cityhoods

There's a movement underway in Georgia. More and more communities around Atlanta are choosing to keep their tax dollars very local, and become their own cities. It's a story about equity and exclusion – and also potholes. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmon...

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July 6, 2022

Two crypto crash Indicators

Two stories of consternation from inside the crypto world. Can a crypto crash spread to the wider economy? How does contagion work? And ... why has crypto had such appeal with Black investors? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney .

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July 1, 2022

Suitcases, secret lists, and Citizens United

On today's show: the Watergate scandal you haven't heard about – that led directly to Citizens United and multi-billion dollar elections. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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June 29, 2022

When Subaru came out (Classic)

In the early 90s, Subaru was struggling to stand out in a crowded automobile market. In their greatest time of need, they turned to an unlikely ally: lesbians | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 24, 2022

Recession referees

Whenever the economic data start to look rough, we're forced to confront a familiar question: Are we in a recession, or about to be? But there are actually only eight opinions in the country that officially matter. Today on the show, we meet the committee that calls recessions. | Subscribe to Planet...

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June 22, 2022

The tale of the Onion King (Update)

How one man's quest to dominate the onion market changed commodities trading, and potentially how much you pay at the grocery store, forever. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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June 17, 2022

The debate over what's causing inflation

The last few months have made us acutely aware of inflation. We all agree that it's making our lives harder, but economists disagree about what's causing it. | Fill out our listener survey: npr.org/podcastsurvey

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June 15, 2022

Let them eat lunch

For many Americans, desk lunches are the norm. You might even be having one right now. But what if it didn't have to be this way? | Fill out our listener survey here

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June 10, 2022

The Gecko Effect

Years ago advertising was dominated by cars and beer. Today on the show, how a simple slogan and a talking gecko helped the insurance industry become one of the most dominant forces in advertising. Now, we're all living with the consequences. | Fill out our listener survey here

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June 8, 2022

On the case: Recession, formula, and greenbacks

It was just another day at the office. Then the phone started ringing and the caseload kept growing...on today's show, your favorite Planet Money gumshoes investigate your listener questions. | Fill out our listener survey here .

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June 3, 2022

Homer Simpson vs. the economy

When the beloved Simpsons family made its TV debut in 1989, it squarely represented middle-class America. Today ... not so much. That house, those two cars, those three kids all on one salary doesn't seem so believable anymore. Today we examine the changing reality of what middle-class means in Amer...

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June 1, 2022

The bank war (Classic)

In the 1800s, populist president Andrew Jackson went head-to-head with the most powerful banker in America over who should control the country's money. This clash ended in disastrous results.

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May 27, 2022

PM Live: The Most Collectible Comic Book Ever?

What transforms a regular object into a collectible? At our live show earlier this month, we went on a journey through collectibles history. And we had a goal: to turn our Micro-Face comic book into the most collectible item of all time. | Bid on our collectible Micro-Face comic book here !

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May 25, 2022

The NRA's Secret Tapes

Soon after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, leaders of the National Rifle Association held a conference call to craft their response. Secret tapes from this call obtained by NPR's Investigations team reveal how the NRA developed what would become their standard response after deca...

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May 20, 2022

Investing in mediocrity

Is the key to success in financial markets a matter of luck or skill? One former bond manager shares his strategy: Win big by avoiding winning. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 18, 2022

How the burrito became a sandwich (Classic)

A sandwich is generally defined as something delicious slapped between two slices of bread. New York tax code would beg to differ. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 13, 2022

Buy now, pay dearly?

A wave of companies that allow customers to pay for items from their favorite stores in four interest-free installments has taken over the country. But is "buy now, pay later" lending too good to be true? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 11, 2022

A 12-year-old girl takes on the video game industry (UPDATE)

When Maddie Messer was 12 years old, she noticed an unfair dynamic in the video games she loved: playing as a man was often free, but she had to pay to play as a woman. So ... she decided to take on the video game industry. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 6, 2022

The day Russia adopted the free market

In the early 90s, American economist Jeffrey Sachs was a part of a team that tried to transform Russia's economy. It did not go as planned. He tells us what he thinks went so wrong. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 4, 2022

Escheat show (Classic)

If you're looking for money you've forgotten about, there's a chance the government might have it. The good news is that you can get it back. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 29, 2022

Planet Money book club

Behind every Planet Money episode is a ton of reading. Today, we share some of our favorite books from along the way. Here are our picks: From Mary, American Bonds: How Credit Markets Shaped a Nation by Sarah L. Quinn From Erika, The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression by ...

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April 27, 2022

Two stories on how businesses are using insurance to navigate new kinds of risks. First, how music venues are handling pandemic-related risks. And how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is affecting cyber insurance. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 22, 2022

Finally, our comic book

After many, many delays, the Micro-Face comic book is here! And we answer the burning question: Why did it take so long to make a comic book? | Come see Planet Money Live in NYC on May 10th! One night only. Tickets on sale here . And buy our now-ready Micro-Face comic book .

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April 20, 2022

TikTok to the top

Thanks to TikTok, Tai Verdes went from struggling musician to Top 40 hitmaker. But first, he had to crack the algorithm of how to go viral. | Come see Planet Money Live in NYC on May 10th! One night only. Tickets on sale here .

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April 15, 2022

The student loan paaaaauuuuuse

The pause on federal student loan payments was just extended for the sixth time in two years. So...what's that been like for the borrowers, and what's in store for them when the system eventually restarts? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . | Planet Money TikTok has been nominated for a We...

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April 13, 2022

Peanuts and Cracker Jack (Classic)

Ballpark vendors share their strategies and other secrets to selling the most hot dogs at baseball games. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 8, 2022

How manatees got into hot water

While on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, manatees found sanctuary in the warm waters of Florida power plants. Now, they're hooked on fossil fuels. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 6, 2022

Turkey's runaway inflation problem

Turkey is facing really high inflation, over 60 percent. Its president is taking an unorthodox approach to dealing with it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 1, 2022

When bricks were rubles

For a brief, strange period after the U.S.S.R. collapsed, "real" money was less valuable than tradeable objects like bricks or towels. We look back at the Russian barter economy and we see the nature of money and value underneath all currency. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 30, 2022

Investing legend Bill Gross revolutionized the bond market, built an empire, and lost it all. Our very own Mary Childs talks about her new book, The Bond King. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 25, 2022

Fashion Fair's makeover

Fashion Fair was the first big national brand to make makeup for Black women, but it slowly faded into obscurity. Now that it's relaunched, can it compete in an industry it helped create? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 23, 2022

Two inflation Indicators: Corporate greed and mortgage rates

Corporate profits are soaring. So are prices. Can corporations just not raise prices? Would that fight inflation? We examine this theory making the rounds. Then, we go inside the pipes of the economy to see how mortgage rates connect to that recent rate hike by the Federal Reserve. | Subscribe to o...

