It's Indicators of the Week, that time each Friday when we look at three of the most fascinating numbers from the news. Today we explain why Hertz is trying to sell off part of its EV inventory, why office vacancy rates are still climbing and what Apple's class-action payout yielded one of our hosts. Related Episodes: What could break next? ( Apple / Spotify ) How the South is trying to win the EV race ( Apple / Spotify ) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to...
Jan 12, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast A number of lawsuits against Texas-based company RealPage are putting increased attention on how algorithms can interact with the rental market. In the lawsuit, RealPage is accused of facilitating a cartel between major property managers that results in higher prices for renters and increased profits for landlords who use RealPage's software. RealPage, however, denies any wrongdoing. Today on the show, we dive into the details of the lawsuit and explain why this case challenges typical notions o...
Jan 12, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2015, Guyana changed forever when ExxonMobil discovered major oil deposits off its coast. The impoverished South American country known for its thick rainforest was suddenly on course to sudden wealth. But while a mining boom may seem like only a good thing, it can often be bad for countries long-term. Today on the show, how Guyana can still avoid the so-called resource curse. Related episodes: Norway has advice for Libya For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe...
Jan 10, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast More doctors' offices are ditching clunky clipboards and embracing digital records and online check-ins. But some patients may be unaware that their sensitive health data could be accessible to more than just their health care provider. Today on the show, how ad targeting has moved into the doctor's office, why that's rubbing some patients the wrong way, and why health companies say it can lead to better care. Related Episodes: The hidden market for your location data ( Apple ) This is your brai...
Jan 10, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most puzzling developments for economists in recent months is the disconnect between positive traditional economic data and how people say they feel negatively about the economy. Add to that, people's behavior tracks with what economists would normally expect for happy times. So what's going on? Today on the show, we turn to something economists have tracked for decades called the misery index. Right now, it says America shouldn't be so miserable, but as we've covered before, surveys ...
Jan 08, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. economy added a solid number of jobs, the unemployment rate held steady, and a lot of people got raises. But, today we ask whether fewer temporary workers could mean recession, and whether higher wages might cause interest rates to stay high. Related episodes: The Indicator of the Year ( Apple / Spotify ) Predicting next year's economic storylines ( Apple / Spotify ) The money illusion For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Pod...
Jan 06, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On today's show, we find out what the buzz is around something called a "spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund." Despite a volatile year for cryptocurrency companies, U.S. federal regulators are expected to approve this new financial product. So WTF is a bitcoin ETF? Related episodes: The spectacle of Sam Bankman-Fried's trial ( Apple / Spotify ) A former teen idol takes on crypto ( Apple / Spotify ) The rise and fall of FTX The aftermath of the cryptocurrency crash The promise and peril of crypto f...
Jan 04, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast News about inflation made a lot of noise in the past two years, but the national CPI reports seem to indicate that inflation is starting to normalize within the Federal Reserve's target range. However, the national CPI basket of goods can have trouble representing inflation at a local level. Today, we're joined by Drew Hawkins of the Gulf States Newsroom as he goes to the supermarket in New Orleans where the national CPI may not be the best measure of inflation for folks living in the South. For...
Jan 03, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Red Sea is a crucial piece of the global supply chain, accounting for around 15% of the world's shipping. This includes oil tankers and massive container ships transporting everything from microchips to furniture. Recent attacks by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have destabilized the region and prompted the U.S. to organize a multinational naval force to protect commercial ships. Today on the show, what's going on with shipping in the Red Sea. Related Episodes: A drought, a jam, a canal — Pa...
Jan 03, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast How often do you hang out with people in a different socioeconomic bracket than you? And where do you meet and congregate? Economist Maxim Massenkoff, and his co-author Nathan Wilmers, looked at cell phone location data to figure out where people with vastly different incomes commune together. Today on the show, Maxim discusses his research , and Darian and Alexi head to a restaurant to try and witness some of this class mixing in action. Related Episode: The Secret to Upward Mobility: Friends F...
