Planet Money

Tackle your medical debt with Life Kit

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's an estimated $195 billion of medical debt in America. But just because a medical bill comes in the mail doesn't mean you have to pay that exac...

Did two honesty researchers fabricate their data?

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Ariely and Francesca Gino are two of the biggest stars in behavioral science. Both have conducted blockbuster research into how to make people mor...

Summer School 3: Accounting and The Last Supper

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Usually, the first class that an MBA student takes is accounting. That involves, yes, equations and counting widgets...but it's more than that. Inside...

Planet Money Paper Club

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We here at Planet Money love economics papers. And that is also the case for so many of the economists we speak with. For them, new research can expl...

Summer School 2: Competition and the cheaper sneaker

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For episode 2 of Planet Money Summer School, we are talking strategy. You have your million dollar business idea, and maybe some money in your pocket ...

Surprise, you just signed a contract! How hidden contracts took over the internet

15 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you make an account online or install an app, you are probably entering into a legally enforceable contract. Even if you never signed anything. T...

Summer School 1: Planet Money goes to business school

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Find all episodes of Planet Money Summer School here.Planet Money Summer School is back! It's the free economics class you can take from anywhere... f...

The quest to save macroeconomics from itself

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to big questions about the economy, we're still kind of in the dark ages. Why do some economies grow so much faster than others? How lon...

Two Indicators: After Affirmative Action & why America overpays for subways

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Two stories today.First, as we start to understand post-affirmative action America, we look to a natural experiment 25 years ago, when California ende...

Supply, demand, extinction

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the 90s, Ivan Lozano Ortega was in charge of Bogota's wildlife rescue center. And he kept getting calls from the airport to come deal with... ...

Planet Money Live: Two Truths and a Lie

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The shocks of the pandemic economy gave us a bunch of enormous natural experiments, which helped to prove or disprove conventional economic thinking.T...

Mike The Mover vs. The Furniture Police

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1978, a young man named Mike Shanks started a moving business in the north end of Seattle. It was just him and a truck — a pretty small operation...

Twins (classic)

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Twins are used to fielding all sorts of questions, like "Can you read each other's minds?" or "Can you feel each other's pain?" Two of our Planet Mone...

The 60-day job race

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

People come from all over the world to work in U.S. tech. And during the tech boom years, the industry relied heavily on foreign workers. This is how ...

Two Indicators: The economics of innovation

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Innovation is crucial for game-changing advancements in society, whether it's treatments for serious diseases, developments in AI technology, or rocke...

The town that changed economics

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 90s, when a young economist named Michael Kremer finished his PhD, there had been a few economic studies based on randomized trials. But ...

The Spider-Man Problem (update)

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

(Note: This episode originally ran back in 2022.)This past weekend, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse had the second largest domestic opening of 202...

AI Podcast 3.0: Dial M for Mechanization

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's the thrilling conclusion to our three-part series on AI — the world premiere of the first episode of Planet Money written by AI. In Part 1 of t...

AI Podcast 2.0: The host in the machine

31 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In Part 1 of this series, AI proved that it could use real research and real interviews to write an original script for an episode of Planet Money. Ou...

AI Podcast 1.0: Rise of the machines

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We used to think some jobs were safe from automation. Though machines have transformed industries like agriculture and manufacturing, the conventional...

Green energy gridlock

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lyle Jack wants to build a wind farm on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But to make the project work, he has to connect that wind farm to ...

Predictions: Jobs!

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's time for another installment of ... Planet Money Predictions! *air horn* Last year, we invited two economic forecasters to tell us what they saw ...

How AI could help rebuild the middle class

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the last four decades, technology has been mostly a force for greater inequality and a shrinking middle class. But new empirical evidence suggests...

Inflation and the Profit-Price Spiral

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Economists say that inflation is just too much money chasing too few goods.But something else can make inflation stick around.If you think of the 1970...

The Day of Two Noons (Classic)

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

(Note: this episode originally ran in 2019.)In the 1800s, catching your train on time was no easy feat. Every town had its own "local time," based on ...

