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Planet Money

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

Episodes

Peanuts and Cracker Jack (Classic)

Ballpark vendors share their strategies and other secrets to selling the most hot dogs at baseball games. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 13, 202222 minEp. 1527

How manatees got into hot water

While on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, manatees found sanctuary in the warm waters of Florida power plants. Now, they're hooked on fossil fuels. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 08, 202224 minEp. 1526

Turkey's runaway inflation problem

Turkey is facing really high inflation, over 60 percent. Its president is taking an unorthodox approach to dealing with it. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 06, 202221 minEp. 1525

When bricks were rubles

For a brief, strange period after the U.S.S.R. collapsed, "real" money was less valuable than tradeable objects like bricks or towels. We look back at the Russian barter economy and we see the nature of money and value underneath all currency. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 01, 202223 minEp. 1524

The Bond King

Investing legend Bill Gross revolutionized the bond market, built an empire, and lost it all. Our very own Mary Childs talks about her new book, The Bond King. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 30, 202222 minEp. 1523

Fashion Fair's makeover

Fashion Fair was the first big national brand to make makeup for Black women, but it slowly faded into obscurity. Now that it's relaunched, can it compete in an industry it helped create? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 25, 202224 minEp. 1522

Two inflation Indicators: Corporate greed and mortgage rates

Corporate profits are soaring. So are prices. Can corporations just not raise prices? Would that fight inflation? We examine this theory making the rounds. Then, we go inside the pipes of the economy to see how mortgage rates connect to that recent rate hike by the Federal Reserve. | Subscribe to our sister podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. It's daily, and always less than 10 minutes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 24, 202218 minEp. 1521

Tech giants and tiny dogs

What a business that makes ramps for wiener dogs teaches us about the massive power of tech giants. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Mar 18, 202220 minEp. 1520

Escape from Russia

An American business owner with employees in Russia extracts her colleagues from the country. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Mar 16, 202224 minEp. 1519

Grocery delivery wars

Behind the scenes at a new kind of grocery store that promises delivery in minutes. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Mar 11, 202217 minEp. 1518

The dollar at the center of the world (Classic)

After World War II devastated the global economy, there was a push for a new universal currency. This is the story of how the U.S. dollar won. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 10, 202221 minEp. 1517

Of oligarchs, oil and rubles

Three stories about how the sanctions imposed on Russia are playing out – for regular Russian people, for Russia's super-rich, and for Russia's energy exports. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 05, 202218 minEp. 1516

'Fortress' Russia put to the test

The U.S. is putting Russia's defense plan against sanctions to the test. Meanwhile, Russia's role as a huge exporter of oil and natural gas could cause ripple effects throughout the global economy. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 02, 202218 minEp. 1515

Putin's big bet: Sanction-proofing Russia

The U.S. is imposing economic sanctions on Russia to punish it for invading Ukraine. But Russia has spent years trying to make its economy immune to sanctions. So, will these new sanctions be enough? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 25, 202214 minEp. 1514

How bad is inflation?

Two stories about the effects of inflation on the economy. We meet a gig worker who's seen an increase in wages, but because of inflation, how much of that increase in earnings is an illusion? Then, we break down how the Federal Reserve is planning to fight inflation. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 24, 202219 minEp. 1513

Predictions: Inflation!

It's time for another round of "Planet Money Predictions!" Economic forecasters square off to predict the future of inflation and explain what's going on in the economy.| Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 18, 202217 minEp. 1512

SPAM strikes back

Hormel Foods makes SPAM, and for generations, the company also created jobs for families in Austin, Minnesota. Today, the story of a labor strike that threatened to tear one small town apart. (This episode was made in collaboration with The Experiment podcast.) | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 17, 202228 minEp. 1511

Waste land (Bonus)

Recycling most plastic doesn't work. It never has. In 2020, we ran an episode showing how big oil companies misled the public into thinking plastic would be recycled. That episode just won a duPont-Columbia award . Here it is. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 14, 202223 minEp. 1510

Our Valentines 2022

We profess our love for our curiosities, obsessions, and the things we wish we'd thought of first. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Feb 11, 202226 minEp. 1509

A SWIFT getaway

In 2016, thieves tried to steal nearly a billion dollars from the Bank of Bangladesh's reserves without ever entering the building. And six years later, justice hasn't been so SWIFT. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 10, 202221 minEp. 1508

Uncle Sam wants YOU to fight inflation

How war bonds, controlled prices, and a national network of nosy neighbors helped beat inflation during WWII. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 05, 202221 minEp. 1507

The M&M anomaly (Classic)

Despite costing the same price, a pack of peanut butter M&M's weighs 0.06 ounces less than a pack of milk chocolate M&M's. A trade secret explains why. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Feb 02, 202213 minEp. 1506

The Spider-Man Problem

Spider-Man isn't the first film franchise to be rebooted over and over again. But the infamous off-screen drama between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures explains why it happens so frequently. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 29, 202226 minEp. 1505

Two indicators: supply chain solutions

Two stories about people trying to overcome supply chain challenges. We follow a ship that is forced to get creative to bypass clogged ports, and we visit a warehouse that is running out of space. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 26, 202219 minEp. 1504

'Soul Train' and the business of Black joy

When Soul Train first launched in 1970, Black audiences weren't understood as a viable target market. Don Cornelius changed that forever with his weekly TV dance show. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 21, 202226 minEp. 1503
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