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
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Recent Episodes
The giant factory town that might be a giant mistake
May 22, 2026How does a poor country become a rich country? There's a simple blueprint — or at least, that's what many economists used to believe. But over the years, a lot of rapidly developing economies have sta...
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Planet Money explores the middle-income trap through the story of Manaus, Brazil - a manufacturing city built in the Amazon rainforest as part of Brazil's ambitious 1960s industrialization strategy. The episode examines why the traditional blueprint for economic development (building infrastructure and factories) worked initially but ultimately stalled, leaving many countries stuck between poverty and prosperity. Through interviews with economists and visits to factories, the show reveals how countries must now find unique paths to growth beyond traditional manufacturing.
- The Manufacturing Miracle in the Amazon
- The Tax Break Dependency Problem
Vacation and why Americans take so little
May 20, 2026Note: This episode originally ran in 2023. Do you work more for more money? Or work less for more time? For some, this is the ultimate economic choice. Every single worker in the European Union is ...
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This Planet Money episode explores why the United States is the only wealthy nation without guaranteed paid vacation and paid holidays. Reporter Sarah Gonzalez investigates the historical, cultural, and economic factors that led to America's unique relationship with work and leisure, comparing it to European countries where workers get 25-40 paid days off annually. Through interviews with economists and labor historians, the episode examines various theories—from Protestant work ethic to tax policy—before landing on a compelling explanation tied to how America's labor movement prioritized collective bargaining over federal benefits.
- The European Vacation Revelation
- America's Vacation Guilt Problem
Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed Independence
May 15, 2026If you have a credit card, hope to buy a house, or just want stable grocery prices – let’s talk about the future of Fed independence! It’s impossibly important for the Federal Reserve to steer moneta...
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Planet Money examines Jerome Powell's tenure as Fed Chair on his final day in the role, comparing his handling of presidential pressure to historic cases of Fed independence. The episode traces Powell's navigation of unprecedented challenges including COVID-19, inflation spikes, and escalating pressure from President Trump—culminating in a criminal investigation. Through interviews with former Fed board member Lael Brainard and economist Burton Abrams, the show evaluates whether Fed independence held strong or began to crumble.
- Powell's Tenure and the Trump Pressure Campaign Begins
- The McChesney Martin Story: Standing Up to LBJ
The secret meeting that launched OPEC
May 13, 2026Recently, a listener wrote in with a question about OPEC and oil prices. She was prepping for a camping trip… thinking about how much it costs to fill up her diesel-guzzling camper van at the pump. ...
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Planet Money answers listener Valerie's question about OPEC, explaining what it is, why it exists, how it controls oil prices, and what the UAE's recent departure means for gas prices. The episode traces OPEC's origins from a secret meeting in 1959 Cairo, through its evolution from a grievance organization to a powerful oil cartel using production quotas, to today's challenges maintaining unity as the UAE exits amid the Iran conflict.
- The Origins of OPEC: A Secret Meeting Under a Tree
- OPEC's Breakout Moment: The 1973 Oil Embargo
Diary of a WNBA negotiator
May 09, 2026Today the WNBA season tips off, but Dallas Wings veteran forward Alysha Clark has already won a high-stakes competition. She – and a Nobel Prize winning economist – were on the team that negotiated a ...
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Planet Money goes inside the historic 2025 WNBA collective bargaining negotiations, following veteran player Alicia Clark as she and her teammates fight for revenue sharing and fair compensation. Through detailed diary entries and first-hand accounts, the episode reveals the intense bargaining tactics, economic calculations, and pressure-filled moments that led to a transformational deal—including advice from Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin and a near-strike deadline at 9:30 PM in a New York hotel.
- Meet Alicia Clark: From Rookie to Negotiator
- The Harsh Reality of Early WNBA Compensation
How we got free agents in baseball
May 06, 2026Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series three times. Then he got traded to the Phillies. He d...
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This episode explores the landmark case of Kurt Flood versus Major League Baseball and the reserve clause—a system that gave teams ownership rights over players indefinitely. In 1969, when Flood was traded against his will, he sued baseball, challenging a practice that essentially created a monopsony in the labor market. Though he lost in court, his case shifted public opinion and paved the way for free agency in professional sports, fundamentally changing how revenue is split between players and owners.
- The 4 AM Phone Call That Changed Sports
- The Economics of Monopsony: Why Players Were Underpaid
How to make a BOOK into a bestseller
May 02, 2026In the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times Best Seller List. But how does a book actually end up there? There is, of cou...
