Description
Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy. At Planet Money, we explore the forces that shape our lives and bring you along for the ride. Don't just understand the economy – understand the world.
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Wanna go deeper? Subscribe to Planet Money+ and get sponsor-free episodes of Planet Money, The Indicator, and Planet Money Summer School. Plus access to bonus content. It's a new way to support the show you love. Learn more at plus.npr.org/planetmoney
Episodes
- 2025 / 7 / 4The simple math of the big billIf we think about the economic effects of President Donald Trumps big taxing and spending and domestic policy bill, we can roughly sum it up in one line. It goes something like this: We will make many big tax...
- 2025 / 7 / 2A thought experiment on how to fix the national debt problemThere's an economic fantasy you sometimes hear in D.C. It often gets trotted out when politicians are trying to add billions or trillions to the national debt. They claim that all the new spending will be...
- 2025 / 6 / 27When Trump met cryptoIn 2019, President Trump tweeted: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies." Today, the Trumps are all over crypto.There are memecoins for Trump and the first lady. They own a stablecoin, a...
- 2025 / 6 / 25Econ Battle Zone: Budget ShowdownEcon Battle Zone is back! On today's episode Mary Childs and Kenny Malone enter Econ Battle Stadium to throw down against reigning champion Erika Beras.Can Mary explain what effect extending the 2017 tax cuts...
- 2025 / 6 / 20The U.S. is the world's bribery cop. Is that about to change?The U.S. has been policing bribery all over the world for nearly half a century using a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But now, President Trump has said that this anti-corruption law is...
- 2025 / 6 / 19Jay & Shai's debt ceiling adventure (Update)Note: A version of this episode first ran in 2023.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 power to...
- 2025 / 6 / 14Why I joined DOGEWhat was it like to work inside Elon Musk's DOGE? The cost-cutting initiative promised transparency, but most of its actions have been shrouded in secrecy.For months, there were reports of software engineers...
- 2025 / 6 / 11Are Trump's tariffs legal?When President Trump announced his sweeping new tariffs this year, many trade law experts were startled. Typically, presidents don't have the authority to impose broad tariffs with a snap of their fingers.But...
- 2025 / 6 / 6When Chinese manufacturing met Small Town, USAOver the past decade, politicians from both parties have courted American voters with an enticing economic prospect – the dream of bringing manufacturing and manufacturing jobs back to America. They've pushed...
- 2025 / 6 / 4Trump's crypto interests (Two Indicators)Today on the show – our crypto president. Just before President Donald Trump began his second administration in January, he and his business partners launched the $TRUMP coin. It's a memecoin that quickly...
- 2025 / 5 / 30The U.S.-China trade war, according to game theoryOver the last few months U.S.-China trade relations have been pretty hard to make sense of – unless you look at what's happening through the lens of game theory. Game theory is all about how decisions are...
- 2025 / 5 / 28Why does the government fund research at universities?American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and development happens. Over the past eight decades, universities have received billions in federal dollars to help...
- 2025 / 5 / 23The secret world behind those scammy text messagesYou might have seen these texts before. The scam starts innocently enough. Maybe it's a "Long time no see" or "Hello" or "How are you." For investigative reporter Zeke Faux it was – "Hi David, I'm Vicky Ho....
- 2025 / 5 / 21How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is comingLately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a viral moment: recession indicators!From the more practical (like sales for lipstick going up and men's...
- 2025 / 5 / 16The 145% tariff already did its damageEven though the 145% tariff on Chinese imports only lasted a month, it already inflicted its scars on the economy. Global trade is just not something you can turn off and on like that. Some companies got...
- 2025 / 5 / 14What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade warThe U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products each year — things like soybeans, corn and pork. And over the last month, these exports have been caught up in a trade war. U.S. farmers...
- 2025 / 5 / 9Is the reign of the dollar over?For decades, dollars have been the world's common financial language. Central banks everywhere hold dollars as a way to safely store their wealth. Countries, businesses, and people use it to trade; around 90%...
- 2025 / 5 / 7What "Made in China" actually meansVirtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Think of it as the official place it comes from. And this is the country that counts for calculating...
- 2025 / 5 / 2Why it's so hard to find a public toiletWhy is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one? In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicly accessible toilets. But many had locks on the doors and you had to put in a coin to use them. Pay toilets...
- 2025 / 4 / 30Planet Money complains. To learn.On today's show: we're ... venting.We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed...
- 2025 / 4 / 26How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bankReporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more about the genetic makeup of her ancestors. Vovi was one of over 15 million 23andMe customers who sent their...
- 2025 / 4 / 23A primer on the Federal Reserve's independencePresident Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now. Since January, the President has accused him of playing politics by keeping interest rates high. Trump has...
- 2025 / 4 / 18How much for that eggRecently, one of our NPR colleagues wrote a message to all of NPR saying he had extra eggs to sell for cheap, but needed a fair way to distribute them during a shortage. What is Planet Money here for if not...
- 2025 / 4 / 16OIRA: The tiny office that's about to remake the federal governmentOIRA — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — is an obscure, but powerful federal office around the corner from the White House. President Trump has decided that it should get even more...
- 2025 / 4 / 11Trade war dispatch from CanadaHow do you run a business when a trade war is brewing? As President Trump's tariffs kick in - or are paused or are restarted - businesses around the world are trying to navigate the uncertainty.And, while...