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March 18, 2022

Tech giants and tiny dogs

What a business that makes ramps for wiener dogs teaches us about the massive power of tech giants. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 16, 2022

Escape from Russia

An American business owner with employees in Russia extracts her colleagues from the country. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 11, 2022

Grocery delivery wars

Behind the scenes at a new kind of grocery store that promises delivery in minutes. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 9, 2022

The dollar at the center of the world (Classic)

After World War II devastated the global economy, there was a push for a new universal currency. This is the story of how the U.S. dollar won. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 4, 2022

Of oligarchs, oil and rubles

Three stories about how the sanctions imposed on Russia are playing out – for regular Russian people, for Russia's super-rich, and for Russia's energy exports. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 2, 2022

'Fortress' Russia put to the test

The U.S. is putting Russia's defense plan against sanctions to the test. Meanwhile, Russia's role as a huge exporter of oil and natural gas could cause ripple effects throughout the global economy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 25, 2022

Putin's big bet: Sanction-proofing Russia

The U.S. is imposing economic sanctions on Russia to punish it for invading Ukraine. But Russia has spent years trying to make its economy immune to sanctions. So, will these new sanctions be enough? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 23, 2022

How bad is inflation?

Two stories about the effects of inflation on the economy. We meet a gig worker who's seen an increase in wages, but because of inflation, how much of that increase in earnings is an illusion? Then, we break down how the Federal Reserve is planning to fight inflation. | Subscribe to our weekly newsl...

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February 18, 2022

Predictions: Inflation!

It's time for another round of "Planet Money Predictions!" Economic forecasters square off to predict the future of inflation and explain what's going on in the economy.| Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 16, 2022

SPAM strikes back

Hormel Foods makes SPAM, and for generations, the company also created jobs for families in Austin, Minnesota. Today, the story of a labor strike that threatened to tear one small town apart. (This episode was made in collaboration with The Experiment podcast.) | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter...

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February 14, 2022

Waste land (Bonus)

Recycling most plastic doesn't work. It never has. In 2020, we ran an episode showing how big oil companies misled the public into thinking plastic would be recycled. That episode just won a duPont-Columbia award . Here it is. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 11, 2022

Our Valentines 2022

We profess our love for our curiosities, obsessions, and the things we wish we'd thought of first. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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February 9, 2022

A SWIFT getaway

In 2016, thieves tried to steal nearly a billion dollars from the Bank of Bangladesh's reserves without ever entering the building. And six years later, justice hasn't been so SWIFT. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 4, 2022

Uncle Sam wants YOU to fight inflation

How war bonds, controlled prices, and a national network of nosy neighbors helped beat inflation during WWII. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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February 2, 2022

The M&M anomaly (Classic)

Despite costing the same price, a pack of peanut butter M&M's weighs 0.06 ounces less than a pack of milk chocolate M&M's. A trade secret explains why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 28, 2022

The Spider-Man Problem

Spider-Man isn't the first film franchise to be rebooted over and over again. But the infamous off-screen drama between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures explains why it happens so frequently. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 26, 2022

Two indicators: supply chain solutions

Two stories about people trying to overcome supply chain challenges. We follow a ship that is forced to get creative to bypass clogged ports, and we visit a warehouse that is running out of space. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 21, 2022

'Soul Train' and the business of Black joy

When Soul Train first launched in 1970, Black audiences weren't understood as a viable target market. Don Cornelius changed that forever with his weekly TV dance show. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 19, 2022

Patent racism (classic)

Economist Lisa Cook has been nominated to serve on the Federal Reserve board. In 2020, she talked to us about proving that racism stifles innovation. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 14, 2022

The rapid testing show

The Planet Money team fans out across the nation with one goal: to get a Covid test in 24 hours. It is easier said than done. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 12, 2022

No such thing as a free return

Lenient policies have shoppers making more returns than ever — around half a trillion dollars worth of products. Today, we find out the fate of some of those returned goods.

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January 7, 2022

What happens when the iconic symbol of your brand no longer makes sense? Today, HBO tries to evolve their sonic brand. This episode was adapted from the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz . | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 5, 2022

The rest of the story, 2021

On protests, pasta and forgiven payments. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 30, 2021

The holiday industrial complex (Classic)

Where do holidays like National Potato Chip Day and Argyle Day come from? We trace the roots of one made-up holiday until we find out who is running the global holiday machine. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 29, 2021

The economic indicator of the year

Will it be inflation? Striketober? The supply chain? Our hosts make their case, and the choice is up to you.

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December 24, 2021

Bell wars (Classic)

The two biggest handbell companies in the world have been locked in a feud for decades. Why? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 22, 2021

Planet Money's Supply Chain Holiday Extravaganza

Planet Money's Supply Chain Holiday Extravaganza Did the supply chain wreck your holiday shopping? Planet Money comes to the rescue. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 17, 2021

No shortages of labor stories

We asked for your dispatches from the labor market, and boy did we hear back. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 15, 2021

We buy a lot of Christmas trees (Classic)

Nick and Robert head to the world's largest Christmas tree auction with $1,000 and a truck. And get schooled in the tree market. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 10, 2021

Two music indicators

Ticket scalping frustrates fans, but it fascinates economists. It's been a favorite topic of ours in the past. This time, Darian turns to friends and experts to navigate the world of concert tickets like an economist who is also a music fan. Then we find out just how big Adele is on vinyl. So big he...

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December 8, 2021

Is a Stradivarius just a violin? (Classic)

Many music aficionados will tell you that violins and violas made by legendary craftsman Antonio Stradivari represent the pinnacle of the instruments. But what if it's all just an example of really good branding? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 3, 2021

Consider the lobstermen

A tense conflict between Indigenous fishermen and commercial lobstermen flared up in Nova Scotia in the fall of 2020. Today, how it all got started and how the Canadian government added fuel to the fire. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 1, 2021

A locked door, a secret meeting and the birth of the Fed (Classic)

The story of the back-room dealings that created America's central bank. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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November 25, 2021

Day of the Debt

We make a loan to the U.S. government, and it does not go the way we thought it would. Plus: the story of that one time the U.S. defaulted. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 24, 2021

You asked for real raises, free shipping, and a special delivery

It's listener question time. We've got answers about "free" shipping, full employment, when a raise isn't a raise, Taylor Swift, crypto seizures and our very own Micro-Face comic . | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 19, 2021

A trunk full of truffles (Update)

Truffles are one of the most expensive and sought after ingredients in the world. Today, we look back at our NYC adventure with a truffle smuggler and how the market has changed since we last talked to him. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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November 17, 2021

Of boats and boxes

We take a trip to ports on the east and west coasts to ask what's on everyone's mind: why are they so clogged? And how can we fix it? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 12, 2021

Auction fever (Classic)

Today, we go on a Planet Money roadtrip to learn the secrets of the auction world. We find some amazing bargains, some shady strategies and a giant big digger. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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November 10, 2021

Planes, trains and bad bridges

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill has passed Congress, but what exactly is in it? Today, the important, surprising, delightful line items. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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November 5, 2021

Moonshot in the arm

COVID-19 prompted the quickest vaccine development in history. An inside look at how the government and pharmaceutical companies joined forces to make it happen.

