Planet Money

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Latest episode: Fri May 09 2025

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.

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

355 total episodes

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May9
Is the reign of the dollar over?
26mins
May7
What "Made in China" actually means
27mins
May2
Why it's so hard to find a public toilet
24mins
Apr30
Planet Money complains. To learn.
25mins
Apr26
How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank
30mins
Apr23
A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
19mins
Apr18
How much for that egg
31mins
Apr16
OIRA: The tiny office that's about to remake the federal government
26mins
Apr11
Trade war dispatch from Canada
26mins
Apr9
Do trade deficits matter?
23mins
Apr4
How the War on Drugs got us... blueberries
27mins
Apr2
Tariffs: What are they good for?
23mins
Mar28
PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?
37mins
Mar26
Planet Money buys a mystery diamond
32mins
Mar21
Can we just change how we measure GDP?
22mins
Mar19
Escheat show (Update)
22mins
Mar14
How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring
28mins
Mar12
The last time we shrank the federal workforce
27mins
Mar7
How to start a bank
25mins
Mar5
The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin
34mins
Feb28
The Memecoin Casino
28mins
Feb27
The controversy over Tyson Foods' hiring of asylum seekers
25mins
Feb22
The rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management
27mins
Feb19
Can the president override Congress on spending?
22mins
Feb14
The Big Government Money Pipe Freeze
25mins
Feb11
The 'Crypto Wizard' vs. Nigeria
22mins
Feb7
The fight for a legendary shipwreck's treasure
23mins
Feb5
How the scratch off lottery changed America
29mins
Feb1
How DeepSeek changed the market's mind
26mins
Jan29
Re-imagining the energy grid ... through batteries (Two Indicators)
17mins
Jan25
The "chilling effect" of deportations
23mins
Jan23
After the fires
25mins
Jan17
Tariffs, grocery prices and other listener questions
27mins
Jan15
The Land of the Duty Free (classic)
20mins
Jan11
The case for Fed Independence in the Nixon Tapes
30mins
Jan8
ZIP Codes!
28mins
Jan3
The potato-shaped loophole in free trade
27mins
Dec30
If AI is so good, why are there still so many jobs for translators?
17mins
Dec27
The Rest of the Story, 2024
28mins
Dec25
The Indicators of this year and next
22mins
Dec20
The habitat banker
33mins
Dec18
How sports gambling blew up
30mins
Dec14
A Nobel prize for explaining why there's global inequality
28mins
Dec11
Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (update)
26mins
Dec6
There Will Be Flood
31mins
Dec4
George Soros vs. the Bank of England
30mins
Dec2
How useful, really, are the steps you can take after a data breach?
20mins
Nov27
Why you bought your couch
26mins
Nov23
Title Pirates
25mins
Nov20
The long view of economics and immigration (Two Indicators)
15mins
Nov15
The great German land lottery
28mins
Nov13
The strange way the world's fastest microchips are made
26mins
Nov9
What markets bet President Trump will do
26mins
Nov6
Moving to the American dream? (update)
23mins
Nov1
The veteran loan calamity
36mins
Oct31
So your data was stolen in a data breach
28mins
Oct25
Why do hospitals keep running out of generic drugs?
26mins
Oct23
Romance on the screen and on the page: Two Indicators
17mins
Oct18
The Subscription Trap
30mins
Oct16
We asked 188 economists. And the survey says...
21mins
Oct11
So imPORTant: Bananas, frogs, and... Bob's??
25mins
Oct9
Can cap and trade work in the US?
24mins
Oct4
What's up with all the ads for law firms?
18mins
Oct2
How Venezuela imploded (update)
23mins
Sep27
What's THAT got to do with economics?
25mins
Sep25
Veep-onomics
25mins
Sep20
How to save 10,000 fingers
24mins
Sep18
Can money buy happiness?
28mins
Sep16
99 Percent Invisible: The White Castle System of Eating Houses
32mins
Sep13
Rate Expectations
23mins
Sep11
Is AI overrated or underrated?
