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. Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org . You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Planet Money.
This episode explores the unexpected connection between the War on Drugs and the abundance of Peruvian blueberries in American grocery stores. Against the backdrop of the 1970s and 80s cocaine epidemic, the U.S. implemented the Andean strategy, involving military intervention and aid to eradicate coca crops in Peru. Mo...
This episode explores the economic arguments for and against tariffs, particularly within the context of the Trump administration's policies. Against the backdrop of the Trump administration's planned tariffs, the podcast introduces the generally held view among economists that free trade is beneficial, based on the th...
This episode explores the sustainability of perpetual economic growth and its potential consequences. Against the backdrop of an astrophysicist's lecture highlighting the unsustainable rate of resource consumption at a 3% annual GDP growth, the conversation delves into the depletion timelines of various resources like...
This episode explores the surprising economics of the diamond market, specifically focusing on the dramatic price discrepancies between lab-grown and natural diamonds. The hosts begin by showcasing a lab-grown diamond purchased from Alibaba for $137, far below its expected retail price. Against this backdrop, they co...
This Planet Money episode investigates the calculation and potential manipulation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The hosts interview Steve Landefeld, former head of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, who recounts instances of political pressure to alter GDP calculations during the Clinton and Trump administrations...
This Planet Money episode investigates "escheat," the process by which states claim unclaimed assets. The podcast uses the story of Walter Schramm, whose forgotten Amazon stock was escheated by Delaware, to illustrate the system's flaws and potential for abuse. It highlights how states utilize escheated funds, often ...
This Planet Money episode interviews Willa Paskin, host of the Decoder Ring podcast, about her show's episode on Tupperware. The discussion traces Tupperware's history, highlighting Brownie Wise's revolutionary direct sales strategy—the Tupperware party—which involved recruiting women to sell the product through socia...
This Planet Money episode compares the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the federal workforce with the Clinton administration's National Performance Review (NPR) in the 1990s. The podcast contrasts the approaches, highlighting the NPR's focus on eliminating wasteful regulations and obsolete programs alongside ...
This Planet Money episode details the three-year journey of two women in Columbus, Ohio, starting a bank, Fortuna, focused on female entrepreneurs. The podcast follows their process, from initial discussions with regulators and securing $20 million in funding to navigating the challenges of establishing online banking...
This Planet Money episode recounts the bizarre story of Peanut, a squirrel who became a social media influencer, leading to unexpected consequences. The podcast details Peanut's rise to fame, his owner's subsequent ventures into OnlyFans and memecoins, and the tragic death of Peanut at the hands of the New York Depart...
This Planet Money episode explores the rise of memecoins, focusing on the platform Pump.Fun which drastically lowered the barrier to entry for creating them. The podcast details the three main groups creating memecoins: cloutless individuals using livestreams (often with bizarre stunts), already-famous people leveragi...
This Planet Money episode investigates the controversy surrounding Tyson Foods' hiring practices. The podcast contrasts Tyson's recruitment of New York immigrants for low-skilled jobs with the simultaneous closure of a plant in Iowa, resulting in numerous layoffs. It features interviews with a Venezuelan immigrant hi...
This Planet Money episode recounts the rise and spectacular fall of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), a hedge fund employing sophisticated mathematical models for investment. The podcast details LTCM's initially successful strategy of identifying and exploiting price discrepancies in financial markets through lever...
This Planet Money episode examines the legality of President Trump's attempts to freeze billions of dollars in federally appropriated funds. The podcast explores the concept of "impoundment" and its historical context, contrasting Trump's actions with those of previous presidents, particularly Richard Nixon. Legal sc...
This Planet Money episode investigates the opaque nature of federal spending by focusing on the "secure payment system," a crucial money pipe through which most federal payments flow. The podcast highlights the Daily Treasury Statement (DTS), a publicly available but often overlooked document that details daily federa...
This Planet Money episode recounts the eight-month ordeal of Tigran Gambaryan, a former IRS investigator and Binance employee, who was detained in Nigeria. The podcast details his arrest, initial relatively comfortable confinement, the escape of his colleague, his subsequent transfer to a harsh prison, and his eventua...
This Planet Money episode investigates the complex legal battle surrounding the San Jose, a 300-year-old Spanish galleon discovered off the Colombian coast, containing billions of dollars in treasure. The podcast details competing claims from Colombia (based on the "finders keepers" principle and territorial waters), ...
This podcast episode explores the history of scratch-off lottery tickets, focusing on their invention and impact on the gambling industry. It begins with an interview of Jon Cozza, the mathematician who developed the security system for the first scratch tickets, detailing the challenges of creating an unhackable game...
This Planet Money episode analyzes the market reaction to DeepSeek, a new AI model from a Chinese company. The podcast discusses how the release of DeepSeek, which reportedly achieved comparable performance to expensive American models at a fraction of the cost, caused a significant drop in the stock prices of compani...
This Planet Money episode, a collaboration with The Indicator, explores the rapid growth of grid-scale battery storage in the US, focusing on California and Texas. The episode begins by recounting the legislative efforts in California that laid the groundwork for this growth, despite initial skepticism. It then detai...
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