How to fight a squatting goat

06 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2005, Burt Banks inherited a plot of old family land in Delaware. But when it came time to sell it, he ran into a problem: his neighbor had a ...

Two Indicators: the influencer industry

03 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut, a doctor or maybe a famous athlete? Today one of the most popular respon...

Financial advising while Black

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After a successful career in advertising, Erika Williams decided it was time for a change. She went back to school to get an MBA at the University of ...

The zoo economy (classic)

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Note: This episode originally aired in September, 2014.Zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can't sell or buy the animals. It's unethical and ille...

The quest for the factory-built house

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine if we built cars the same way we build houses. First, a typical buyer would meet with the car designer, and tell them what kind of car they wa...

Tax Code Switch

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This past January, researchers uncovered that Black taxpayers are three to five times as likely to be audited as everyone else. One likely reason for ...

The life and possible death of low interest rates

15 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Right now, the economy is running hot. Inflation is high, and central banks are pushing up interest rates to fight it. But before the pandemic, econom...

Two innovation market indicators

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Right now, the economy is all over the place. And when things get confusing, we look to basic economic indicators to help explain what's going on. Tod...

Your banking questions, answered

08 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a month since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank touched off the worst episode of banking turmoil since 2008. While the financial system ap...

The battle for Puerto Rico's beaches

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Puerto Rico's beaches are an integral part of life on the island, and by law, they're one of the few places that are truly public. In practice, the sa...

The safety net for banks

01 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the first half of March, three banks - Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate - all had relatively classic bank runs and collapsed. Wh...

A Great Recession bank takeover

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this month, we saw the largest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. For many of us, seeing Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown brought us...

The battle over Osage headrights

25 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard J. Lonsinger is a member of the Ponca tribe of Oklahoma, who was adopted at a young age into a white family of three. He eventually reconnecte...

Inside a bank run

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes you hear these stories about an airplane that suddenly nosedives. Everyone onboard thinks this is it, and then the plane levels out and ever...

Planet Money Records Vol. 3: Making a hit

18 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since we started Planet Money Records and released the 47-year-old song "Inflation," the song has taken off. It recently hit 1 million streams on Spot...

How Silicon Valley Bank failed

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest bank in America, the bank of choice for tech startups and big-name venture capitalists. Then, in the span of ...

Dude, where's my streaming TV show?

11 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past year, dozens of shows have been disappearing from streaming platforms like HBO Max and Showtime. Shows like Minx, Made for Love, FBoy Is...

The value of good teeth

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a kid, Ryanne Jones' friend accidentally hit her in the mouth with a hammer, knocking out her two front teeth. Her parents never had enough money f...

Seinfeld-onomics

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 90s sit-com Seinfeld is often called "a show about nothing." Lauded for its observational humor, this quick-witted show focussed on four hapless N...

CBOhhhh, that's what they do

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you are a congressperson or a senator and you have an idea for a new piece of legislation, at some point someone will have to tell you how much it ...

Meow Money Meow Problems

25 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More than 20 years ago, something unusual happened in the small town of Dixfield, Maine. A lady named Barbara Thorpe had left almost all of her money—...

Hollywood's Black List (Classic)

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode originally ran in 2020.In 2005, Franklin Leonard was a junior executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company. A big part of his job ...

Jay & Shai's debt ceiling adventure

18 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every year, the U.S. government spends more money than it takes in. In order to fund all that spending, the country takes on debt. Congress has the po...

Two Indicators: Inside the Fed, then and now

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of the time, economic policy can seem pretty impersonal — cold, hard, data-driven. But at the heart of the Federal Reserve are people: fallibl...

Our 2023 valentines

11 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every Valentine's Day, we at Planet Money consider the things that we love, the things that we can't stop talking about, the things that get our heart...

The ice cream conspiracy

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Take a look in any supermarket ice cream freezer section and you may see a mystery. There are big containers of the typical ice cream brands: Breyers,...

Baby's first market failure

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anyone who has tried shopping for day care knows that it is tough out there.For one, it is hard even to get your hands on information about costs, eit...