18mins
Sep6
Summer camp capitalism
33mins
Sep4
Bingo! (Presidential debate edition)
29mins
Aug30
How to fix a housing shortage
23mins
Aug28
Summer School 8: Big ideas and life lessons from Marx, Keynes and Smith and more
32mins
Aug23
The trade fraud detective
26mins
Aug21
Summer School 7: The Great Depression, the New Deal and how it changed our economy
35mins
Aug16
The hidden world behind your new "banking" app
21mins
Aug14
Summer School 6: China, Taiwan and how nations grow rich
36mins
Aug9
Will the Olympics break breakdancing?
25mins
Aug7
Summer School 5: 250 years of trade history in three chapters
36mins
Aug2
What to do when you're in a class action
25mins
Jul31
Summer School 4: Banker vs president and the birth of the dollar
36mins
Jul26
Summer School 3: The first stock and perpetual life
34mins
Jul24
What Kamala Harris' economic agenda might look like
18mins
Jul20
The color monopoly
22mins
Jul17
Summer School 2: The golden ages of labor and looms
32mins
Jul12
Rooftop solar's dark side
27mins
Jul10
Summer School 1: An Economic History of the World
34mins
Jul5
How flying got so bad (or did it?)
25mins
Jul3
The two companies driving the modern economy
20mins
Jun29
Do immigrants really take jobs and lower wages?
25mins
Jun26
The Carriage Tax (Update)
18mins
Jun21
The Vapes of Wrath
27mins
Jun19
Why is everyone talking about Musk's money?
28mins
Jun14
What's with all the tiny soda cans? And other grocery store mysteries, solved.
24mins
Jun12
Bringing a tariff to a graphite fight
25mins
Jun7
How much national debt is too much?
26mins
Jun5
The history of light (classic)
21mins
May31
How the FBI's fake cell phone company put criminals into real jail cells
23mins
May29
So you've been scammed, now what?
27mins
May24
The junkyard economist
25mins
May22
Anatomy of a layoff
27mins
May17
The hack that almost broke the internet
25mins
May15
Why Gold? (Classic)
18mins
May10
Zombie mortgages are coming back to life
30mins
May8
Inside video game economics (Two Indicators)
18mins
May3
The birth of the modern consumer movement
20mins
May1
Hire Power (Update)
22mins
Apr26
The case of the stolen masks
18mins
Apr24
How unions are stopped before they start (Update)
32mins
Apr19
FTX and the Serengeti of bankruptcy
25mins
Apr17
Grocery prices, credit card debt, and your 401K (Two Indicators)
17mins
Apr12
TikTok made me deduct it
20mins
Apr10
How much does this cow weigh? (Classic)
17mins
Apr5
Japan's Lost Decades
22mins
Apr3
The real estate industry on trial
28mins
Mar29
How much of your tax dollars are going to Israel and Ukraine
23mins
Mar27
The trouble with Table 101 (Update)
24mins
Mar22
What is Temu?
25mins
Mar20
How Big Steel in the U.S. fell
22mins
Mar15
The billion dollar war behind U.S. rum
23mins
Mar13
Wind boom, wind bust (Two Windicators)
16mins
Mar8
On the Oscars campaign trail
25mins
Mar6
Is dynamic pricing coming to a supermarket near you?
25mins
Mar1
Shopping for parental benefits around the world
29mins
Feb29
The secret world behind school fundraisers
27mins
Feb23
A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics
25mins
Feb21
Two Indicators: Economics of the defense industry
19mins
Feb16
How the Navy came to protect cargo ships
19mins
Feb15
It's giving ... Valentines
26mins
Feb9
A lawsuit for your broken heart
22mins
Feb7
Morally questionable, economically efficient
24mins
Feb2
Groundhog Day 2024: Trademark, bankruptcy, and the dollar that failed
26mins
Jan31
The Chicken Tax (Classic)
15mins
Jan29
Bonus: Janet Yellen on Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10mins
Jan27
Rescues at sea, and how to make a fortune
26mins
Jan24
Hear us out: We ban left turns and other big ideas
23mins
Jan20
Econ Battle Zone: Disinflation Confrontation
31mins
Jan17
Mid-East conflict escalation, two indicators
16mins
Jan13
The Maine Potato War of 1976
24mins
Jan10
The Universal Basic Income experiment in Kenya
24mins
Jan5
The case of the serial sinking Spanish ships
26mins
Dec29
The Rest of the Story, 2023
25mins
Dec27
The Indicators of this year and next
15mins
Dec22
We buy a lot of Christmas trees (Update)
31mins
Dec21
Dollarizing Argentina
24mins
Dec19
How to be better at hybrid work, according to research
15mins
Dec16
What econ says in the shadows
26mins
Dec14
Why '90s ads are unforgettable
26mins
Dec11
The U.S. economy's biggest superpower, explained
13mins
Dec8
Why do doctors still use pagers?