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Planet Money chronicles their journey to publishing their first book and attempting to reach the coveted New York Times bestseller list. The episode explores the secret world of bestseller lists, various tactics authors have used to game the system throughout history, and follows the team's own strategy to legitimately achieve bestseller status through pre-orders, live events, and publicity blitzes.
- The Launch and the Mystery of Bestseller Lists
- The Significance and Self-Fulfilling Nature of Bestseller Lists
Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights
Apr 29, 2026It’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to muse about “buying” them. Many low cost airlines are struggling due to a canny and calc...
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Planet Money examines the dramatic rise and fall of Spirit Airlines, from being America's fastest-growing budget carrier to facing potential liquidation and government bailout. The episode revisits a 2014 interview with then-CEO Ben Baldanza about his radical vision for ultra-low-cost air travel, then explores how legacy carriers fought back by copying Spirit's model, strengthening loyalty programs, and ultimately pushing budget airlines toward financial crisis.
- Spirit's Ultra-Low-Cost Vision and Philosophy
- The Spirit Flying Experience: Fees for Everything
Battlefield rare earths: How the U.S. lost to China
Apr 24, 2026At one point in history, one U.S. company monopolized the rare earths industry. Then China took over the industry. Can the U.S. bring it back? Rare earths are critical to making, like, everything. Fr...
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This Planet Money episode traces the complete history of America's rare earths industry through the lens of a single California mine called Mountain Pass. It explores how the U.S. dominated rare earths production from discovery in 1949 through the 1980s, how China systematically took over the entire global industry within 30 years, and how the U.S. is now desperately trying to rebuild domestic production using similar state-driven industrial policies that enabled China's rise.
- Discovery of Rare Earths at Mountain Pass
- Molycorp's Monopoly and the Color TV Revolution
Live: Anthropic co-founder on AI and jobs
Apr 22, 2026We talk with Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Chief Economist at Redfin Daryl Fairweather about two of the biggest issues of our time: AI and housing. We have been crisscrossing America doing liv...
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Planet Money takes listeners on a tour of their book promotion events, featuring interviews with AI pioneer Jack Clark from Anthropic and housing economist Daryl Fairweather. The episode explores profound questions about AI's impact on work and society, including predictions about AI capabilities by 2027, concerns about economic disruption, and the housing crisis driven by restrictive zoning policies.
- AI's Rapid Advancement and Economic Disruption
- The Ethics and Responsibility of Building AI
Do prediction market bettors make anything better?
Apr 18, 2026Have you noticed a lot of young people getting into antenna-maxxing as alpha? Or, maybe searching for any bit of copium after they fat-fingered and got rinsed? Or maybe they farmed during a yes-fest o...
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NPR reporter Bobby Allen investigates the explosive growth of prediction markets, particularly Kalshi, which allows users to bet on everything from sports to political events. Through months of reporting, Allen explores whether these platforms are legitimate financial instruments or just gambling in disguise, examining how they've navigated regulatory loopholes, their impact on users and society, and the ethical questions they raise about incentivizing people to profit from potentially manipulating real-world events.
- Bobby Allen's Journey Into Prediction Markets
- How Traders Win Big on Prediction Markets
How to get through the Strait of Hormuz
Apr 14, 2026The United States has been at war with Iran since February 28th. And for a month and a half, Iran’s main leverage over the U.S. has been their control over the Strait of Hormuz — a key global shipping...
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This episode explores how Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S.-Iran war has created a toll system affecting global shipping and commerce. Through the story of a comic book publisher waiting for books stuck in the Persian Gulf, the episode examines the broader implications of this challenge to freedom of navigation and how ships are navigating the blockade through a cryptocurrency-based permission system.
- The Bright Pink Ship and Books Stuck in the Persian Gulf
- Iran's Cryptocurrency Toll System for the Strait
BOOKstore Economics
Apr 10, 2026How do bookstores choose the books they stock, and how does that affect what customers read? It may not seem like it, but every shelf in a bookstore is a highly valuable and contested piece of commerc...
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This Planet Money episode chronicles the journey of getting a book into bookstores, following book buyer Fisher Nash at Carmichael's independent bookstore in Louisville. The episode reveals the complex decision-making process behind which books make it onto shelves, from catalog reviews to sales rep meetings, and explores the broader economics of book distribution through interviews with Norton's director of trade sales, culminating in the actual launch day of the Planet Money book.
- The Book Buyer's Role: Fisher Nash's Decision-Making Process
- The Changing of the Bestsellers: A Sacred Retail Ritual
A pro-worker experiment in private equity
Apr 08, 2026Live event info and tickets here. If your company got bought by a private equity firm, how would you feel? Maybe a little nervous? You might find yourself wondering if there will be layoffs. And yo...