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November 3, 2021

The Wheat Whisperer

Southeast Asia is one of the biggest growth markets for American wheat. Where did this taste for wheat come from and who is responsible?

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October 29, 2021

Night of the living inflation

We look at a hidden form of inflation affecting our economy — we're calling it "skimpflation." The Indicator tells a spooky tale about the inflation demon. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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October 27, 2021

Nice work week, if you can get it

The 40 hour work week has been the standard for 80 years. What will it take to lower that? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 22, 2021

Two indicators: Congressional Game Theory and the Debt Ceiling

We bring you two stories from The Indicator on the recent battles being fought in Congress. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 20, 2021

Burnout (Classic)

All types of companies are struggling with burnout. Many try to fix it. Most of them fail. One exception: A 26-year-old call center manager, with stress balls and costumes in her arsenal. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 18, 2021

Bonus: Janet Jackson's 'Control'

On the 35th anniversary of Janet Jackson's first No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, our friends at It's Been A Minute look back at Control , her career-defining album that changed the trajectory of pop music in the late '80s and '90s.

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October 15, 2021

Noncompete agreements have become an integral part of job contracts. A show about what they are and how we got here. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 13, 2021

How Do You Feel? (Classic)

We tend to think of economists as cold, unfeeling, attempting to be as rational as possible. But once a month, economists pick up the phone to just... check in with us. How are we feeling? Good, bad, worse than a year ago? It's a very specific phone call with very specific questions and a few years ...

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October 8, 2021

For decades, banks used one rate to help set all other rates: LIBOR. After it came out that it'd been rigged, regulators said: no more. Now it's a race — and a road trip — to find an alternative. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 6, 2021

We set up an offshore company in a tax haven (Classic)

The Pandora Papers released this week reveal how many world leaders allegedly hold wealth through the use of shell companies. We listen back to when we set up our very own Planet Money shell companies.

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October 1, 2021

The Rent Help Is Too Damn Slow

Congress created a massive pile of money to help people pay rent during the pandemic. Why have so few people gotten help? We follow the money. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 29, 2021

When The U.S. Paid Off The Entire National Debt (Classic)

There was one time the U.S. federal government stopped borrowing and paid off every penny of national debt. It did not end well. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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September 24, 2021

When Luddites Attack (Classic)

A couple centuries ago, a group of English clothworkers set out to destroy the machines that had been taking their jobs. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 22, 2021

A request for dozens of stop signs flummoxes a town and angers a resident. A show about infrastructure, decision making and stop signs. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 17, 2021

Two Indicators: Women And Work

Women start a lot of businesses, but when it comes time for them to grow, many hit a wall, or the women founders end up losing control. Why? We bring you two indicators on women and work from our daily podcast The Indicator. Also, Amanda and Stacey go on a picnic to prove a point. | Subscribe to our...

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September 15, 2021

Afghanistan's Money Problem

Afghanistan's economy changed — almost overnight — after the Taliban retook control of the country | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 10, 2021

Flood Money (Classic)

Bill Pennington's house floods a lot: Three times over the course of three years. And every time his house floods, the government pays to help him repair the damage. Is something wrong here? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 8, 2021

This Is Your Brain On Drug Ads

Apologies to listeners who received two episodes in their feed today. The U.S. is one of two countries in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers. Why? And what does that do to us Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 3, 2021

Two Indicators: Water Pressure

It's another extremely dry, hot summer for the American West. Our daily podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money , brings us two stories about the water shortage in the West with economic ideas that may help. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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September 1, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 6: Crypto & Commencement

In the last class of Planet Money Summer School Season 2, we cover one more important market — cryptocurrency. If you're thinking about investing in crypto, do you know exactly what it is that you're buying? Or how it should (if at all) fit alongside the rest of your investments? | Watch this Tik T...

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August 27, 2021

The Lost Archives of Sadie Alexander

The work of our first Black economist was lost to history. Professor Nina Banks set out on a quest to find it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 25, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 5: Bubbles, Bikes, & Biases

Investing during a bubble can leave you bust. But how to tell the difference between a bubble before it bursts and an investing rocket ship taking off? We'll run through a historical example and look inside our own thinking to find the mental biases that can contribute or exacerbate bad bubble think...

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August 20, 2021

Two Indicators: Will Remote Work Kill The Office?

It's Stacey vs Greg in a face off on the future of the office. Each takes a side, armed with studies, historical examples, theories on efficiency and happiness and from their closet studios, they bring their indicators for the future of the office. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . And ou...

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August 18, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 4: Bonds & Becky With The Good Yield

A few years back, Cardiff asked for an unusual Christmas present: a junk bond... Parallel to the stock market, the bond market offers different levels of risk and reward. In this class, what is a bond, how do they differ from stocks, and how do they help companies grow? | Watch this Tik Tok to lea...

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August 13, 2021

Big Little Ideas

There are a lot of fancy terms for the things we experience — but are they really useful? Yes! We explain four social-science terms that can help us understand our world. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 11, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 3: Smooth Spending & The 401K

Even if you don't own stocks, there are a lot of reasons to care about investing. We meet some of the folks left out of the stock market who deploy sophisticated economic thinking, even creating their own alternate financial systems. Our professors help us understand how consumption smoothing and li...

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August 6, 2021

Mobile Home Parked

We find out what happens when big investors spend billions of dollars buying mobile home parks and make them less affordable for the people who live there. Then we learn how the government helps them do it, with super low-cost loans that were meant to support affordable housing. | Subscribe to our w...

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August 4, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 2: Index Funds & The Bet

In 2006, Warren Buffett bet a million dollars that the most brainless, boring investment around would do better than the researched, handpicked investments of some of the smartest hedge fund managers in the world. The second class of Summer School looks at how that bet played out, the origins of the...

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July 30, 2021

Three Reasons for the Housing Shortage

America's housing shortage has been decades in the making. A lot of people blame Baby Boomers — but is it really their fault? We unpack three big reasons for the shortage. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 28, 2021

SUMMER SCHOOL 1: The Stock Market & Penelope The Cow

The first class of Planet Money Summer School starts off with a field trip. With the help of a cow, two economists, and three cute animals, we learn what a stock is and how stocks are priced, and we begin to see the psychological forces that make prices move up and down on the stock market. Keep an ...

