Planet Money

Summer School 4: Who are all these regulations protecting?

30 Jul 2025

Audio

Description

LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here. There are occasional incentives in business that make it very profitable to do bad things; maybe cheat at the game and steal other people's ideas, or cut some corners on safety. In theory, the government as referee steps in to make the rules and enforce them, and manage competition in a way that hopefully makes things better for us all. But you have to ask... When is the government protecting you and when is it protecting the already rich and powerful?We'll meet a man trying to corner the market for frozen meat, with the help of patents. And then we'll head to the salon, and ask — Should the government really require dozens of hours of training for a license to braid hair? Get tickets to our August 18th live show and graduation ceremony at The Bell House, in Brooklyn. (Planet Money+ supporters get a 10 percent discount off their tickets. Listen to the July 8th bonus episode to get the code!) The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Transcription

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.

0 upvotes

🗳️ Sign in to Upvote

Popular episodes get transcribed faster

Other episodes from Planet Money

Transcribed and ready to explore now

Dark times for Cuba’s economic experiment

02 Apr 2026

Planet Money

The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop

28 Mar 2026

Planet Money

Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain

26 Mar 2026

Planet Money

The laws of the office revisited

11 Mar 2026

Planet Money

The Business of Heated Rivalry

04 Mar 2026

Planet Money

Don't hate the replicator, hate the game

27 Feb 2026

Planet Money

View all episodes from Planet Money

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.

Report any issue

Planet Money

Summer School 4: Who are all these regulations protecting?

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Planet Money

Dark times for Cuba’s economic experiment

The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop

Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain

The laws of the office revisited

The Business of Heated Rivalry

Don't hate the replicator, hate the game

Sign in to Audioscrape

Share this moment