26mins
Dec6
Two food and drink indicators
19mins
Dec1
Why are we so bummed about the economy?
23mins
Nov29
So you want to sell marijuana across state lines
23mins
Nov22
A very Planet Money Thanksgiving
26mins
Nov18
Economic fact in literary fiction
26mins
Nov15
China's real estate crisis, explained
20mins
Nov10
The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT
23mins
Nov8
Never have I ever
28mins
Nov3
FTC Chair Lina Khan on Antitrust in the age of Amazon
30mins
Nov1
Antitrust in America (classic)
40mins
Oct27
All you can eat economics
25mins
Oct26
Cutting school... by 20%
23mins
Oct20
How unions are stopped before they start
27mins
Oct18
Indicator exploder: jobs and inflation
18mins
Oct13
Maria Bamford gets personal (about) finance
27mins
Oct11
Why the price of Coke didn't change for 70 years (classic)
19mins
Oct6
A man, a plan, wind power, Uruguay
23mins
Oct4
The flight attendants of CHAOS
28mins
Sep29
A trucker hat mystery, the curse of September and other listener questions
26mins
Sep27
The natural disaster economist
23mins
Sep23
A black market, a currency crisis, and a tango competition in Argentina
23mins
Sep20
"Based on a true story"
28mins
Sep16
How to launder $600 million on the internet
26mins
Sep13
China's weakening economy in two Indicators
18mins
Sep8
Is economists' favorite tool to crush inflation broken?
23mins
Sep6
The prince of prints and his prints of Prince
28mins
Sep1
How to fight a patent pirate
25mins
Aug30
Summer School 8: Graduation and the Guppy Tank
31mins
Aug26
The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines
21mins
Aug23
Summer School 7: Negotiating and the empathetic nibble
33mins
Aug18
Vacation, and why the U.S. takes so little of it
25mins
Aug16
Summer School 6: Operations and 25,000 roses
32mins
Aug11
The new Biden plan that could still erase your student loans
27mins
Aug9
Summer School 5: Tech and the innovator's dilemma
34mins
Aug4
A tarot card reading for the U.S. economy
25mins
Aug2
Summer School 4: Marketing and the Ultimate Hose Nozzle
32mins
Jul31
Tackle your medical debt with Life Kit
17mins
Jul28
Did two honesty researchers fabricate their data?
25mins
Jul26
Summer School 3: Accounting and The Last Supper
34mins
Jul21
Planet Money Paper Club
23mins
Jul19
Summer School 2: Competition and the cheaper sneaker
31mins
Jul15
Surprise, you just signed a contract! How hidden contracts took over the internet
23mins
Jul12
Summer School 1: Planet Money goes to business school
32mins
Jul7
The quest to save macroeconomics from itself
18mins
Jul5
Two Indicators: After Affirmative Action & why America overpays for subways
19mins
Jun30
Supply, demand, extinction
28mins
Jun28
Planet Money Live: Two Truths and a Lie
23mins
Jun23
Mike The Mover vs. The Furniture Police
25mins
Jun21
Twins (classic)
20mins
Jun16
The 60-day job race
26mins
Jun14
Two Indicators: The economics of innovation
19mins
Jun9
The town that changed economics
24mins
Jun7
The Spider-Man Problem (update)
30mins
Jun2
AI Podcast 3.0: Dial M for Mechanization
33mins
May31
AI Podcast 2.0: The host in the machine
31mins
May26
AI Podcast 1.0: Rise of the machines
34mins
May24
Green energy gridlock
22mins
May19
Predictions: Jobs!