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July 23, 2021

Last year, one of the biggest banks accidentally paid off a client's loan to its lenders — a $900 million mistake. Some of the recipients wouldn't give the money back. And then a surprising court ruling affirmed their no give-back. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 21, 2021

Video Gaming The System

Two groups of people who would never meet in real life collide in a world of wizards and dragons. They battle it out in a low-tech video game, and it shakes the lives of a lot of real people living in a collapsing economy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 16, 2021

The Great Inflation (Classic)

For much of the 1970s inflation was bad. Prices rose at over 10 percent a year. Nothing could stop it — until one powerful person did something very unpopular. Today's show: How we beat inflation. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 14, 2021

100 Years Since Sadie Alexander

In 1921, Sadie Alexander became the first Black person in America to receive a PhD in economics. Then, she was functionally shut out of economics jobs, got a law degree, and became an attorney instead. A century later, economics has made notably little progress bringing Black women into the field. W...

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July 9, 2021

Of Memestocks and Milk Bags

We answer your questions about memestocks, milk in bags, the size of cereal boxes, and products exclusive to the rich, but not for long? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 7, 2021

Two Indicators: Clogged Ports And Corporate Vets

We bring you two stories from The Indicator on two industries that are undergoing rapid change: vets and container shipping. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 2, 2021

The Rest Of The Story, Summer 2021

We follow up on takeout cocktails , college athletes at the Supreme Court , bankrupt Hertz , and the new shape of pasta . | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 30, 2021

What's A Bubble? (Classic)

Can you tell if the economy is in a bubble? How? And why do bubbles happen? Robert Shiller and Eugene Fama shared the economics Nobel back in 2013 despite fundamentally disagreeing over the meaning of a bubble. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 25, 2021

Bobby Bonilla Day

How the worst deal in baseball explains one of the most important concepts in economics. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 23, 2021

Corporate Fugitive: Carlos Ghosn

Japan once served sushi in the shape of Carlos Ghosn's face. Then Japanese authorities arrested the celebrity CEO who remade Nissan. We bring you first hand accounts of his spectacular rise, sudden fall and dramatic escape. | This episode is a collaboration with HBR IdeaCast .

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June 18, 2021

Two forecasters predict the future of the U.S. economy — and promise to come back on the show to see who was right, and who was wrong. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 16, 2021

How Uncle Jamie Broke Jeopardy (Update)

James Holzhauer took a math degree, a gambling career, and a buzzer, and turned it into a fortune on a game show. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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June 11, 2021

How supply and demand stalled out the used car industry. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 9, 2021

How Stuff Gets Cheaper (Classic)

In the world of consumer electronics, it pays to be cheap. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 4, 2021

Amateur Hour at the Supreme Court

College athletes are considered amateur players. And amateurs don't make any money. But can they get more education paid for at least? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 2, 2021

Black Wall Street

100 years ago, Black Wall Street was destroyed. But how was it built? And what does it take to get restitution? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 28, 2021

One Hack to Fool Them All

How a single hack pried open the networks of giant corporations and the U.S. government itself. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 26, 2021

Runaway Recommendation Engine

Recommendation systems have changed how we choose what we want. But are they choosing what we want? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 21, 2021

Big Government Cheese (CLASSIC)

That time the U.S. government accidentally created a cheese surplus so large it had to be stored in a ginormous cave. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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May 19, 2021

Get The Vaccine, Lose The Skinny Jeans

Two stories from our Indicator team about the sometimes-unlikely people who shape what we buy and what we do. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 14, 2021

The United States is one of the few countries that lets companies pay people for their blood plasma. Why? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 12, 2021

A janitor walks out of a chip factory with a bag of dustless Cheetos and changes the global snack game forever. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 7, 2021

Emission Impossible

Carbon offsets have become a popular tool to combat climate change. But how effective are they? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 5, 2021

DIY Reparations

Some Vermonters were tired of waiting around for reparations. So they decided to take matters into their own hands. | This episode was produced with our friends at Invisibilia. Check out their new season here .

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April 30, 2021

We Buy A Superhero 5: Hollywood

In the last and greatest chapter to our superhero saga, Micro-Face tries to make the jump from comic books to movies. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 28, 2021

The $100 Million Deli

Why is a single New Jersey deli worth so much? And what does it tell us about how the stock market works? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 23, 2021

We Buy A Superhero 4: Sellout

Two months ago, Planet Money got its own superhero. Today, we sell him out. | Find the full Planet Money Superhero series here .

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April 21, 2021

The Writers Revolt (UPDATE)

We have a winner in an epic Hollywood story. A couple years back, 7,000 TV writers across the U.S. fired their agents. All on the same day. It was part of a battle over how creative work gets valued and compensated in TV and film. Now, we have the dramatic resolution. | Subscribe to our weekly newsl...

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April 16, 2021

India, Farming, and the Free Market

For decades, India has shielded its agricultural sector from the free market. Now, the government wants to let it in. Millions and millions of farmers are not happy about it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 14, 2021

The movie "9 to 5" used humor to highlight the struggles of women in the workplace 40 years ago. Where are we now? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 9, 2021

About Your Extended Warranty

Calls about "extended auto warranties" blow up our phones over and over. But what are these robocalls actually offering? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 7, 2021

How Jacob Loud's Land Was Lost

Today's show: the arcane laws that have cost Black landowners their property, and the lawyer who is trying to fix those laws. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 2, 2021

Two Indicators: Boomtown & Bye Bye

We look at housing prices in Montana, an oil market milestone, and give a fond farewell. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 31, 2021

The Curse Of The Black Lotus (Update)

When the popular card game Magic: The Gathering entered a speculative bubble, its creators found a way to keep it from bursting. We check in to see if their strategy is still working. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 26, 2021

Today on the show: The critics of capitalism. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 24, 2021

You Asked For Shots, Tuna, Metal, and Money

Listeners send us questions every day. It's about time we answer a few of them. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 19, 2021

The New Shape Of Pasta

What do you do when you can't find the perfect pasta shape? You invent a new shape. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 17, 2021

The Even More Minimum Wage

The tipped minimum wage hasn't changed for decades. Is now finally the time? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 12, 2021

The $69 Million JPEG

An artist called Beeple just sold a piece at Christie's for millions. But it wasn't a painting... it was a kind of crypto. We speak with him and the others behind the first NFT auction. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 10, 2021

Nigeria, You Win! (Update)

Nigerians heard a radio ad offering millions of dollars for people with business proposals. They thought it was a scam. It wasn't. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 5, 2021

The Marriage Pact

They say true love is hard to find. Whoever says that isn't an economist. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 3, 2021

Happy Fed Independence Day (Update)

The story of the day the Federal Reserve got its independence and the fight — an actual physical fight — to keep it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 26, 2021

We Buy A Superhero 3: Resurrection

We have found the perfect superhero. Now we just have to make him our own. | Find the full Planet Money Superhero series here .

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February 24, 2021

The government used to be afraid to borrow too much money. Today, it borrows hand over fist. And it's ... fine? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 19, 2021

We Buy A Superhero 2: Loophole

Marvel was not interested in selling us Doorman. But there is another way to jumpstart our superhero empire. | Find the full Planet Money Superhero series here .

