How Russia’s shadow fleet is sailing around oil sanctions
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bjarne Caesar Skinnerup works as a maritime pilot in the straits of Denmark. That means he’s used ...
The year NYC went broke
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thou...
How the government got hedge funded
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. government spends a ton of money, on everything from Medicare to roads to defense. In fact,...
Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pre-order the Planet Money book here for your free gift. Our sister show, The Indicator, is chronic...
The Planet Money Game: Test our prototype
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s here! It’s free to download and playtest! It’s the Planet Money game! (Download here.)Dow...
We make a board game
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. I...
How refrigeration took over the world
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The next time you open your fridge, take a second to behold the miracles inside of it: Raspberries f...
How Jane Street’s secret billion-dollar trade unraveled
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Wall Street, fortunes are often won and lost with the tiniest advantages. And for the past few ye...
In Gaza, money is falling apart
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Israel has been blocking the flow of physical money into Gaza since the start of the war. So whateve...
When CEO pay exploded (update)
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2016.)It’s no secret that CEOs get paid a ton –...
The U.S. now owns a big chunk of Intel. That’s a huge deal.
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, President Donald Trump announced an unusual deal. Intel, the biggest microchip maker in ...
Asking for a friend … which jobs are safe from AI?
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s one question we seem to be hearing everywhere: “Is my job safe from AI?” Dozens of you...
What happens to central banks under pressure?
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve from a few angles. So we wanted to lo...
The million dollar mystery behind Milk.com
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When we stumbled upon Milk.com, we were mystified. It appears to be someone’s personal website. Bu...
Lisa Cook and the fight for the Fed
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve has been under intense pressure from President Donald Trump as he pushes for mor...
Summer School 8: Graduation LIVE!
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get your own personalized summer school diploma here.Today on our final episode of Summer School 2...
Buy discount Ozempic here now click this link
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the past couple years, demand has gone wild for drugs like Ozempic – and its cousins, Zepbound,...
Summer School 7: Trade blocks and blockages
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tariffs are the favorite tool of our current president, but there are lots of other ways that govern...
When our inflation infeelings don’t match the CPI
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For most Americans, we just lived through the highest period of inflation in our lives. And we are r...
Summer School 6: When the markets need a designer
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In economics, a market is a place (even virtual) where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods or ...
What happens when governments cook the books
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists and statisticians...
Summer School 5: The many ways governments influence industry
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here. Traditional economics says the market is guided by...
Would you trust an economist with your economy?
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trust in experts is down. In all kinds of institutions and professions - in government, in media, in...
Summer School 4: Who are all these regulations protecting?
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here. There are occasional incentives in business that m...
The President's Golden Share in U.S. Steel
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LIVE SHOW ALERT: August 18th, NYC. Get your tickets here. When news broke that a Japanese company, N...
Summer School 3: How government decides what to spend our money on
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Although it seems like the government can spend an endless amount of money, it cannot actually do al...
Why are we so obsessed with manufacturing?
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It seems like politicians cannot agree on a lot. But many seem to agree on... manufacturing. Leaders...
Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Act now to ensure public media remains free and accessible to all. Your donation will help this esse...
Summer School 2: How taxes change behavior and the economy
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all know the government uses taxes to pay for things. But what about using taxes to control behav...
Made in America
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What people might picture when they think of "Made in America" ... might not look like the "Made in ...
Summer School 1: A government's role in the economy is to make us all richer
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Government. The Big G. We like to imagine the free market and the invisible hand as being independen...
The simple math of the big bill
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we think about the economic effects of President Donald Trumps big taxing and spending and domest...
A thought experiment on how to fix the national debt problem
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There's an economic fantasy you sometimes hear in D.C. It often gets trotted out when politicians ar...
When Trump met crypto
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, President Trump tweeted: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies." Today, the...
Econ Battle Zone: Budget Showdown
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Econ Battle Zone is back! On today's episode Mary Childs and Kenny Malone enter Econ Battle Stadium ...
The U.S. is the world's bribery cop. Is that about to change?
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. has been policing bribery all over the world for nearly half a century using a law called t...
Jay & Shai's debt ceiling adventure (Update)
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Note: A version of this episode first ran in 2023.Every year, the U.S. government spends more money ...
Why I joined DOGE
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What was it like to work inside Elon Musk's DOGE? The cost-cutting initiative promised transparency,...
Are Trump's tariffs legal?
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When President Trump announced his sweeping new tariffs this year, many trade law experts were start...
When Chinese manufacturing met Small Town, USA
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past decade, politicians from both parties have courted American voters with an enticing ec...
Trump's crypto interests (Two Indicators)
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the show – our crypto president. Just before President Donald Trump began his second admi...
The U.S.-China trade war, according to game theory
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last few months U.S.-China trade relations have been pretty hard to make sense of – unles...
Why does the government fund research at universities?
Wed, 28 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and develo...
Why does the government fund research at universities?
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and develo...
The secret world behind those scammy text messages
Fri, 23 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
You might have seen these texts before. The scam starts innocently enough. Maybe it's a "Long time n...
