Synopsis
The economy, explained, with stories and surprises. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening. That's what we're going for at Planet Money. People seem to like it.
Episodes
-
The Bond King
30/03/2022 Duration: 21minInvesting 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.
-
Fashion Fair's makeover
25/03/2022 Duration: 24minFashion 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.
-
Two inflation Indicators: Corporate greed and mortgage rates
24/03/2022 Duration: 18minCorporate 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.
-
Tech giants and tiny dogs
18/03/2022 Duration: 19minWhat a business that makes ramps for wiener dogs teaches us about the massive power of tech giants. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
-
Escape from Russia
16/03/2022 Duration: 23minAn American business owner with employees in Russia extracts her colleagues from the country. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
-
Grocery delivery wars
11/03/2022 Duration: 16minBehind the scenes at a new kind of grocery store that promises delivery in minutes. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
-
The dollar at the center of the world (Classic)
10/03/2022 Duration: 21minAfter 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.
-
Of oligarchs, oil and rubles
05/03/2022 Duration: 18minThree 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.
-
'Fortress' Russia put to the test
02/03/2022 Duration: 17minThe 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.
-
Putin's big bet: Sanction-proofing Russia
25/02/2022 Duration: 14minThe 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.
-
How bad is inflation?
24/02/2022 Duration: 19minTwo 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.
-
Predictions: Inflation!
18/02/2022 Duration: 16minIt'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.
-
SPAM strikes back
17/02/2022 Duration: 28minHormel 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.
-
Waste land (Bonus)
14/02/2022 Duration: 23minRecycling 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.
-
Our Valentines 2022
11/02/2022 Duration: 26minWe profess our love for our curiosities, obsessions, and the things we wish we'd thought of first. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
-
A SWIFT getaway
10/02/2022 Duration: 21minIn 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.
-
Uncle Sam wants YOU to fight inflation
05/02/2022 Duration: 21minHow war bonds, controlled prices, and a national network of nosy neighbors helped beat inflation during WWII. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
-
The M&M anomaly (Classic)
02/02/2022 Duration: 13minDespite 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.
-
The Spider-Man Problem
29/01/2022 Duration: 25minSpider-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.
-
Two indicators: supply chain solutions
26/01/2022 Duration: 18minTwo 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.