Planet Money: We Invested in Gold

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Gold has been used as money for thousands of years. Why gold? We bought and sold some to find out. Along the way, we look at the gold standard and learn a lot about (economic) bubbles. (This series originally ran in 2010-2011.)

02/11/2025

Planet Money: We Invested In Gold

Gold has been used as money for thousands of years. But why gold? To find out, we bought and sold some. Along the way, we look at the gold standard and learn a lot about bubbles, the economic kind. Check out these episodes to hear how our investment in gold went. Subscribe to Planet Money+ now to get access and get sponsor-free listening to Planet Money. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

27 sec
05/17/2011 • PLANET MONEY+ ONLY

We Sold Gold

On today's show, we sell our gold coin. We find out whether we made or lost money — and try to figure out whether we're in a gold bubble.

18 min
02/18/2011 • PLANET MONEY+ ONLY

Gold Standard, R.I.P.

On today's Planet Money: The gold standard and the Great Depression. It's the latest in our gold series.

22 min
02/15/2011 • PLANET MONEY+ ONLY

The Gold Standard

We visit the charming curmudgeon and respected finance writer James Grant. He says we should go back on the gold standard.

17 min
11/16/2010 • PLANET MONEY+ ONLY

Why Gold?

What could take the place of gold? A professor of chemical engineering walks us through the periodic table of the elements.

19 min
10/15/2010 • PLANET MONEY+ ONLY

Gold!

We buy gold — and find that it raises some unsettling questions. Why is our little gold coin worth $419? You can't eat it. You can't fuel your car with it. And three years ago, it was worth half as much.

16 min

TRAILER

Planet Money: We Invested In Gold

Gold has been used as money for thousands of years. But why gold? To find out, we bought and sold some. Along the way, we look at the gold standard and learn a lot about bubbles, the economic kind. Check out these episodes to hear how our investment in gold went. Subscribe to Planet Money+ now to get access and get sponsor-free listening to Planet Money. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

02/11/2025

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27 sec

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We kept hearing how a ton of wealth is stored in offshore tax havens. How does this secret, shady world work? We set up not one, but two shell companies to find out. Turns out it's pretty easy? (This series originally ran in 2012.)

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Remember toxic assets? Those complicated mortgage bonds that almost brought down the financial system? We bought one to figure out how the 2008 housing crisis played out. We called it Toxie. (This series originally ran in 2010-2011.)Subscribe to Planet Money+ now to get access and get sponsor-free listening to Planet Money.

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Gold has been used as money for thousands of years. Why gold? We bought and sold some to find out. Along the way, we look at the gold standard and learn a lot about (economic) bubbles. (This series originally ran in 2010-2011.)