Nick Fountain

Maybe bubbles can even boost the economy.

And this theory, Gotti doesn't totally buy it, but it kind of tickles him.

He says the basic logic here goes back to the definition of a bubble.

A bubble is when investors are willing to pay a lot of money for something that isn't actually worth that much.

Oh, this is awesome.

Longtime Planet Money listeners will recognize this as the classic problem of externalities.

In this case, causing the markets to not create enough research.

It's a market failure.

Right.

That is exactly right.

So, lots of different ways to think about bubbles and how they affect the economy.

But Jeff, the question I have for you is, can we tell if Dubai chocolate is a bubble?

And if so, what possibly could be the positive externalities from that bubble?

It's finding synergies in the cacao supply chain.

You know what I always thought was a bubble?

Podcasts.

It hasn't popped yet, though.

And to keep it from popping, we need you to help us boost the number of people who listen to Planet Money.

You can do that by telling a friend about the show.

You can send them this episode.