- 2025 / 4 / 9Do trade deficits matter?At the heart of President Trump's tariffs is this idea that we should not be buying more from other countries than they are buying from us. Basically, he wants to get rid of the trade deficit. And in the wake...
- 2025 / 4 / 4How the War on Drugs got us... blueberriesEver wondered why you can buy fresh Peruvian blueberries in the dead of winter? The answer, surprisingly, is tied to cocaine. Today on the show, we look at how the war on drugs led to an American trade policy...
- 2025 / 4 / 2Tariffs: what are they good for?What are tariffs good for?For years, mainstream economists have basically said: tariffs are not good. They are an import tax paid by consumers, they've said, and they discourage free trade, and we want more!...
- 2025 / 4 / 2Tariffs: What are they good for?What are tariffs good for?For years, mainstream economists have basically said: tariffs are not good. They are an import tax paid by consumers, they've said, and they discourage free trade, and we want more!...
- 2025 / 3 / 28PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radiolab to take stock of the essential raw materials that enable us to live as we do here on Earth — everything...
- 2025 / 3 / 26Planet Money buys a mystery diamondThe deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at bizarrely low prices. Prices we couldn't find at any retail outlet. Prices so low, we could buy a diamond on...
- 2025 / 3 / 21Can we just change how we measure GDP?There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domestic product (GDP). It's the sum of all final transactions, so all the goods or services bought and sold, in...
- 2025 / 3 / 19Escheat show (Update)Note: This original episode ran in 2020.Walter Schramm did everything right as an investor — at least according to the philosophy of Warren Buffett. So how come he lost a small fortune?In this episode, we...
- 2025 / 3 / 14How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder RingTupperware is the stealthy star of our modern homes. These plastic storage containers are ubiquitous in our fridges, pantries, and closets. But the original product was revolutionary. So was its breakthrough...
- 2025 / 3 / 12The last time we shrank the federal workforceIf you cut every single federal job President Donald Trump wants to cut, how much money would that save? A president has tried to massively shrink the size of the federal government before. It was in the 90s,...
- 2025 / 3 / 7How to start a bankIn some ways, starting a bank is a lot like starting any other business. Who will you hire? Where will you be located? What color will the couches be? But it's also way more complicated. There are tons of...
- 2025 / 3 / 5The Parable of Peanut the MemecoinMemecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influencers like Moo Deng the pygmy hippo have been turned into cryptocurrency. But what are the costs of all the...
- 2025 / 2 / 28The Memecoin CasinoWhat do Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, social media sensation Hawk Tuah, and the President of the United States all have in common? They've all inspired highly valuable, highly volatile memecoins. The humble...
- 2025 / 2 / 27The controversy over Tyson Foods' hiring of asylum seekersLast year, Tyson Foods shuttered a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa. The company said it made the decision because the plant was old and inefficient. But the closure was devastating for the residents of...
- 2025 / 2 / 22The rise and fall of Long Term Capital ManagementThere's this cautionary tale, in the finance world, that nearly any trader can tell you. It's about placing too much confidence in math and models. It's the story of Long Term Capital Management.The story...
- 2025 / 2 / 19Can the president override Congress on spending?So the president can't spend more money than Congress has agreed and voted to spend. But can the president spend less money than Congress wants?It all comes down to something called "impoundment" and the...
- 2025 / 2 / 14The Big Government Money Pipe FreezeThere has been chaotic uncertainty around billions of dollars allocated by Congress. The Trump administration ordered a pause on — and review of — certain types of federal assistance. A judge blocked that...
- 2025 / 2 / 11The 'Crypto Wizard' vs. NigeriaThe trip that changed Tigran Gambaryan's life forever was supposed to be short — just a few days. When he flew to Nigeria in February of 2024, he didn't even check a bag. Tigran is a former IRS Special Agent....
- 2025 / 2 / 7The fight for a legendary shipwreck's treasureThe San Jose was a marvel of 17th century technology. The Spanish galleon weighed more than a thousand tons, was made of wood reinforced with iron, and featured three masts and 64 cannons. In its cargo were...
- 2025 / 2 / 5How the scratch off lottery changed AmericaAmericans spend more on scratch lottery tickets per year than on pizza. More than all Coca-Cola products. Yet the scratch ticket as a consumer item has only existed for fifty years. Not so long ago, the idea...
- 2025 / 2 / 1How DeepSeek changed the market's mindOn Monday, the stock market went into a tizzy over a new AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek. It seemed to be just as powerful as many of its American competitors, but its makers claimed to have made it...
- 2025 / 1 / 29Re-imagining the energy grid ... through batteries (Two Indicators)When it comes to solar and wind power, renewable energy has always had a caveat: it can only run when the wind blows or the sun shines.The idea of a battery was floated around to make renewables available...
- 2025 / 1 / 25The "chilling effect" of deportationsAfter being sworn into office, President Trump signed a whole host of executive actions and orders that affirm his campaign promise to crack down on immigration.Trump's border czar has said Chicago is at the...
- 2025 / 1 / 23After the firesThe fires in Los Angeles are almost out. Residents are starting to trickle back into their burned-out neighborhoods. When they get to their houses, they face a series of almost impossible questions: Do we...
- 2025 / 1 / 17Tariffs, grocery prices and other listener questionsDonald Trump is just about to begin his second presidency. And it may be safe to say that every single person in America has at least one question about what's to come in the next four years.So, we thought...