The secret world behind those scammy text messages
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You might have seen these texts before. The scam starts innocently enough. Maybe it's a "Long time n...
How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is coming
Wed, 21 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Lately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a vir...
How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is coming
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a vir...
The 145% tariff already did its damage
Fri, 16 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Even though the 145% tariff on Chinese imports only lasted a month, it already inflicted its scars o...
The 145% tariff already did its damage
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Even though the 145% tariff on Chinese imports only lasted a month, it already inflicted its scars o...
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
Wed, 14 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products each year — things like soybea...
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products each year — things like soybea...
Is the reign of the dollar over?
Fri, 09 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
For decades, dollars have been the world's common financial language. Central banks everywhere hold ...
Is the reign of the dollar over?
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, dollars have been the world's common financial language. Central banks everywhere hold ...
What "Made in China" actually means
Wed, 07 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Th...
What "Made in China" actually means
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Th...
Why it's so hard to find a public toilet
Fri, 02 May
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Why is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one? In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicl...
Why it's so hard to find a public toilet
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one? In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicl...
Planet Money complains. To learn.
Wed, 30 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
On today's show: we're ... venting.We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different c...
Planet Money complains. To learn.
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's show: we're ... venting.We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different c...
How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank
Sat, 26 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more a...
How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank
26 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more a...
A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
Wed, 23 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
President Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now...
A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now...
How much for that egg
Fri, 18 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Recently, one of our NPR colleagues wrote a message to all of NPR saying he had extra eggs to sell f...
How much for that egg
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, one of our NPR colleagues wrote a message to all of NPR saying he had extra eggs to sell f...
OIRA: The tiny office that's about to remake the federal government
Wed, 16 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
OIRA — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — is an obscure, but powerful federal of...
OIRA: The tiny office that's about to remake the federal government
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
OIRA — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — is an obscure, but powerful federal of...
Trade war dispatch from Canada
Fri, 11 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
How do you run a business when a trade war is brewing? As President Trump's tariffs kick in - or are...
Trade war dispatch from Canada
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you run a business when a trade war is brewing? As President Trump's tariffs kick in - or are...
Do trade deficits matter?
Wed, 09 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
At the heart of President Trump's tariffs is this idea that we should not be buying more from other ...
Do trade deficits matter?
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the heart of President Trump's tariffs is this idea that we should not be buying more from other ...
How the War on Drugs got us... blueberries
Fri, 04 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Ever wondered why you can buy fresh Peruvian blueberries in the dead of winter? The answer, surprisi...
How the War on Drugs got us... blueberries
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wondered why you can buy fresh Peruvian blueberries in the dead of winter? The answer, surprisi...
Tariffs: What are they good for?
Wed, 02 Apr
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
What are tariffs good for?For years, mainstream economists have basically said: tariffs are not good...
Tariffs: What are they good for?
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are tariffs good for?For years, mainstream economists have basically said: tariffs are not good...
PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?
Fri, 28 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radi...
PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radi...
Planet Money buys a mystery diamond
Wed, 26 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at b...
Planet Money buys a mystery diamond
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at b...
Can we just change how we measure GDP?
Fri, 21 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domes...
Can we just change how we measure GDP?
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domes...
Escheat show (Update)
Wed, 19 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Note: This original episode ran in 2020.Walter Schramm did everything right as an investor — at le...
Escheat show (Update)
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Note: This original episode ran in 2020.Walter Schramm did everything right as an investor — at le...
How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring
Fri, 14 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Tupperware is the stealthy star of our modern homes. These plastic storage containers are ubiquitous...
How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tupperware is the stealthy star of our modern homes. These plastic storage containers are ubiquitous...
The last time we shrank the federal workforce
Wed, 12 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
If you cut every single federal job President Donald Trump wants to cut, how much money would that s...
The last time we shrank the federal workforce
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you cut every single federal job President Donald Trump wants to cut, how much money would that s...
How to start a bank
Fri, 07 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In some ways, starting a bank is a lot like starting any other business. Who will you hire? Where wi...
How to start a bank
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In some ways, starting a bank is a lot like starting any other business. Who will you hire? Where wi...
The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin
Wed, 05 Mar
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Memecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influence...
The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Memecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influence...
The Memecoin Casino
Fri, 28 Feb
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
What do Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, social media sensation Hawk Tuah, and the President of the United ...
The Memecoin Casino
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, social media sensation Hawk Tuah, and the President of the United ...
The controversy over Tyson Foods' hiring of asylum seekers
Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:09 +0000
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Last year, Tyson Foods shuttered a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa. The company said it made th...
The controversy over Tyson Foods' hiring of asylum seekers
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, Tyson Foods shuttered a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa. The company said it made th...
The rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management
Sat, 22 Feb
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
There's this cautionary tale, in the finance world, that nearly any trader can tell you. It's about ...
The rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There's this cautionary tale, in the finance world, that nearly any trader can tell you. It's about ...
Can the president override Congress on spending?
Wed, 19 Feb
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
So the president can't spend more money than Congress has agreed and voted to spend. But can the pre...
Can the president override Congress on spending?
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So the president can't spend more money than Congress has agreed and voted to spend. But can the pre...