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CBOhhhh, that's what they do

If you are a congressperson or a senator and you have an idea for a new piece of legislation, at some point someone will have to tell you how much it costs. But, how do you put a price on something th

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Meow Money Meow Problems

More than 20 years ago, something unusual happened in the small town of Dixfield, Maine. A lady named Barbara Thorpe had left almost all of her benefit the cats of her hometown. When

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Hollywood's Black List (Classic)

This episode originally ran in 2020.In 2005, Franklin Leonard was a junior executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company. A big part of his job was to find great scripts. The only thing — most o

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Jay & Shai's debt ceiling adventure

Every year, the U.S. government spends more money than it takes in. In order to fund all that spending, the country takes on debt. Congress has the power to limit how much debt the U.S. takes on. Righ

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Two Indicators: Inside the Fed, then and now

A lot of the time, economic policy can seem pretty impersonal — cold, hard, data-driven. But at the heart of the Federal Reserve are people: fallible, complicated people who are just doing their best

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Our 2023 valentines

Every Valentine's Day, we at Planet Money consider the things that we love, the things that we can't stop talking about, the things that get our hearts racing...in a good way. And we give them valenti

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The ice cream conspiracy

Take a look in any supermarket ice cream freezer section and you may see a mystery. There are big containers of the typical ice cream brands: Breyers, Turkey Hill, and Edy's. And there are specialty b

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Baby's first market failure

Anyone who has tried shopping for day care knows that it is tough out there.For one, it is hard even to get your hands on information about costs, either online or over the phone – day cares will ofte

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Groundhog Day 2023

It's Groundhog Day, and once again, the eyes of the nation have turned to a small town in Western Pennsylvania. Every February 2nd, the only story anyone can talk about is whether or not Punxsutawney

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To all the econ papers I've loved before

A great economics paper does two things. It takes on a big question, and it finds a smart way to answer that question.But some papers go even further. The very best papers have the power to change liv

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The story of Monopoly and American capitalism

Monopoly is one of the best-selling board games in history. The game's staying power may in part be because of strong American lore — the idea that anyone, with just a little bit of cash, can rise fro

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Charles Ponzi's scheme

Some of history's biggest financial scams owe their name to Charles Ponzi. Here's the story of the man behind the eponymous to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at

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Big Rigged (Classic)

Driving a truck used to mean freedom. Now it means a mountain of debt.Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at

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Two Indicators: The 2% inflation target

If the Fed had a mantra to go along with its mandate, it might well be two percent. We look into how that became the target inflation rate, why some economists are calling for a change and how the i

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Planet Money Movie Club: It's a Wonderful Life

Welcome to the Planet Money Movie Club, a regular series from Planet Money+ in which we watch an movie and discuss! On today's episode, Kenny Malone, Wailin Wong, and Willa Rubin tal

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The economics lessons in kids' books

All sorts of lessons (even about economics) can be learned from kids' books. On today's show, we visit an elementary school to try to teach third graders econ using some beloved childrens' classics. A

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The Rest of the Story, 2022

It's that time of year again! Our annual year-end tradition of checking in on previous stories to hear what happened after the microphones stopped running.We'll hear from a CEO who was trying to get h

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Which economic indicator defined 2022?

2022 was a year of big economic changes. But what economic story most defined the year? Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator battle it out over what should be crowned the indicator of the yea

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In defense of gift giving

Cold economic reasoning says, supposedly, that gifts are inefficient transfers of wealth. But Planet Money host Jeff Guo believes in the economic virtues of gift giving. On today's show, Jeff tries to

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Two Indicators: The fight over ESG investing

ESG investing – Environmental, Social, Governance – has attracted a lot of attention from investors, and from Republican politicians who call it woke investing. On today's show, what the fight ove

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The sports ticket price enigma

Inflation is making prices go up, except not for...sports tickets? So, we set out on a daylong sporting event marathon to learn why.Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at

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Spam call bounty hunter

Telemarketing calls are not only annoying; in some cases, they are illegal. Congress even gives you the right to sue scofflaw telemarketers for $500 a call. Today, the story of one man who collected a

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The case of the missing cheese racks

Jelle Peterse's company ships cheese all over the world, but they don't always get their cheese racks back. In this episode, we try to fix a supply chain problem. Gouda to Planet Money

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When women stopped coding (Classic)

A lot of computing pioneers were women. For decades, the number of women in computer science was growing. But in 1984, something to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

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My Favorite Tax Loophole

There's a big difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. But sometimes even avoiding taxes (legally) can feel like you're getting away with something. Today, we share some of our — and your! —

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Messi economics

Soccer star Lionel Messi is currently hoping to lead Argentina to victory in the World Cup. His path to global fame was shaped by a crisis in Argentina's economy.This episode was made in collaboration

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One economist's take on popular advice for saving, borrowing, and spending

This episode was first released as a bonus episode for Planet Money+ listeners last month. We're sharing it today for all listeners. To hear more episodes like this one and support NPR in the process,

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How the cookie became a monster

30 years ago, Lou Montulli set out to solve a fundamental problem with the internet, and accidentally created an entirely different one. On today's show, how the cookie went from an obscure piece of c

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Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of a crypto empire

Sam Bankman-Fried built a reputation as the one reliable crypto bro. But within the span of days, his empire came crashing down. What the rise and fall of crypto's 30-year-old elder statesman says abo

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The E-Book Wars

In 2019, a group of librarians (quietly) stormed the offices of a major publisher, Macmillan, to protest a controversial policy on e-books. On this show, how a tiny change - a book on a screen - threw

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Peak Sand (classic)

Sand. It's in buildings, windows, your cell phone. But there isn't enough in the world for everyone. And that's created a dangerous black to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus

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Planet Money tries election polling

This episode originally ran in 2020.In 2005, Franklin Leonard was a junior executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company. A big part of his job was to find great scripts. The only thing — most o3