Planet Money Planet Money

In theory, trade makes everyone better off, but it doesn't always work out that way. We take the theory and go around the world to see the workers behind international trade.

The carried interest tax loophole is a way that wealthy Americans – often the people who manage hedge funds or private equity firms – avoid paying billions of dollars worth of taxes. It has been one of the most controversial yet durable features of the U.S. tax code. But where did it come from? Today we romp through space and time to piece together the origins of this loophole. There will be pirates and mutiny. A 50s tax-dodge-a-palooza. And perhaps the Michelangelo of tax lawyers. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

You can learn a lot about a person from their job. The same can be said of an economy. The market for jobs can us a lot about how the economy is doing, but more importantly, it is where we look to see who the economy is working for, and who is left behind. In today's lesson we'll visit two workplaces each facing a different labor puzzle. At one end, there's the question of when to replace a worker with a robot, and what it is like to be that worker waiting for the robots to come. We'll also visit a farm where raising wages aren't enough to attract the workers needed to do the work. How wages are set, and who gets the raises on this session of Summer School. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. |At this Summer School, phones ARE allowed during class... Check out this week's PM TikTok! | Listen to past seasons of Summer School here.

Help support Planet Money and the reporting we do by subscribing to Planet Money+.

Boom. Bust. Repeat. That's the business cycle. Economists have spent entire careers trying to understand it — and even tame it.

Atif Mian of Princeton University is one of those economists. In this episode, he explains a fundamental relationship between the business cycle, growing levels of personal debt, and income inequality. It's a relationship that could be making the booms and busts of the business cycle more severe over time.

To unlock access to this episode and other bonus content, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Here's where subscribers can find more information about unlocking sponsor-free access to The Indicator and Planet Money Summer School: https://help.npr.org/contact/s/article?name=planet-money-plus-indicator-summer-school

Email the show at planetmoney@npr.org.

College has gotten incredibly expensive. And some colleges are offering students a new way to pay. It's not a scholarship. It's not quite a loan. It's more like the students are selling stock in themselves. We check in on how income share agreements at one school have been working. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Inflation can be one of the scariest forces in the economy. As prices rise and your dollar doesn't go as far, you feel poorer, and it's all out of your control. To better understand inflation, we turn to the story of Brazil, where, in the 90s, hyperinflation threatened to derail the whole economy until the country turned to a group of unlikely heroes: four drinking buddies. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. |At this Summer School, phones ARE allowed during class... Check out this week's PM TikTok! | Listen to past seasons of Summer School here.