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February 17, 2021

Why Printers Are The Worst

The real money is in the ink. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 12, 2021

We Buy A Superhero 1: Origins

Marvel has 7,000 characters, many of them forgotten. We want to buy one from their vault and launch our own little Planet Money franchise. | Find the full Planet Money Superhero series here .

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February 10, 2021

Can't Let It Go

Irrational decisions. Things we can't let go. Friend of the show Sam Sanders comes by to talk obsessions. We turn to economics for advice, clarity and comfort. | Subscribe to Sam's podcast, It's Been A Minute .

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February 5, 2021

Fine and Punishment

When you get out of prison, you have to start paying off fees. Some are related to committing a crime. Others are not. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 3, 2021

Robinhood's Very Bad Day

How the stock trading app works. And why it almost broke last week. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 29, 2021

Can't Stop GameStop

Video game stores. Hedge Funds. Reddit forums. How this mad lib resulted in the biggest short squeeze in years. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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January 27, 2021

The World's Biggest Battery (Classic)

California has a ton of solar power. But as soon as night falls, it's gone. Today on the show: how to bottle the sun

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January 22, 2021

How Desi Invented Television

The television was invented by Philo Farnsworth in 1927. TV was invented by Desi Arnaz in 1951.

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January 20, 2021

Modern Monetary Theory (Classic)

We rethink everything we know about government spending, taxes, and the nature of money.

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January 15, 2021

The Great Gatsby

All of it. Read by the staff of Planet Money.

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January 13, 2021

The U.S. was going to ban TikTok... and then it didn't. We break down the beef with TikTok, and see what life would have been like without it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 11, 2021

Planet Monet (Classic)

Investors are pouring money into art, but a lot of it is disappearing into storage. We find out why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 8, 2021

The Bees Go To California (Classic)

Almonds taste great. And the logistics behind pollinating almond trees are un-bee-lievable. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 6, 2021

Chaos At The Capitol

With an insurrection at the Capitol, we interrupt Planet Money and turn the feed over to tonight's episode of the NPR Politics podcast. | Subscribe to Planet Money's weekly newsletter here .

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January 1, 2021

Bitcoin Losers (Classic)

The Bitcoin market is still crazy, but a lot of people can't even find their Bitcoins. We go looking for lost billions. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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December 30, 2020

The Rest Of The Story, 2020

We check in on The Fed, a vaccine scientist, and the mixed martial arts. Oh, and a bunch of escheaters. So long, 2020! | Support our show here .

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December 25, 2020

How To Stop An Asteroid (UPDATE)

Some smart people say we should be doing more to protect the Earth from asteroids. The technical issues are relatively easy. The economics — figuring out who's going to pay — are much harder. | Support our show here .

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December 23, 2020

Fork The Government

A global pandemic might not be the best time to try something new with technology. But Taiwan decided to do it anyway. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 18, 2020

The Mixtape Drama

Mixtapes were the heart of hip-hop culture in the 90s. Until an arrest in 2007 brought it all down. | Today's episode is from our friends at Louder Than a Riot .

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December 16, 2020

The Case Against Facebook

The government just filed one of the largest antitrust cases in history against Facebook. Why now? And what will it mean? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 11, 2020

We Buy A Lot Of Christmas Trees

Nick and Robert head to the world's largest Christmas tree auction with $1,000 and a truck. And get schooled in the tree market. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 9, 2020

The Stolen Company (Classic)

When an American company named ABRO learns their goods are being counterfeited in China, they start their own trade war. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 4, 2020

How The Rat Blew Up

Unions have been putting giant inflatable rats in front of businesses for years. Now businesses are trying to deflate them, in court. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 2, 2020

Before The Shot In The Arm

Inventing a vaccine for COVID-19 was hard, but getting billions of doses to billions of people is going to be even harder. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 27, 2020

Hot Dog Hail Mary (Classic)

The Falcons are trying something radical: Making their food cheaper. It could break stadium economics.

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November 25, 2020

Swamp Gravy (UPDATE)

Colquitt, Georgia, was struggling. And then musical theater came along. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 20, 2020

All Your Genes Are Belong To Us

Who owns your genes, anyway? For a while, Big Biotech patented 20% of the human genome. Then a lawyer took them to the Supreme Court. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 18, 2020

Trade Show (UPDATE)

It's been a rough four years for free trade. Today on the show, we present 244 years of trade in 22 minutes. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 13, 2020

Four things Joe Biden can do as president — even if the Democrats don't control Congress. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 11, 2020

Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (Classic)

One of the few things a new president has a lot of control over is tariff policies. But it wasn't always that way. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 6, 2020

Hacking The Perfect Auction

A Nobel-Prize winner spent years designing an auction to sell off the airwaves, which are owned by the public. But Wall Street found a tiny flaw. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 4, 2020

What's Next for the Economy?

A research group at Harvard came up with a faster way to check the economy's pulse. It may change how we fight recessions. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 30, 2020

What Economy Are You Voting For?

Two candidates. Two very different ways of thinking about the economy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 28, 2020

Who Gets To Vote In Florida?

Angel Sanchez was 17 and in prison when he learned felons couldn't vote in Florida. When he got out, he tried to change that. It was working – until money got involved.| Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 23, 2020

For years, Wendell Potter ran a campaign to terrify Americans... about health care in Canada. Now he explains how he did it, and why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 21, 2020

Hey Google, Are You Too Big?

The government just filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. In this episode, we talk about why, and why it matters. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 16, 2020

Opening Schools And Other Hard Decisions

Emily Oster wanted to understand the risks of opening schools. So she started a massive data collection campaign. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 14, 2020

Caste Arrives In Silicon Valley

For some Indian employees of big U.S. tech companies, caste discrimination is real. To combat it, first people have to talk about it. That's hard. | Today's episode is from our friends at Rough Translation .

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October 9, 2020

Political Ad Nauseam

It's presidential election season, and that means it's political ad season. But who do ads target, anyway? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 7, 2020

Rethinking Black Wealth

Homes in Black neighborhoods are valued lower than homes in white neighborhoods. Why? This episode, Dr. Andre Perry flips the narrative of the racial wealth gap. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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October 2, 2020

Call Center Call Out

We visit life on the other side of your customer service call and get a glimpse into the troubling future of work in America. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 30, 2020

Trump's Tiny Taxes

A totally refreshing 20 minutes or so of infotainment related to Trump, taxes and toy wooden arrows. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 25, 2020

Sell Me Your Climate Bombs

There are tanks all over the U.S. that are like little climate change time bombs, ticking away. Today on the show, getting to them before they go off. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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September 23, 2020

REDMAP (Update)

The result of national elections is shaped in a big and underappreciated way by very local elections. This is the story of the man who shaped many, many local elections to tip the national scales. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 18, 2020

Apple v Everybody

When Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney sued Apple over its App Store, it started a war about antitrust and the internet.

