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After President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists and statisticians across the board were horrified. Because the firing raises the spectre of potential manipulation – and it raises the worry that, in the future, the numbers won't be as trustworthy. So: we looked at two countries that have some experience with data manipulation. To ask what happens when governments get tempted to cook the books. And...once they cook the books... how hard is it to UN-cook them? It'...
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here. (PM+ supporters get a 10 percent discount off their tickets. Listen to the July 8th bonus episode to get the code!) In economics, a market is a place (even virtual) where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods or services. Economists love markets. It's like all of our supply and demand graphs have come to life. Almost everything you buy goes through some sort of marketplace—your cup of coffee came from trading in the bean markets. Your spouse ...
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here . Traditional economics says the market is guided by the forces of supply and demand. Customers decide what they want to buy, and private enterprise responds to that need. So what makes government think that it's smarter than capitalism? Why offer tax breaks to Hollywood or incentives to build silicon chip factories in Arizona? Why those industries and not others? And when does the free market fail and need government to step in? Today, we discuss...
Trust in experts is down. In all kinds of institutions and professions - in government, in media, in medical science... and lately, economists are feeling the burn acutely. In fact, President Trump just fired the economist who ran the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accusing her – with no evidence – of faking a jobs report that showed fewer gains than expected. In decades past, economists whispered in the ears of presidents. Now, many politicians and voters are disenchanted with the field. On today'...
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here . There are occasional incentives in business that make it very profitable to do bad things; maybe cheat at the game and steal other people's ideas, or cut some corners on safety. In theory, the government as referee steps in to make the rules and enforce them, and manage competition in a way that hopefully makes things better for us all. But you have to ask... When is the government protecting you and when is it protecting the already rich and po...
LIVE SHOW ALERT: August 18th, NYC. Get your tickets here. When news broke that a Japanese company, Nippon Steel, was buying the storied American steel company U.S. Steel, it was still 2023, just before an election. And right away, politicians from both sides of the aisle came out forcefully against the deal, saying the company should remain American. Before leaving office, President Biden even blocked the sale. But in a dramatic twist a few weeks ago, President Trump approved it. With a caveat: ...
Although it seems like the government can spend an endless amount of money, it cannot actually do all the things it wants to do. So the big question in this week's lesson is: How do we decide? Why does the government spend so much money on some things and not on others? And honestly, is there any limit?Get tickets to our August 18th live show and graduation ceremony at The Bell House, in Brooklyn. (Planet Money+ supporters get a 10 percent discount off their tickets. Listen to the July 8th bonus...
It seems like politicians cannot agree on a lot. But many seem to agree on... manufacturing. Leaders of both political parties have been working to try and make the U.S. a manufacturing powerhouse again. On today's show, what is so special about manufacturing? Is it particularly important for the economy? And if manufacturing jobs are so great, then why have companies been struggling to fill the manufacturing jobs we already have? For more on manufacturing in the U.S: - Made in America , an epis...
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We all know the government uses taxes to pay for things. But what about using taxes to control behavior? This week on Summer School, Professor Darrick Hamilton of The New School, helps us explore the true power of the tax code. Can taxes help lift people out of poverty? What about saving the planet? Get tickets to our August 18th live show and graduation ceremony at The Bell House, in Brooklyn. (Planet Money+ supporters get a 10 percent discount off their tickets. Listen to the July 8th bonus ep...
What people might picture when they think of "Made in America" ... might not look like the "Made in America" we have today. The U.S. does have a domestic manufacturing industry, including a garment manufacturing industry. In today's episode: We buy a garment made by factory workers in the U.S. – a basic purple sports bra – and learn how many people it took to make it, how much workers got paid to work on it ... and whether garment manufacturing is a job Americans want, or even know how, to do. P...
This episode kicks off Planet Money Summer School by exploring political economy, the study of how government and politics intersect with economic outcomes. Nobel laureate Simon Johnson discusses the role of inclusive versus extractive institutions in determining why some nations are rich and others are poor, using case studies from Jamaica and Peru to illustrate how fair rules and property rights foster economic growth, while corruption and bureaucracy stifle it.
This Planet Money episode breaks down the simple math of the new big bill: permanent Trump-era tax cuts are offset by spending cuts (like Medicaid and green energy) but ultimately require significant borrowing, adding trillions to the national debt. The hosts explore how this imbalance is calculated and the profound ramifications of increased debt, from higher government interest payments impacting services like infrastructure, to higher interest rates in the private sector affecting mortgages and consumer spending, demonstrating how the debt affects everyday economic life.
There's an economic fantasy you sometimes hear in D.C. It often gets trotted out when politicians are trying to add billions or trillions to the national debt. They claim that all the new spending will be worth it in the end because we will supercharge economic growth. This fantasy recurs again and again, because economic growth is a potent force. Over the next few decades, tiny changes in how fast our economy grows could decide the fate of the federal government — whether we can bring the massi...
In 2019, President Trump tweeted: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies." Today, the Trumps are all over crypto. There are memecoins for Trump and the first lady. They own a stablecoin, a bitcoin mining operation, and a crypto financial services company. And, at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Trump's media group announced they're raising 2.5 billion dollars from investors to buy bitcoin. At that same conference, speakers included two White House advisors, two sons of the US preside...
