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 / 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...
- 2025 / 1 / 15The Land of the Duty Free (classic)(Note: This episode originally ran in 2018.)Is it really cheaper to shop at an airport Duty Free store? And why are so many of them alike?In the 1940s, if you were flying from New York City to London or Paris...
- 2025 / 1 / 11The case for Fed Independence in the Nixon TapesYou know Watergate, but do you know Fedgate? The more subtle scandal with more monetary policy and, arguably, much higher stakes.In today's episode, we listen back through the Nixon White House tapes to...
- 2025 / 1 / 8ZIP Codes!The ZIP code is less like a cold, clinical, ordered list of numbers, and more like a weird overgrown number garden. It started as a way to organize mail after WWII, but now it pops up all over our daily...
- 2025 / 1 / 3The potato-shaped loophole in free tradeEver since free trade opened up between the US and Mexico in the 1990s, trillions of dollars of goods have been going back and forth between the two countries, from cars to strawberries to MRI machines to...
- 2024 / 12 / 30If AI is so good, why are there still so many jobs for translators?If you believe the hype, translators will all soon be out of work. Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of the language learning app Duolingo, doesn't think AI is quite there... yet. In this interview, Greg...
- 2024 / 12 / 27The Rest of the Story, 2024After the gift exchange comes another great holiday tradition: returns season. Once again, we are joining the fun in our own Planet Money way. We are returning to stories from years past to see what's changed...
- 2024 / 12 / 20The habitat bankerOur planet is in serious trouble. There are a million species of plants and animals in danger of extinction, and the biggest cause is companies destroying their habitats to farm food, mine minerals, and...
- 2024 / 12 / 18How sports gambling blew upSports gambling isn't exactly a financial market, but it rhymes with financial markets. What happens on Wall Street somehow eventually also happens in sports gambling. So in the 1980s, when computers and deep...
- 2024 / 12 / 14A Nobel prize for explaining why there's global inequalityWhy do some nations fail and others succeed?In the late 1990s and early 2000s, three economists formed a partnership that would revolutionize how economists think about global inequality. Their work centered...
- 2024 / 12 / 11Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (update)The Smoot Hawley Tariffs were a debacle that helped plunge America into the Great Depression. What can we learn from them?Today on the show, we tell the nearly 100-year-old story of Smoot and Hawley, that...
- 2024 / 12 / 6There Will Be FloodWindell Curole spent decades working to protect his community in southern Louisiana from the destructive flooding caused by hurricanes. His local office in South Lafourche partnered with the federal...
- 2024 / 12 / 4George Soros vs. the Bank of EnglandAs people learn more about Donald Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, one story comes up over and over: a legendary trade that he played a small part in while he worked at George Soros' hedge...
- 2024 / 12 / 2How useful, really, are the steps you can take after a data breach?The dreaded data breach notification... It tells you your personal data's been compromised and suggests steps you can take to minimize the potential harm. On today's episode, Kenny Malone pulls out a data...
- 2024 / 11 / 27Why you bought your couchYou probably own a chair or a table or a sofa. And you probably think you know why you bought it. Because it was comfy. Or blue. Or the right price. But what if the style, the color, the cost, maybe even...
- 2024 / 11 / 23Title PiratesA couple years ago, Gina Leto, a real estate developer, bought a property with her business partner. The process went like it usually did: Lots of paperwork; a virtual closing. Pretty cut-and-dry. Gina and...
- 2024 / 11 / 20The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)Mass deportations. What would actually happen—economically—if the President-elect follows through on promises to deport millions of people from America.We don't have to guess.Today we have two stories from...