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September 16, 2020

After The Plague

The Black Death was one of the worst catastrophes to ever hit humanity. But it also helped upend feudal hierarchies, redistribute wealth, and make daily life better for a lot of medieval Europeans.

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September 11, 2020

Recycling plastic has never worked very well. So who convinced us this was a good idea? In this episode, we might have the answer. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 9, 2020

We Buy A Junk Bond

Team Indicator buys Cardiff a surprise present. A terrible, extremely risky, but wildly interesting investment. Then it gets interesting. The company that issued the junk bond declared bankruptcy. But that wasn't the end of the story. | Subscribe to our daily podcast, The Indicator here .

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September 4, 2020

The Murderer, The Boy King, And The Invention Of Modern Finance

John Law killed a man in a duel, brought the first paper money to France, and became one of the richest people in the world. Then it all collapsed.

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September 2, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL: Graduation!

Summer School graduates take the stage to show us how we can all see our everyday world through the beautiful lens of economics. | Take the final exam and get your diploma here .

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August 28, 2020

The Old Rules Were Dumb Anyway

When the pandemic hit, the old rules went out the window. What rules will stay broken when things go back to normal?Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 26, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 8: Risk & Disaster

Inside one insurance policy is a world of incentives and bad behaviors. Take the final exam and get your diploma here .

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August 21, 2020

Crisis At The Post Office

The United States Postal Service is in the middle of a political firestorm. What happened, and can it be fixed? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 19, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 7: Advertising & Race

A Black ad executive figures out how to reach diverse audiences.

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August 14, 2020

Driving a truck used to mean freedom. Now it means a mountain of debt. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 12, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 6: Taxes & Donald Duck

The surprisingly entertaining history of the income tax. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 7, 2020

Mask Communication

Why won't some people wear masks? Is there anything we can do to convince them? We look to behavioral economics for help. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 5, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 5: Trade & Santa

The economics of free trade and what happens when governments get involved. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 31, 2020

The pandemic is transforming college from a can't-miss into a can't-attend experience. Can colleges survive? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 29, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 4: Scarcity & Pistachios

Class 4 brings us an economic conundrum: how do you efficiently share a scarce resource? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 24, 2020

Rest of the Story, Pandemic Edition

Rest of the Story, Pandemic Edition We check in on the people we've met and stories we've covered since this whole thing started. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 22, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 3: Profit & Cocaine

In our third class, we take all that we've learned about decisions and markets and bring it to a former drug kingpin. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 20, 2020

BONUS: The Kerner Commission

In 1967, President Johnson created a commission to investigate racial unrest in America. But, the answer they came up with was not the answer he was hoping for. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 17, 2020

Getting Out Of Prison Sooner

Shortening prison sentences might be about morals, but it's definitely about money. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 15, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 2: Markets & Pickles

In our second class, we meet our old friends supply and demand and do graphs using only the power of the human voice. Then, we show you how markets can be created anywhere by telling the story of a food bank that had too many pickles and not enough pancake syrup. It's economics to the rescue. | Subs...

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July 10, 2020

Hollywood's Black List

In 2005, an anonymous list of the best unmade scripts in Hollywood shook up the movie biz. This episode: how a math-loving, movie nerd solved Hollywood's script problem. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 8, 2020

SUMMER SCHOOL 1: Choices & Dating

First lesson: Economics is not about money. It's a lens of great power and beauty. In this episode, we meet our teachers and learn the first four fundamental concepts of economic thinking, and watch them applied to things like dating and hailing a cab. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 6, 2020

Planet Money Summer School

Introducing an economics education for your ears! We're calling it Planet Money Summer School . It's all the economics you meant to learn, but didn't get around to. Each Wednesday, we'll serve up a Planet Money story, or selection of excerpts, paired with insights from our economists-in-residence f...

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July 3, 2020

Reparations For Police Brutality (UPDATE)

For years, some Chicago police officers tortured suspects. Survivors fought for reparations — and got them. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 1, 2020

Inflation, Deflation

After decades of relative stability, prices in the US may be about to go through the roof — or the floor. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 26, 2020

Espionage. Deceit. Theft. In this episode we follow the case of a global effort to steal top secret high technology: seeds. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 24, 2020

Owner Of A Broken Hertz

Rental car giant Hertz declared bankruptcy last month, which should have made their stock worthless. So how come people keep buying it? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 19, 2020

Money And Justice

Money and social change. We talk policing, nonprofits, reparations, and the awkwardness of brands getting woke. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 17, 2020

The Problem Of The Root (2018)

Wild ginseng sells for thousands. We go to a farm hidden in the Appalachian mountains to find out why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 12, 2020

Violence, including racist attacks, stifles innovation and the economy. Dr. Lisa Cook proved how. It took 10 years to be heard. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 10, 2020

The Very First Vaccine

We've only made vaccines for so many diseases. Let's look at the history. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 5, 2020

Police Unions And Police Violence

We look at the data connecting police unions and police violence. Today's episode comes from our daily podcast, The Indicator . Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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June 3, 2020

Where'd The Money Go, And Other Questions

When the economy tanks, does money just vanish? Why are home prices still so high? You asked these and other questions. We try to answer. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 29, 2020

Small America Vs. Big Internet

Small towns need fast internet. One town tried to solve the problem itself, but ran into a legal firewall. What gives? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 27, 2020

Three Big Ideas

On today's show, ideas to fight the virus, get people money, and revive a multibillion-dollar corner of the economy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 22, 2020

This month, J.Crew went bankrupt. But not before inventing a whole new way of playing hardball with lenders. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 20, 2020

How To Get Trillions To Millions

Unemployment offices and small banks are getting money from the government to the people who need it. But it's like trying to smoosh a fifty foot pile of money through a ten foot hole. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 15, 2020

It's here! We did it! 1,000 episodes! And, to thank all our listeners for riding shotgun the whole way — we're gonna let you in on our secrets... | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 13, 2020

The Restaurant From The Future

With over 5.5 million workers unemployed or furloughed, no other industry has been hit harder than restaurants. Yet one guy is thinking about expanding. Huh? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 8, 2020

Journey To The Center Of The Fed

We get on a boat and go to the Federal Reserve to talk about why it may be the most important institution in the world right now. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 6, 2020

Georgia's Open Question

Can you safely reopen a business right now — and should you? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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May 1, 2020

About That Hazard Pay

We spend a morning at a grocery store and we ask: How much is essential work worth? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 29, 2020

Buybacks And Bailouts

Over the past decade, American companies spent billions buying back their own shares. Now they need a taxpayer rescue. Do they deserve it? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 24, 2020

Since lockdown began, some companies are doing unexpectedly well. This episode: Farm animals, a crafty comeback, Clint Eastwood, and a story with a twist. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 22, 2020

On Monday, the price of a barrel of oil in the United States fell to negative $37. That's never happened before. What's going on with the price of oil? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 17, 2020

States are scrambling to find any way to get more masks, gloves, anything. Including mass emailing people who have nothing to do with it. Enter, a man with a van. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 15, 2020

Lives Vs. The Economy

Is it worth it to shut down the economy to save lives? How do you know when to reopen it? Should we let people die to save the economy? Economists say each human life is worth about $10 million dollars. How did they get that number? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 10, 2020

The Big Small Business Rescue

There's a brand new government program with $349 billion in aid for small businesses. The problem? It was thrown together in a week. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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April 8, 2020

What If No One Pays Rent?

