A bite-sized show about big ideas. From the people who make Planet Money , The Indicator helps you make sense of what's happening in today's economy. It's a quick hit of insight into money, work, and business. Monday through Friday, in 10 minutes or less. Sign up for our newsletter . Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes for Planet Money and sponsor-free listening for The Indicator.
The podcast episode, "The Indicator from Planet Money," discusses the H-1B visa program and recent changes introduced by the Trump administration, specifically a new $100,000 fee for new applicants. Co-host Darian Woods shares his personal experience of panic during his honeymoon when his wife, an H-1B visa holder, rec...
This podcast episode discusses the recent suspension and return of late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, linking it to a national conversation about free speech and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The hosts, Darian Woods and Adrian Ma, explain how the act enabled media consolidation, leading to large corporations like N...
This episode of "The Indicator from Planet Money" features co-hosts Adrian Ma, Wailin Wong, and Darian Woods discussing three distinct economic indicators. Wailin Wong presents the first indicator: a potential $20 billion U.S. lifeline to Argentina, detailing the country's economic struggles, including a plummeting pes...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode fact-checks Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that doctors profit from administering vaccines. The hosts interview two doctors: a family physician in rural Kansas who explains the financial realities of vaccine provision, including the high costs of purchasing, storing, and ...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast discusses the nationwide trend of declining public school enrollment and subsequent school closures. The decline is attributed to lower birth rates and the housing market's challenges, including a lack of affordable housing and mortgage lock-in effects. These factors lead to de...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the controversial practice of personalized or "surveillance" pricing, where online companies use consumer data (location, browsing history, etc.) to adjust prices individually. The episode explores the economic concept of price discrimination, contrasting it wi...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses Los Angeles's $120 billion, 40-year transit infrastructure plan, focusing on the debate surrounding its implementation. The interview features Sonari Glinton, a reporter and Forbes columnist, who discusses the plan's goals—including a "no-car Olympics"—with Dar...
This episode of The Indicator from Planet Money discusses three key indicators from the week: the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut and the dissenting vote by a Trump appointee, a decline in the national average FICO credit score due to rising student loan and other delinquencies, and the potential financial hardship...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the hidden costs of free public education, focusing on school supplies. The episode highlights the significant amount parents spend on supplies, contrasting this with a Colorado Springs school district's initiative to cover these costs using Title I funds. The...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses wash trading in the cryptocurrency market. The episode explains wash trading—the practice of artificially inflating trading volume to create a false impression of market activity—and details how it's evolved from simple ledger manipulation ("wash trading 1.0") ...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode analyzes President Trump's call for a three-percentage-point cut to the base interest rate. The hosts and economists interviewed discuss the unlikelihood and potential negative consequences of such a drastic cut, including increased inflation and higher long-term interes...
The Indicator podcast presents "The Beigey Awards," a semi-annual recognition of insightful economic stories from the Federal Reserve's Beige Book. This episode highlights a New York Fed observation about slow alcohol sales and awards the Dallas Fed for their report on high cattle prices and declining beef production d...
In this episode of The Indicator from Planet Money, Waylon Wong, Adrian Ma, and Mary Childs discuss three different indicators of the week. Adrian's indicator is a recent Gallup poll showing a decline in favorable views of capitalism among Americans, with a slight increase in favorable views of socialism, particularly ...
This episode of The Indicator from Planet Money is a co-hosted podcast where Darian Woods and Wailin Wong discuss listener feedback. They address a listener's observation regarding the impact of AI on software engineers, highlighting how older, more experienced engineers retain job security due to their ability to fix...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the challenges faced by shareholders in influencing corporate decisions, particularly focusing on Tesla. The episode highlights the proposed unprecedented compensation package for Elon Musk, the difficulties faced by even large institutional investors in affect...
The Indicator from Planet Money discusses cost-effective conservation strategies, featuring insights from scientist Hugh Bossingham. Hugh suggests prioritizing conservation efforts based on cost and probability of success, rather than focusing solely on critically endangered or "cute" species. He advocates for investin...
This Planet Money Indicator podcast episode interviews behavioral scientist Jon Levy about his book, "Team Intelligence," arguing that teamwork is underrated compared to leadership. The discussion uses examples such as the contrast between highly productive but aggressive "super chickens" and more cooperative "KGB" ch...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the decline in the number of mothers in the workforce in the first half of 2025, focusing on the experiences of several mothers who have reduced their work hours or left their jobs. The decrease is analyzed in the context of broader economic trends, with an eco...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the economy, drawing parallels to the Industrial Revolution. The hosts interview an economist who studied the effect of AI on the labor share of income in the financial sector, finding a potential 5% decre...
This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses the end of the de minimis exemption in the US, which allowed packages valued under $800 to enter the country tariff-free. The elimination of this exemption, effective August 29th, has caused significant disruption, with postal services in various countries susp...
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