Dec 29, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast *This episode originally aired on April 20th, 2023* When it comes to making art, what's the difference between inspiration and theft? Between artistic license and copyright infringement? That is the question at the heart of one of the biggest musical copyright cases in years that went to trial this past year. Today on the show, did Ed Sheeran steal from Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in his hit single "Thinking Out Loud"? Law professor Jennifer Jenkins sits down at the piano to help us hear the...
Dec 28, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast *This episode originally aired on July 24th, 2023* After a stunning box office opening of more than $300 million worldwide for the new Greta Gerwig film, the Barbieverse is having its moment. So what better time to examine what Barbie's 200-plus careers over the decades—from fashion model to astronaut to teacher—tell us about real-life women in the workforce. Today on the show, a former economics educator gives us a Barbie pink-colored lens on the labor market. You can find the St. Louis Fed's B...
Dec 27, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast *This episode originally aired on August 21st, 2023* For over 10,000 years, many peoples in what's now known as North America relied on bison. Thirty million of these creatures stretched from modern Canada all the way down to Mexico. But in the late 1800s hide-hunters and the U.S. military annihilated the bison, bringing them to the brink of extinction. And that had consequences for the people who relied on the bison. Consequences that we still see today. Today, we hear from an economist who rev...
Dec 26, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's time for another intra-Family Feud! The friendly game-show competition where our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator duke it out over which indicator will be the leading economic story in 2024. Will interest rates decline? Will 'Bidenomics' catch on? Will junk fees get taken out with the garbage? Tell us who won by submitting your vote to Planet Money's Instagram or email us with "Family Feud" in the subject line. Voting ends Dec. 31 at midnight, and we'll announce the winner(s) on ou...
Dec 22, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yellowstone first aired in 2018, quickly becoming one of television's most popular shows. The show follows John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner, as he feuds with real estate developers threatening to encroach on his family ranch. Today on the show, how life imitates art in Montana, where tourism has boomed, the population has grown and housing prices have soared. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Music...
Dec 21, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Talk of New Year's resolutions is bubbling up as 2024 quickly approaches. Whether it's a fitness goal, wanting to learn a new skill or just trying to develop better habits, a new year is the perfect excuse to start. However, it can be difficult to maintain as time passes by. Today on the show, we talk to a behavioral economist about one of the best ways to stick to your New Year's resolutions using the power of economics. Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work by Uri Gneezy For sponsor-free e...
Dec 20, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The movie Coyote vs. Acme was set to release this summer featuring characters from the iconic Looney Tunes cartoons. The studio behind the film, Warner Bros. Pictures, had some other ideas. Instead of releasing the completed film, the studio canceled Coyote vs. Acme, with no intention of ever releasing it. Today on the show, we explain the Hollywood economics behind why Warner Bros. Discovery might not want to release movies that its own studio spent years putting together. Related Episodes: W...
Dec 20, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast For decades, states have prosecuted and imprisoned people for selling weed. Today, recreational marijuana is legal in almost half of U.S. states, and many want to give individuals who were impacted by marijuana enforcement a chance to sell it legally. But as the roughly $30 billion cannabis industry grows, are these so-called social equity programs living up to their promise? Today on the show, why many would-be cannabis entrepreneurs find themselves hitting a 'grass ceiling'. Related So you wan...
Dec 19, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast By many measures, 2023 was a decent year for the U.S. economy, but that's not how people necessarily felt. So what economic story best defined the year? Soft landings? Hard feelings about the economy? An inhospitable housing market? Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator battle it out over which economic story best illustrates the year. Tell us who won by submitting your vote via Planet Money's Instagram or email us with "Family Feud" in the subject line. Related episodes: Taking the temp...
Dec 15, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Women lag behind men when it comes to investing. Combine this with the fact that women tend to earn less than their male peers and live longer, and it can create a waterfall of awful long-term consequences for half of America's population. Today, we speak to an author of an investing study who says he's found a solution. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Music by Drop Electric . Find us: TikTok , Insta...
