411 episodes

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

Planet Money Planet Money

    • Business
    • 4.6 • 28.8K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

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

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Marilyn Monroe's 'Happy Birthday' and other moments in US steel history (PM+)

    Marilyn Monroe's 'Happy Birthday' and other moments in US steel history (PM+)

    Steel production has had a long and storied history in the U.S. In this bonus episode, host Erika Beras and producer Willa Rubin highlight three moments that represent the outsized role it played in our economy and American life. Keep an eye out later this week for our main episode on how the decline of steel in the U.S. came from an unlikely source...Show your support for Planet Money and the reporting we do by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. You'll be able to unlock this episode and other great bonus content. Regular episodes remain free to listen! Email the show at planetmoney@npr.org.

    The billion dollar war behind U.S. rum

    The billion dollar war behind U.S. rum

    When you buy a bottle of rum in the United States, by law nearly all the federal taxes on that rum must be sent to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It's an unusual system that Congress designed decades ago to help fund these two U.S. territories. In 2021 alone, these rum tax payments added up to more than $700 million.

    Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands split the money according to how much rum each territory produces. And the territories produce a lot of it — especially Puerto Rico, which single handedly supplies the majority of the rum that Americans drink.

    But in 2008, the U.S. Virgin Islands pulled off a coup. It convinced one of the largest rum brands in the world, Captain Morgan, to abandon Puerto Rico and to shift its operations to the tiny island of St. Croix.

    This was the beginning of the Rum Wars.

    On today's show, the story of how a scheme designed to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands turned them into bitter rivals. And how it ended up putting hundreds of millions of dollars a year — U.S. taxpayer dollars — into the pockets of big liquor companies instead.

    This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by James Sneed with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Molly Messick, engineered by Cena Loffredo, and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

    Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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    • 23 min
    Wind boom, wind bust (Two Windicators)

    Wind boom, wind bust (Two Windicators)

    The wind power business is a bit contradictory right now. It's showing signs of boom and bust seemingly all at once.

    The story of wind energy markets in two acts today. First, the Gulf of Mexico saw its first-ever auction of leases for offshore wind this summer. It was another sign of the Biden administration's desire to get more renewable energy online as fast as possible. Expectations were high, but results did not deliver. Two of the three patches of sea didn't get any bids at all. Hidden in the flop for this auction are some keys to what it takes to spark a whole new market, quickly.

    Then, the booming side of wind power: the job that's projected to be the fastest-growing in the U.S. is wind turbine service technician. Is it a "good" job? Reporter Darian Woods suits up to see a green-collar job above the clouds for himself.

    Today's episode is adapted from episodes for Planet Money's daily show, The Indicator. Subscribe here.

    The original Indicator episodes were produced by Cooper Katz McKim and Julia Ritchey with engineering by Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez and James Willetts. They were fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and edited by Dave Blanchard and Kate Concannon. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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    • 16 min
    On the Oscars campaign trail

    On the Oscars campaign trail

    When you sit down to watch the Oscars, what you are really watching is the final battle in a months-long war of financial engineering and campaign strategy. Because in Hollywood, every year is an election year. A small army of Oscars campaign strategists help studios and streamers deploy tens of millions of dollars to sway Academy voters. And the signs of these campaigns are everywhere — from the endless celebrity appearances on late night TV to the billboards along your daily commute.

    On today's show, we hit the Oscars campaign trail to learn how these campaigns got so big in the first place. And we look into why Hollywood is still spending so much chasing gold statues, when the old playbook for how to make money on them is being rewritten.

    This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

    Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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    • 25 min
    Is dynamic pricing coming to a supermarket near you?

    Is dynamic pricing coming to a supermarket near you?

    Dynamic pricing is an increasingly common phenomenon: You can see it when Uber prices surge during rainy weather, or when you're booking a flight at the last minute or buying tickets to your favorite superstar's concert. On an earnings call last week, Wendy's ignited a minor controversy by suggesting it would introduce dynamic pricing in its restaurants, but the company quickly clarified that it wasn't planning on using it for "surge pricing."

    One place you hardly ever see dynamic pricing? American supermarkets.

    Why is that? Why shouldn't the prices for meat or bread or produce go down as they get older? Why does all the milk in the store cost the same, even when the "sell by" dates are weeks apart? Wouldn't a little more flexibility around prices be better for customers and help reduce waste?

    Professors Robert Evan Sanders and Ioannis (Yannis) Stamatopoulus had similar questions. So they set out to discover what was keeping supermarkets from employing a more dynamic approach, and what might convince them it was time for a change ... in pricing.

    This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Keith Romer. It was engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez.

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    • 25 min
    What makes an ad memorable? We ask a neuroscientist (Planet Money+)

    What makes an ad memorable? We ask a neuroscientist (Planet Money+)

    Commercials use all sorts of tricks to get us to remember their brands — surprise, nostalgia, repetition. In today's bonus episode, Darian Woods talks with Charan Ranganath, director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis, about how those techniques work on our brains. Ranganath's new book is Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters.Show your support for Planet Money and the reporting we do by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. You'll be able to unlock this episode and other great bonus content. Regular episodes remain free to listen! Email the show at planetmoney@npr.org.

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
28.8K Ratings

28.8K Ratings

Jrointhecity ,

Spot the difference

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Best economic podcast ,

Best podcast 😀😀😀

Planet money is reson I know anything about economics. Also the story’s they report on are very fun for all ages coming from a kid myself planet money makes economics more interesting. (Don’t listen to the bad reviews) (thank you planet money)😀

Elmato2020 ,

Generally good show besides biases

Planet Money is a good show besides the occasional bias. It really makes economics fun to learn and simple to understand, its funny and generally entertaining to a wide variety of people, I hope some people behind these negative reviews take a second opinion.

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