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This Planet Money episode explores an innovative experiment in private equity where Pete Stavros of KKR has been giving workers equity ownership in companies they acquire. The story follows workers like Cindy Cordes and Mike Pavelko who experienced life-changing payouts when their companies were sold, challenging the traditional private equity model of cost-cutting and job elimination. The episode examines both successes and failures of this approach across 85 companies affecting over 190,000 workers.
- Cindy's Story: Working at Capital Safety
- Pete Stavros' Origin Story and Vision
Reese’s heir vs. chocolate skimpflation
Apr 04, 2026Live event info and tickets here. When ingredient costs skyrocket, companies have three basic options: They can raise their prices (a sort of product-specific inflation), shrink the size of the prod...
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Planet Money investigates claims by Brad Reese, grandson of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup inventor H.B. Reese, that Hershey's has been skimping on ingredients in their chocolate products. Brad discovered that some Reese's products no longer contain real milk chocolate or peanut butter, instead using 'chocolate candy' and 'peanut butter cream.' The episode explores whether this is 'skimflation' - companies degrading product quality in response to rising costs - triggered by record-high cocoa prices and supply chain issues. In a dramatic twist, Hershey's announces during the investigation that they'll return to classic chocolate recipes by 2027, though they claim the decision predates Brad's complaints.
- Brad Reese's Shocking Discovery
- The Reese's Family History and Business
Dark times for Cuba’s economic experiment
Apr 02, 2026Live event info and tickets here. For more than 60 years, Cuba has survived on two seemingly contradictory economic strategies: leaning on friendly communist and socialist countries, and flirting wi...
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Planet Money explores Cuba's economic crisis through the lens of a bicycle tour operator in Havana, tracing the country's decades-long experiment oscillating between communist solidarity and capitalist experimentation. As U.S. oil embargoes create devastating blackouts and halt tourism, the episode examines how Cuba's dual strategy of relying on communist allies and flirting with free markets has collapsed, leaving businesses struggling and citizens fleeing.
- Cuba's Current Crisis and Daily Life During Blackouts
- The Communist Foundation: Cuba's Alliance with the Soviet Union
The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop
Mar 28, 2026LIVE SHOW TOUR INFO HERE. New stories, live tapings, special guests, book signings and more. What would you build on a piece of land when all the normal rules go out the window? On today’s show, ho...
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This Planet Money episode explores how the Squamish Nation reclaimed ancestral land in Vancouver and built massive residential towers without typical zoning restrictions. The project represents both an economic opportunity for the indigenous nation and a case study in what's possible when traditional urban planning rules don't apply, addressing Vancouver's housing crisis while providing generational wealth for the Squamish people.
- The Forced Displacement and Return of Sinnak
- The Initial Development Plan and the Seven Generations Principle
Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain
Mar 26, 2026When you come across a book at a yard sale or a bookstore, you might pay more attention to the words between the covers than the physical form of the book itself. But content and the form are both cru...
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This Planet Money episode follows the intricate journey of creating the Planet Money book, from initial contract to physical production. Host Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi takes listeners inside the publishing industrial complex, exploring the countless decisions, global supply chains, and economic forces that transform an idea into a physical book sitting on bookstore shelves.
- Inside the Book Factory: A Million-Square-Foot Wonder
- From Book Deal to Book Plan: The Writing Marriage Begins
Inside a BOOK auction
Mar 21, 2026In the age of TikTok and Polymarket, it can be easy to overlook the humble book. But books are one of the most influential technologies ever invented. From “The Wealth of Nations” to “Das Kapital,” bo...
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Planet Money embarks on an ambitious journey to publish a book, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the mysterious world of book publishing. The episode chronicles the entire process from conception to acquisition, revealing how literary agents pitch ideas, how book auctions work, and the economic forces shaping what books get made. It's a story of corporate consolidation, strategic gamesmanship, and the tension between art and commerce in the publishing industry.
- The Genesis of a Planet Money Book
- Crafting the Proposal and Finding a Writer
The little pet fish that saved a town in the Amazon
Mar 18, 2026The cardinal tetra is one of the most popular pet fish in the world. They look like little red and blue sequins. You've almost certainly seen them at the pet store or the fish tank at your dentist's o...
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Planet Money investigates the changing economics of Barcelos, Brazil, a remote Amazon town once dominated by the ornamental fish trade. The story traces how the town's economy evolved from rubber to cardinal tetras to sport fishing tourism, revealing a pattern of global competition that repeatedly disrupts local industries when unique Amazonian resources are replicated elsewhere.
- The Cardinal Tetra Capital of the World
- A Sustainable Fishing Industry That Helps the Amazon