We follow the distress from a laid-off worker, to her landlord, to the multi-trillion-dollar mortgage market. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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April 3, 2020

The Economics Of Hospital Beds

Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in the nation, has seen everything and survived everything. But even they might not have enough beds. Here's why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 31, 2020

The Race To Make Ventilators

Ventilators are the supply and demand problem of the COVID pandemic. We go inside the scramble to build more, fast. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 28, 2020

America Unemployed

A record number of Americans filed for unemployment this week. The system isn't designed for this. What's next? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 26, 2020

Where Do We Get $2,000,000,000,000?

The COVID-19 rescue bill is the largest ever. Where will that money come from? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 25, 2020

Food And Farmworkers

To find out what's happening with our food, we talk to an economist, a farmer, and, of course, farmworkers. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 23, 2020

You Asked About The Virus Economy

Some answers: The deal with toilet paper; stock market circuit breakers; coronabucks; corporate paper & how to help. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 20, 2020

How To Save The Economy Now

Neel Kashkari is the President of the Minneapolis Fed. And he's run a bailout of an economy already. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 18, 2020

How To Test A Country

Making a test for a pandemic — which rules should you keep, and which to bend? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 16, 2020

The Fed Fights The Virus

The central bank is trying to prevent a health crisis from becoming a financial crisis. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 13, 2020

Medicine For The Economy

COVID-19 is hammering our economy. We ask three super smart economists what we should do about it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 11, 2020

Coronavirus, Oil, and Kansas

Oil prices are way down. We follow the story from an outbreak in China, to a meeting in Vienna, to a small-time oilman in Kansas. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 6, 2020

Where's The Vaccine?

Coronaviruses didn't come out of nowhere. They've actually been around for years. But economics makes it hard to find a vaccine. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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March 4, 2020

Terms Of Service

An online review turns into a fine-print nightmare — until the victims fight back. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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February 28, 2020

Reparations In New Zealand

A wool magnate gets pulled into a fight with the government over reparations. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 26, 2020

Vodka is the best-selling spirit in the United States, and there are zillions of brands. But is there any difference between them? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 21, 2020

Michael Milken once made $550 million in one year. Then, he went to prison. This week, the President pardoned him. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 19, 2020

From our daily podcast The Indicator : How Amazon Prime packages reach you so damn fast? And why Lancaster, PA became the refugee capital of America?

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February 14, 2020

The CryptoQueen

A mysterious woman promises a financial revolution. That promise leads to greed, corruption and... a beauty pageant. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 12, 2020

Our Valentines 2020

We're sending valentines to books, ideas, and other stuff we love. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 7, 2020

A farmer in California built an empire dealing raw milk. And then the Feds showed up. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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February 5, 2020

How fast is the world really changing? The answer affects everything from how we live, to whether robots really will take all our jobs. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 31, 2020

The Island No One Owns

In Barbuda, land isn't a thing you buy. It's something you just... have. Put up a fence and it's yours. But all that might change. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 29, 2020

The Trouble With Table 101

We re-engineer a restaurant with a consultant so good, she can move a table a few inches, and make thousands of dollars. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 24, 2020

You may be owed money. The government may decide to just use it. So we go looking for it inside a little-known "lost and found" of forgotten fortunes. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 22, 2020

The Rise Of Putin

Our friends at Throughline dive into the life of Vladimir Putin and try to understand how he became Russia's new "tsar." | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 17, 2020

Das Green Old Deal

We team up with Vox's The Impact, to tell the story of how one man changed the way Germany – and arguably the world – uses energy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 15, 2020

We are dedicating an entire show to billboards: good and old-fashioned, or fancy and high-tech. And we put up our own. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 10, 2020

13,000 Economists. 1 Question.

We went to the American Economic Association's annual conference and asked: What's the most useful idea in economics? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 8, 2020

The Cost Of Free Doughnuts

Free is cool, but it can backfire. On today's show, what happens when you take something that's free and give it a price. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 3, 2020

Advanced Fairness At The Marathon

Four lessons for creating fairness from a big race in New York. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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January 1, 2020

How Four Drinking Buddies Saved Brazil

Inflation in Brazil was out of control for a decade. Four former drinking buddies from grad school fixed it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 27, 2019

The Rest Of The Story, 2019

A lot can happen after we put an episode out into the world. In The Rest Of The Story, we check-in on stories we've reported. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here

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December 25, 2019

The Writers Revolt

In April, 7,000 TV writers across the U.S. fired their agents. All on the same day. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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December 20, 2019

Things We Learned in 2019

Tom Whitwell made an amazing list of 52 things he learned this year. We dig into our favorite items. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 18, 2019

When Reagan Broke the Unions

When air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981, Reagan gave them 48 hours to return. Labor would never be the same. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 13, 2019

You're Giving Your Boss A Loan

Getting paid twice a month is like loaning money to your boss. What if you got paid every day? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 11, 2019

The two biggest handbell companies in the world have been locked in a feud for decades. Why? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 6, 2019

The Carriage Tax

People have been arguing over the constitutionality of wealth taxes since 1794, when Washington put a tax on carriages.| Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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December 4, 2019

Slot Flaw Scofflaws

Where there are casinos, there are people trying to cheat. And now, they're using iPhones. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 29, 2019

Blackbeard, a filmmaker, and a fight between two powerful forces in American law. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 27, 2019

We Cooked A Peacock

In the 1600s, a good spice rub was the ultimate display of wealth. People would risk their lives for a sack of cloves. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 22, 2019

What Is Foreign Interference, Anyway?

We've heard a lot about illegal foreign meddling in the United States elections. But what about legal foreign participation? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 20, 2019

Three Sides Of A Car Loan

7 million Americans are at least 3 months behind on car payments. It's a record but is it a crisis? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 15, 2019

Denmark is a big exporter of human sperm. And mad cow disease may have helped. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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November 13, 2019

Snakebites are common but antivenom is expensive to develop. So a doctor goes to extreme lengths to find a solution. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 8, 2019

Overrated Or Underrated?