Econ Battle Zone is back! On today's episode Mary Childs and Kenny Malone enter Econ Battle Stadium to throw down against reigning champion Erika Beras. Can Mary explain what effect extending the 2017 tax cuts will have on economic growth AND make her entire segment rhyme? Will Erika be able to overcome her fear of singing and craft a country song about the history of Medicaid? Can Kenny put together a piece about what warning signs economists look for to know whether the national debt has grown...
The U.S. has been policing bribery all over the world for nearly half a century using a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But now, President Trump has said that this anti-corruption law is crippling American businesses. Since taking office, his administration has reduced the number of investigators, killed some cases, and changed the rules. In this episode, we look at the FCPA case against Glencore, a large commodity trading company, found guilty in 2022 for paying cash bribes in exc...
Note: A version of this episode first ran in 2023 . Every year, the U.S. government spends more money than it takes in. In order to fund all that spending, the country takes on debt. Congress has the power to limit how much debt the U.S. takes on. Once we reach that limit, Congress has a few options so that the government keeps paying its bills: Raise the debt limit, suspend it, or eliminate it entirely. Which is daunting, because if lawmakers don't figure something out in time, the ramification...
What was it like to work inside Elon Musk's DOGE? The cost-cutting initiative promised transparency, but most of its actions have been shrouded in secrecy.For months, there were reports of software engineers and Trump loyalists entering agencies and accessing sensitive data. DOGE also helped the Trump administration lay off thousands of government workers. NPR reporters have been trying for months to get anyone from DOGE to talk on the record. Now, Sahil Lavingia, a former DOGE staffer assigned ...
When President Trump announced his sweeping new tariffs this year, many trade law experts were startled. Typically, presidents don't have the authority to impose broad tariffs with a snap of their fingers. But Trump's advisors have an unusual new legal theory. They say that as long as there's a national emergency of some kind, Trump may be able to create whatever tariffs he wants. This is a creative interpretation of a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. To...
Over the past decade, politicians from both parties have courted American voters with an enticing economic prospect – the dream of bringing manufacturing and manufacturing jobs back to America. They've pushed for that dream with tariffs and tax breaks and subsidies. But what happens when one multinational company actually responds to those incentives, and tries to set up shop in Small Town, USA? Today on the show – how a battery factory ignited a political firestorm over what kind of factories w...
This episode delves into President Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency through two ventures: the $TRUMP meme coin and a stablecoin launched by a Trump-affiliated company. It explores how the meme coin works, the potential profits, and legal questions surrounding emoluments and election finance laws. The episode also explains stablecoins using a casino analogy, discusses their uses and risks, and details how issuers make money from them.
This episode explores the US-China trade war through the lens of game theory. Economists analyze different game models, like the ultimatum game, chicken, and war of attrition, to understand the strategies of both countries. They ultimately consider the prisoner's dilemma in repeated play as a model for potential cooperation and examine theories for why the conflict escalated despite the possibility of mutual benefit, suggesting the trade war may be part of a larger geopolitical "metagame."
American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and development happens. Over the past eight decades, universities have received billions in federal dollars to help that happen. Those dollars have contributed to innovations like: Drone technology. Inhalable Covid vaccines. Google search code. The Trump administration is cutting or threatening to cut federal funding for research. Federal funding for all kinds of science is at its lowest level in decades. ...
You might have seen these texts before. The scam starts innocently enough. Maybe it's a " Long time no see " or " Hello " or " How are you ." For investigative reporter Zeke Faux it was – " Hi David, I'm Vicky Ho. Don't you remember me? " Many people ignore them. But Zeke responded. He wanted to get scammed. This led him on a journey halfway around the world to find out who is sending him random wrong number texts and why. After you hear this story, you'll never look at these messages the same w...
Amid viral social media trends spotting recession signs, Planet Money explores the serious indicators economists use. The episode delves into the official, albeit after-the-fact, dating of recessions by the NBER. It then examines three key indicators: the Sahm Rule based on unemployment changes, the yield curve reflecting bond market expectations, and the composite Leading Economic Index, discussing what they are currently signaling.
This episode of Planet Money explores the economic impact of a short-lived 145% tariff on Chinese imports. It follows the experiences of a port director, a small business owner, and a shipping logistics expert, illustrating the disruptions and challenges caused by trade policy changes. The episode examines how tariffs affect supply chains, manufacturing decisions, and consumer prices, revealing the complexities of global trade.
The U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products each year — things like soybeans, corn and pork. And over the last month, these exports have been caught up in a trade war. U.S. farmers have been collateral damage in a trade war before. In 2018, President Trump put tariffs on a bunch of Chinese products including flatscreen TVs, medical devices and batteries. But China matched those tariffs with their own retaliatory tariffs. They put tariffs on a lot of U.S. agricultural prod...
This episode explores the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency, examining its historical dominance and the factors that contribute to its status. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks of this position for the United States, and considers potential alternatives to the dollar, such as the Euro, Renminbi, and even Bitcoin. The episode questions whether the dollar's reign is ending and what the implications would be for the global economy.
Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Think of it as the official place it comes from. And this is the country that counts for calculating tariffs. But what does it really mean when something is a "Product of China"? How much of it actually comes from China? And how do customs officials draw the line? Here in the U.S., the rules are delightfully counterintuitive. A product's country of origin is not necessarily where that product got on...