Groundhog Day 2023

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's Groundhog Day, and once again, the eyes of the nation have turned to a small town in Western Pennsylvania. Every February 2nd, the only story any...

To all the econ papers I've loved before

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A great economics paper does two things. It takes on a big question, and it finds a smart way to answer that question.But some papers go even further....

The story of "Monopoly" and American capitalism

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Monopoly is one of the best-selling board games in history. The game's staying power may in part be because of strong American lore — the idea that ...

Charles Ponzi's scheme

21 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some of history's biggest financial scams owe their name to Charles Ponzi. Here's the story of the man behind the eponymous scheme.Subscribe to Planet...

Big Rigged (Classic)

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Driving a truck used to mean freedom. Now it means a mountain of debt.Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoneyLearn...

Two Indicators: The 2% inflation target

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If the Fed had a mantra to go along with its mandate, it might well be "two percent." We look into how that became the target inflation rate, why some...

Planet Money Movie Club: It's a Wonderful Life

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to the Planet Money Movie Club, a regular series from Planet Money+ in which we watch an economics-related movie and discuss! On today's episo...

The economics lessons in kids' books

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

All sorts of lessons (even about economics) can be learned from kids' books. On today's show, we visit an elementary school to try to teach third grad...

The Rest of the Story, 2022

31 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of year again! Our annual year-end tradition of checking in on previous stories to hear what happened after the microphones stopped run...

Which economic indicator defined 2022?

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

2022 was a year of big economic changes. But what economic story most defined the year? Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator battle it out ov...

In defense of gift giving

24 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cold economic reasoning says, supposedly, that gifts are inefficient transfers of wealth. But Planet Money host Jeff Guo believes in the economic virt...

Two Indicators: The fight over ESG investing

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"ESG" investing – Environmental, Social, Governance – has attracted a lot of attention from investors, and from Republican politicians who call it...

The sports ticket price enigma

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Plane...

Spam call bounty hunter

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The case of the missing cheese racks

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ch...

When women stopped coding (Classic)

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

My Favorite Tax Loophole

03 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 som...

Messi economics

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Argentin...

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

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 epis...

How the cookie became a monster

19 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 sh...

Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of a crypto empire

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 fal...

The E-Book Wars

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 sh...

Peak Sand (classic)

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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.Subsc...

Planet Money tries election polling

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Two Indicators shaking China's economy

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 C...

Planet Money Records Vol. 2: The Negotiation

29 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 in...

Planet Money Records Vol. 1: Earnest Jackson

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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.Th...

The high cost of a strong dollar

22 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to international trade and finance, everyone pretty much speaks one language: the U.S. dollar. So when the Federal Reserve hikes interes...

The money fixers (classic)

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 pl...

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

15 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 s...

Two Indicators: back to school

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 tw...

Forging Taiwan's Silicon Shield

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 toda...

Economic anarchy in the UK

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 min...

Would you like a side of offshoring with that?

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 h...

The miracle apple (Classic)

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Econ's Brush with the Law

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ret...

The Midnight Connection

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 overload...

Vibecession Vibes Session

17 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ban...

The Good, the Bad, and the Uggly

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 tradem...

Two Indicators: unlikely economic relationships

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 P...

The salvage car Silk Road

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 jo...

Breaking down the price of gasoline

03 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

High gas prices have fueled speculation and investigations — is anyone raising prices and keeping prices high for profit? To find out, we break down...

SUMMER SCHOOL 8: Productivity & Getting Lit

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ou...

Wake up and smell the fraud

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 adverti...

SUMMER SCHOOL 7: The Fed & Volcker's Socks

24 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 re...

Inflation Reduction Actually

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 br...

SUMMER SCHOOL 6: Trade & The Better Life

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

International trade is the web of cross-border relationships that binds economies together. Because of trade we have access to cheaper, higher-quality...

Carried interest wormhole

13 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The carried interest tax loophole is a way that wealthy Americans – often the people who manage hedge funds or private equity firms – avoid paying...