20mins
May17
How AI could help rebuild the middle class
21mins
May12
Inflation and the Profit-Price Spiral
26mins
May10
The Day of Two Noons (Classic)
18mins
May6
How to fight a squatting goat
28mins
May3
Two Indicators: the influencer industry
19mins
Apr28
Financial advising while Black
27mins
Apr26
The zoo economy (classic)
16mins
Apr21
The quest for the factory-built house
26mins
Apr19
Tax Code Switch
24mins
Apr15
The life and possible death of low interest rates
25mins
Apr12
Two innovation market indicators
18mins
Apr8
Your banking questions, answered
26mins
Apr5
The battle for Puerto Rico's beaches
23mins
Apr1
The safety net for banks
23mins
Mar30
A Great Recession bank takeover
18mins
Mar25
The battle over Osage headrights
23mins
Mar23
Inside a bank run
33mins
Mar18
Planet Money Records Vol. 3: Making a hit
29mins
Mar16
How Silicon Valley Bank failed
21mins
Mar11
Dude, where's my streaming TV show?
26mins
Mar9
The value of good teeth
22mins
Mar3
Seinfeld-onomics
18mins
Mar1
CBOhhhh, that's what they do
24mins
Feb25
Meow Money Meow Problems
27mins
Feb22
Hollywood's Black List (Classic)
23mins
Feb18
Jay & Shai's debt ceiling adventure
26mins
Feb16
Two Indicators: Inside the Fed, then and now
18mins
Feb11
Our 2023 valentines
26mins
Feb8
The ice cream conspiracy
24mins
Feb3
Baby's first market failure
23mins
Feb1
Groundhog Day 2023
24mins
Jan27
To all the econ papers I've loved before
24mins
Jan26
The story of "Monopoly" and American capitalism
22mins
Jan21
Charles Ponzi's scheme
22mins
Jan18
Big Rigged (Classic)
24mins
Jan13
Two Indicators: The 2% inflation target
18mins
Jan11
Planet Money Movie Club: It's a Wonderful Life
22mins
Jan6
The economics lessons in kids' books
28mins
Dec31
The Rest of the Story, 2022
24mins
Dec28
Which economic indicator defined 2022?
10mins
Dec24
In defense of gift giving
21mins
Dec21
Two Indicators: The fight over ESG investing
21mins
Dec16
The sports ticket price enigma
28mins
Dec14
Spam call bounty hunter
26mins
Dec9
The case of the missing cheese racks
27mins
Dec7
When women stopped coding (Classic)
17mins
Dec3
My Favorite Tax Loophole
26mins
Dec1
Messi economics
27mins
Nov23
One economist's take on popular advice for saving, borrowing, and spending
32mins
Nov19
How the cookie became a monster
26mins
Nov17
Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of a crypto empire
23mins
Nov11
The E-Book Wars
25mins
Nov9
Peak Sand (classic)
17mins
Nov4
Planet Money tries election polling
28mins
Nov2
Two Indicators shaking China's economy
19mins
Oct29
Planet Money Records Vol. 2: The Negotiation
26mins
Oct27
Planet Money Records Vol. 1: Earnest Jackson
25mins
Oct22
The high cost of a strong dollar
27mins
Oct19
The money fixers (classic)
17mins
Oct15
You asked for coupons, Delaware, and the truth about goldfish
23mins
Oct12
Two Indicators: back to school
17mins
Oct7
Forging Taiwan's Silicon Shield
30mins
Oct5
Economic anarchy in the UK
21mins
Sep30
Would you like a side of offshoring with that?