Today on the show, economist Tyler Cowen rates the NBA, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, the humanities, your neighbors, and more. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 6, 2019

Free Love, Free Market

A free-love commune of perfectionists in upstate New York embraced the free market, and became a blockbuster brand. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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November 1, 2019

A hundred years ago, economist Arthur Cecil Pigou explained how to tax things like pollution. Countries are starting to do it. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 30, 2019

A Series Of Unfortunate Recessions

A Halloween journey into the economists' worst nightmare, an endless time loop of recession after recession after... | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 25, 2019

Some-of-the-Money Ball

Income pools could change the way baseball players, and maybe the rest of us, think about how we get paid. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 23, 2019

Fries Of The Future

Fast food delivery is threatening the french fry. So a band of potato scientists go to work. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 18, 2019

The Liberty City

A man in Texas had a dream: To build a whole new kind of city, with no property tax, no debt, and a whole lot of freedom. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 16, 2019

Blockchain Gang

Charlie Shrem went from living in his parents' basement, to bitcoin millionaire, to federal prison in just a few years. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 11, 2019

We Should Have Mentioned That

Sometimes we forget to mention something. And our listeners always let us know. Today on the show, we make good. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 9, 2019

Two years ago, we built a machine that bought and sold stocks automatically based on President Trump's tweets. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 4, 2019

The risk-addicted investor who made WeWork possible and changed the way startups work. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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October 2, 2019

Capitalism In The Courtroom

Investors can fund lawsuits for profit, which gives more people access to the courts. But some worry it will warp the justice system. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 27, 2019

We jog to New Jersey to bet on tennis, we solve a mystery in Las Vegas, and we venture into the world of video game loot. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 25, 2019

When India's Cash Disappeared

When India suddenly got rid of most of its cash, in an effort to end corruption and modernize its economy, chaos ensued. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 20, 2019

Interest Rates... Why So Negative?

All over the world, interest rates are very, very low. In some places, they're negative: you lend out money, and get less back. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 18, 2019

Strikes these days are pretty boring. But they weren't always like this. In the past, strikers risked their lives. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 13, 2019

The Working Tapes Of Studs Terkel

Hear what ordinary people told Studs Terkel about their jobs in the 70s — and what they have to say now. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 11, 2019

How To Make It In The Music Business

The hidden economy of producers buying and selling sonic snippets, texting each other beats, and angling for royalties. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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September 6, 2019

The Marshall Plan

Sometimes the way to help yourself is to help your enemy. After WWII, the U.S. launched what might be the most successful intervention in history, rebuilding Germany and also the rest of Western Europe. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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September 4, 2019

Where Dollar Bills Come From

Every dollar bill in the world comes from the same paper mill in Massachusetts. Today on the show, we get a front-row seat to the dollar-making process. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 30, 2019

Moving To Opportunity?

In the 90s, the government ran an experiment: What happens if we move people out of high-poverty neighborhoods and into low-poverty ones? Housing policy as hope? The results surprised them. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 28, 2019

The Modal American

Kenny takes Jacob on a nerdy quest to find the "typical American." Naturally, it ends up harder⁠—and nerdier⁠—than we planned, and the answer is more subtle than we expected. | Subscribe to our newsletter here .

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August 23, 2019

You Asked For A Food Show

The top producer of Top Chef helps us spice up this food edition of listener questions. How do you master the salad bar? Why do Americans refrigerate eggs? The story of Choco Pies and more. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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August 21, 2019

Two Yield Curve Indicators

An inverted yield curve has predicted recessions for the past six decades. The curve is inverted right now. What does that tell us? | Subscribe to our newsletter here .

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August 16, 2019

Find The Helium

Helium is so special, and so rare, that the U.S. government once tried to buy it all up. And hide it. But the government's helium stockpile is running low. And we need it for MRI machines and NASA rockets.

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August 14, 2019

How Solar Got Cheap

For a long time, only rich people could afford to put solar panels on the roof. Not anymore. Here's what changed.

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August 9, 2019

Deep Learning With The Elephants

Elephants are in danger. Counting them is crucial to saving them. But they're hard to see in the rainforest. So scientists are enlisting the help of AI technology.

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August 7, 2019

The IT Guy Vs. The Con Artist

A notorious con artist offered Felipe an IT job. He took the job —and tried to con the con man. | Plus, listen to a full double feature all about cons here.

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August 2, 2019

Scientists have studied twins for years, hoping to figure out how big a role genes play in human behavior. Our very own pair of twin reporters are on the case.

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July 31, 2019

That Time We Shorted America, Part Two

Everyone said betting against the entire stock market was a terrible idea. We did it anyway. Today, we find out the results, and revisit the first short ever done in the 17th century.

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July 26, 2019

That Time We Shorted America, Part One

Today on the show, we ignore the advice of some very smart people and bet against something people love.

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July 24, 2019

Could A Wealth Tax Work?

Elizabeth Warren wants to tax the wealth of the mega-rich to help fix inequality. Europe tried this, and failed. Can it work in the U.S.?

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July 19, 2019

In 1960, a 12-year-old boy left mainland China, hidden in the bottom of a fishing boat. He later became one of Hong Kong's richest people. His story is the story of Hong Kong.

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July 17, 2019

The Indicator In The House

Two highlights from our daily podcast, The Indicator , about houses. A plan to lower rents pits state against city, and a private firefighter breaks down his business for us. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here .

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July 12, 2019

So, Should We Recycle?

Cities might be picking up your recyclables, but there is a very good chance they aren't being recycled. And that might be a good thing...if you really care about the planet. Part two of a two-part series. ⎸Subscribe to our newsletter here .

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July 10, 2019

A Mob Boss, A Garbage Boat and Why We Recycle

In 1987, an Alabama man had an idea. So he made a deal with the mob. And ended up with 3,186 tons of trash no landfill would take. This is the accidental birth of recycling in the U.S. ⎸Subscribe to our newsletter here .

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July 5, 2019

Stuck In China's Panopticon

China is building a high-tech surveillance state to capture minorities' every move and word. We go inside it and find that some Americans are involved. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter npr.org/planetmoneynewsletter

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July 3, 2019

Eagles vs. Chickens

A farmer in Georgia became more in tune with nature. Then eagles started killing his chickens. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: npr.org/planetmoneynewsletter

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June 28, 2019

Good Teachers, Bad Deal

Teachers made a deal with the Department of Education. They kept their end of the bargain. Why didn't the government?

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June 26, 2019

The Cost of Getting Your Money Back

Accidentally sending $1,500 to a stranger on Venmo reveals just how hard it is to get your money back in the new economy.

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June 21, 2019

Tales From The Parking Lot

Three stories: A tire-booting vigilante, a surge price conspiracy, and the civil rights fight over parking tickets.

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June 19, 2019

What Should We Be Worried About?

The economic recovery turns 10 this month. Don't get too comfortable. There's plenty to be worried about.

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June 14, 2019

Are Cities Overrated?

Big cities used to be the land of opportunity for most people. But with changes in work, some economists are wondering: Are cities overrated?

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June 12, 2019

The Planet Money Workout

Gyms don't want you to workout. Or at least, not often. It's better for business that way. Economics explains why.

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June 7, 2019

The Day Of Two Noons

People didn't always know what time it was. But in the nineteenth century, a high school principal, a scientist, and a railroad bureaucrat synchronized the nation.

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