Dec 15, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the world of science there are laws—rules that describe how the universe works. The Federal Reserve has its own set of rules, except its rules are more like guidelines to help the Fed decide where interest rates should be. Today on the show, we explain inertial and non-inertial rules in the world of monetary policy, and what they tell us about potential rate cuts in the year ahead. Related episodes: The rat under the Fed's hat ( Apple / Spotify ) The fed decides to wait and see ( Apple / Spot...
Dec 13, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast How often are you shopping online and think to yourself, is that shirt/dress/jeans in my shopping cart ... even real? That is a question some shoppers are asking themselves as AI-generated products increasingly infiltrate the world of e-commerce. Today on the show, we talk to an expert in digital forensics about how AI-generated merchandise is only likely to become more common, and what ought to be done to help prevent unethical sellers from abusing the technology. For sponsor-free episodes of T...
Dec 12, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the end of November, diplomats, scientists, activists and lobbyists from nearly every country on Earth have come together for COP 28, the United Nations climate negotiating talks. One of the goals of this gathering is for countries to agree on the best path forward to address human-driven climate change. Stakes are high as average global temperatures continue to approach a key threshold of 1.5 degree Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times — the level climate scienti...
Dec 12, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast We often talk about the jobs lost due to artificial intelligence. But what about the ones created or even transformed? From the gig work of training AI on good and bad answers through to designing new AI models, AI jobs are popping up like mushrooms. Today on the Indicator, we talk to people in these new roles and consider what the bots mean for the labor market. Related Episodes: Is AI a job-killer or an up-skiller? ( Apple Podcasts / Spotify ) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Pl...
Dec 08, 2023•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Don't reinvent the wheel" is a common phrase, but structural engineer Roma Agrawal doesn't buy it. Roma has a new book out, Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way) . And in it, she argues that the re-interpretation of the wheel has been critical to modernizing the economy from a pottery wheel in ancient Mesopotamia to the gyroscope on the International Space Station. Today, how this constant reinvention fuels economic progress. Related Episodes: What nails c...
Dec 07, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2021, the most popular term on Investopedia was "capital gains tax." In 2022, it was "poison pill." These top terms help capture the economic zeitgeist of their year. So... what was it in 2023? Today, Investopedia's editor-in-chief — and a poet — help us make sense of what the website's top ten terms of the year tell us about our collective economic psyche. RELATED When mortgage rates are too low to give up ( Apple Podcasts / Spotify ) Hedonic adjustment: how to measure pleasure ( Apple Podca...
Dec 07, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Eight times a year, regional Federal Reserve Banks release a collection of anecdotes that reveal stories about the economy. These stories come together in what's known as the "Beige Book," and we award the regional bank with the best entry with our coveted Beigie Award. Today, we're highlighting an entry that gets to the heart of the contradictions we're seeing when it comes to consumer preferences and sentiment. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet M...
Dec 05, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Drugs used for weight loss like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro are nearly everywhere in popular culture, but many patients struggling with obesity are still finding them hard to get. On today's show, what's slowing access to these drugs despite their long-term benefits for the economy and patients, and how social conditioning around obesity and excess weight clouds the conversation. Related Episodes: New drugs. Cheaper drugs. Why not both? ( Apple / Spotify ) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indic...
Dec 04, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the latest edition of Indicators of the week, inflation in the U.S. and Europe is slowing down. Plus, a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston highlights the number of gig workers typical employment counts miss. And finally ... Red Lobster, endless shrimp and loss leaders. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok , Instagram , Facebook , Newsletter . Lear...
Dec 01, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week on whether the federal government can tax some "unrealized" gains. That's when an asset you hold, rather than sell, gains value. Tax experts say it's the biggest constitutional tax case seen in a century. Today, we lay out the stakes and the massive implications for government revenue, taxpayers, and even wealth inequality. Related Episodes: Could a wealth tax work How the proposed tax on billionaires would actually work For sponsor-free episo...
Dec 01, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