22mins
Sep28
The miracle apple (Classic)
13mins
Sep23
Econ's Brush with the Law
22mins
Sep21
The Midnight Connection
33mins
Sep17
Vibecession Vibes Session
26mins
Sep15
The Good, the Bad, and the Uggly
30mins
Sep9
Two Indicators: unlikely economic relationships
18mins
Sep8
The salvage car Silk Road
28mins
Sep3
Breaking down the price of gasoline
28mins
Aug31
SUMMER SCHOOL 8: Productivity & Getting Lit
30mins
Aug26
Wake up and smell the fraud
22mins
Aug24
SUMMER SCHOOL 7: The Fed & Volcker's Socks
31mins
Aug19
Inflation Reduction Actually
21mins
Aug17
SUMMER SCHOOL 6: Trade & The Better Life
32mins
Aug13
Carried interest wormhole
26mins
Aug11
SUMMER SCHOOL 5: Car Parts, Celery & The Labor Market
32mins
Aug5
A new way to pay for college (Update)
26mins
Aug4
SUMMER SCHOOL 4: Inflation & Drinking Buddies
30mins
Aug1
We Buy a Superhero 8: Micro-Face: The Musical
45mins
Jul29
Two recession Indicators
20mins
Jul28
SUMMER SCHOOL 3: Booms, Busts & Us
32mins
Jul22
Little House on the Blockchain
21mins
Jul21
SUMMER SCHOOL 2: GDP & What Counts
25mins
Jul16
Best by, sell by, use by
25mins
Jul14
SUMMER SCHOOL 1: Recessions & Rap Battles
31mins
Jul8
A tale of two cityhoods
24mins
Jul6
Two crypto crash Indicators
18mins
Jul1
Suitcases, secret lists, and Citizens United
26mins
Jun29
When Subaru came out (Classic)
19mins
Jun25
Recession referees
23mins
Jun22
The tale of the Onion King (Update)
19mins
Jun17
The debate over what's causing inflation
19mins
Jun16
Let them eat lunch
22mins
Jun11
The Gecko Effect
27mins
Jun9
On the case: Recession, formula, and greenbacks
20mins
Jun3
Homer Simpson vs. the economy
19mins
Jun1
The bank war (Classic)
20mins
May28
We Buy a Superhero 7: Collectibles (Live Show!)
28mins
May26
The NRA's Secret Tapes
31mins
May20
Investing in mediocrity
24mins
May18
How the burrito became a sandwich (Classic)
15mins
May14
Buy now, pay dearly?
21mins
May11
A 12-year-old girl takes on the video game industry (UPDATE)
18mins
May7
The day Russia adopted the free market
30mins
May4
Escheat show (Classic)
21mins
Apr29
Planet Money book club
16mins
Apr27
Risky business
18mins
Apr22
We Buy a Superhero 6: The Comic Book
25mins
Apr21
TikTok to the top
21mins
Apr15
The student loan paaaaauuuuuse
20mins
Apr13
Peanuts and Cracker Jack (Classic)
21mins
Apr8
How manatees got into hot water
23mins
Apr6
Turkey's runaway inflation problem
20mins
Apr1
When bricks were rubles
23mins
Mar30
The Bond King
21mins
Mar25
Fashion Fair's makeover
24mins
Mar24
Two inflation Indicators: Corporate greed and mortgage rates
18mins
Mar18
Tech giants and tiny dogs
19mins
Mar16
Escape from Russia
23mins
Mar11
Grocery delivery wars
16mins
Mar10
The dollar at the center of the world (Classic)
21mins
Mar5
Of oligarchs, oil and rubles
18mins
Mar2
'Fortress' Russia put to the test
17mins
Feb25
Putin's big bet: Sanction-proofing Russia
14mins
Feb24
How bad is inflation?
19mins
Feb18
Predictions: Inflation!
16mins
Feb17
SPAM strikes back
28mins
Feb14
Waste land (Bonus)
23mins
Feb11
Our Valentines 2022
26mins
Feb10
A SWIFT getaway
21mins
Feb5
Uncle Sam wants YOU to fight inflation
21mins
Feb2
The M&M anomaly (Classic)
13mins
Jan29
The Spider-Man Problem
25mins
Jan26
Two indicators: supply chain solutions
18mins
Jan21
'Soul Train' and the business of Black joy
26mins
Jan19
Patent racism (classic)
25mins
Jan15
The rapid testing show
20mins
Jan13
No such thing as a free return
22mins
Jan8
HBO 2.0
18mins
Jan5
The rest of the story, 2021
28mins
Dec31
The holiday industrial complex (Classic)
17mins
Dec30
The economic indicator of the year
15mins