Baby's first market failure

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, either online or over the phone – day cares will often only share their prices after you have taken a tour of their facilities. Even once you find a place you like, many day cares have waitlists stretching...

1d

Groundhog Day 2023

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 anyone can talk about is whether or not Punxsutawney Phil will see his own shadow. If he does: six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't: spring is on its way.This year, in a cruel twist of fate reminiscent...

2d

To all the econ papers I've loved before

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 very best papers have the power to change lives.That was the case for three economists we spoke to: Nancy Qian, Belinda Archibong, and Kyle Greenberg.They all stumbled on important economics papers...

2w

The story of "Monopoly" and American capitalism

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 anyone, with just a little bit of cash, can rise from rags to riches. Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game.But there's another origin...

2w

Charles Ponzi's scheme

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 Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

2w

Big Rigged (Classic)

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/planetmoney

3w

Two Indicators: The 2% inflation target

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 economists are calling for a change and how the inflation rate becomes unanchored.Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

3w

Planet Money Movie Club: It's a Wonderful Life

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 episode, Kenny Malone, Wailin Wong, and Willa Rubin talk about Frank Capra's 1946 classic 'It's A Wonderful Life.' They discuss CPI adjustments, how a copyright lapse helped make the film more popular, and...

4w

The economics lessons in kids' books

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 graders econ using some beloved childrens' classics. And, along the way, we learn a few things ourselves.Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney

4w

The Rest of the Story, 2022

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 running.We'll hear from a CEO who was trying to get her company out of Russia amidst the war in Ukraine, check in with an organizer who was trying to turn his community into a city, follow-up on our experiment...

Dec 2022